Dublin U21s destroy Wexford

On Wednesday 10th June 2009, the Dublin under 21 hurlers, with four Crokes player on board, Rory O’Carroll, Ronan Walsh, Conor Clinton and Barry O’Rorke, overwhelmed Wexford in the Leinster championship semi final at Parnell Park by 1-24 to 0-8.

The Dubs excelled in every sector of the field with Rory O’Carroll outstanding at centre-back whilst corner backs Oisín Gough and Gary Kelly also impressed.

Conor Clinton and Simon Lambert more than held their own in midfield and Paul Garbutt and Peter Kelly were the pick of the forward line..

It was Garbutt who set Dublin on their way with three points (two frees) in the opening four minutes and although Harry Kehoe replied for Wexford with a free a minute later, Dublin proceeded to reel off seven points in succession to lead by nine points after seventeen minutes, with Barry O’Rorke’s brilliant point from the left hand sideline the pick of the scores.

Wexford responded with a fine James Gahan point on twenty minutes but Wexford’s resistance was of token value as Dublin, driven on by O’Carroll, knocked over four unanswered points through Garbutt, Liam Rushe and two classy scores from Kelly.

To Wexford’s credit, they replied with three points of their own but a Garbutt free on the stroke of half-time ensured a ten point (0-15 to 0-5) interval lead for Dublin.

Dublin added second half points through Garbutt and O’Rorke before David Treacy crashed home a goal after 42 minutes to effectively seal the tie .

The remainder of the match resembled a training run for the Dubs as Ciaran Barr took the opportunity to give his substitutes some much needed minutes and the intensity of their performance inevitably dropped for the final ten minutes.

Dublin will now face Kilkenny in next month’s Leinster final, provisionally scheduled for Parnell Park on 15th July after the current holders overcame a stubborn Offaly challenge in Nowlan Park last night.

Scorers:

Dublin: P Garbutt 0-9 (7f), L Rushe, P Kelly 0-4, C Clinton, B O’Rorke 0-3, D Treacy 1-0, D O’Connor 0-1.

Wexford: H Kehoe 0-3 (2f), C Kennelly, A Shore (f), J Gahan, J Cullen, J Foley 0-1 each.

Teams:

Dublin: F. McGarry, G. Kelly, M Quilty, O. Gough, P. Schutte, R. O’Carroll, R. Walsh, S. Lambert, C. Clinton, P. Kelly, D. Treacy, P. Garbutt, D. O’Connor, L. Rushe, B. O’Rorke.

Subs: E Walsh for Quilty (20 mins), M May for Lambert (45 mins), A Roche for O’Connor (49 mins), K Warren for O’Rorke (51 mins), P Purtell for R Walsh (56 mins).

Wexford: N. Breen, T. Foley, E. Boggan, C. O'''' Shaughnessy, B. Hobbs, A. Shore, C. Kennelly, J. Gahan, S. Óg Whelan, H. Kehoe, S. Grannell, M. Wallace, R. Fox, J. Cullen, P. Kenny.

Subs: P Morris for Whelan (24 mins), P Murphy for Wallace (33 mins), J Foley for Shore (37 mins), C Redmond for Gahan (45 mins).

Referee: Brian Gavin (Offaly)

Thanks to www.hill16.ie