GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Round 1 – Waterford 3-14 Wexford 1-18

Waterford defeated Wexford by 3-14 to 1-18 in the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Round 1 on Saturday June 9th at Innovate Wexford Park.

Match Highlights

In the Round 1 All-Ireland SFC Qualifier of @OfficialWexGAA v @WaterfordGAA; the Déise footballers earned their second ever Qualifier win in Innovate Wexford Park! GAANOW have the best bits for you here! pic.twitter.com/Ixbf3gj0Cl

— The GAA (@officialgaa) June 12, 2018

REPORT: Thrilling triumph for Tom McGlinchey's @WaterfordGAA against @OfficialWexGAA in Round One Qualifier!

— The GAA (@officialgaa) June 9, 2018

All Ireland SFC Qualifier: Waterford earn victory

WATERFORD 3-14 WEXFORD 1-18

By Ronan Fagan for GAA.ie

Goals from Shane Ryan, JJ Hutchinson and substitute Joe Allen powered Waterford to a shock Round 1 All-Ireland SFC Qualifier victory over neighbours Wexford at sunny Innovate Wexford Park.

In only Waterford’s second-ever Qualifier success, and first since 2011, they ran the fancied home-side ragged to prevail in this historic first-ever Senior Football Championship confrontation between the counties.

Waterford sprung out of the traps to lead 0-2 to 0-1 before Wexford seemed to be finding their stride when Ben Brosnan, John Tubritt, Donal Shanley (free) and Eoghan Nolan asserted home control by 0-5 to 0-2 after 14 minutes.

But Waterford soon set the trend for on afternoon when they ruled as they exposed a porous Wexford rearguard for wing-back Shane Ryan to race through onto a pass from JJ Hutchinson and bury a levelling goal in the 15th-minute (1-2 to 0-5).

The rampant Deise maintained control, and although defender Ryan went agonisingly close to grabbing another goal, Waterford did apply a second major blow on 26 minutes when full-forward Hutchinson slotted a goal-of-the-season contender to help blow open a 2-7 to 0-7 advantage.

Wexford repaired some of the damage with closing scores from Brosnan (2) and Shanley (free) to close within 2-7 to 0-10 at half-time.

But Waterford had Wexford rocking again on 45 minutes when substitute Joe Allen completed a swift counter-attack with a tidy goal to stretch the gap to 3-9 to 0-11.

Wexford struggled to gain any traction as the sides shared the next ten points. But after having what seemed a perfectly legitimate goal disallowed, Wexford snapped back when centre-back Naomhan Rossiter netted his second goal of the campaign to cut the gap to 3-14 to 1-16 and hand Wexford a lifeline at the start of six minutes added-time.

But other than a couple of late Donal Shanley frees, the purple-and-gold were unable to make any further headway as Waterford deservedly savoured a rare profitable excursion in the Qualifiers.

Scorers for Waterford: Jason Curry 0-6 (5fs), JJ Hutchinson 1-2, Shane Ryan, Joe Allen 1-0 each, Conor Murray 0-3, Kieran Power 0-2, Tommy Prendergast 0-1.

Scorers for Wexford: Donal Shanley 0-9 (6fs), John Tubritt 0-4, Naomhan Rossiter 1-0, Ben Brosnan 0-3, Eoghan Nolan, Brian Malone 0-1 each.

WATERFORD: Stephen Enright, Aidan Trihy, Stephen Prendergast, James McGrath, Brian Looby, Michael Curry, Shane Ryan, Tommy Prendergast, Kieran Power, Gavin Crotty, Dylan Guiry, Conor Murray, Jason Curry, JJ Hutchinson, Jack Mullaney.
Subs: Joe Allen for Gavin Crotty (black-card, 40), Thomas O’Gorman for Kieran Power (51), Conor McCarthy for Conor Murray (70+3), Mark Cummins for Stephen Prendergast (black-card, 70+5).

WEXFORD: Conor Swaine, Michael Furlong, Eoin Porter, Conor Carty, Shane Doyle, Naomhan Rossiter, Tiarnan Rossiter, Brian Malone, Eoghan Nolan, James Stafford, Ben Brosnan, Glen Malone, David Shannon, Donal Shanley, John Tubritt.
Subs: Robert Frayne for David Shannon (HT), Martin O’Connor for Shane Doyle (HT), Nick Doyle for Eoghan Nolan (42), Barry O’Connor for Tiarnan Rossiter (48), Craig McCabe for Ben Brosnan (57), Donnacha Holmes for James Stafford (63).

REFEREE: Cormac Reilly (Meath).

It's the Deise County's first qualifier win since 2011. And there were scenes!https://t.co/jx051OYvto #RTEGAA

— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) June 9, 2018

Team News

Waterford Senior Football team to play Wexford

1. Stephen Enright (Ballinacourty)
2. Jack Mullaney (Stradbally)
3. Stephen Prendergast (Kilrossanty)
4. James McGrath (The Nire) – Captain
5. Brian Looby (Ballinacourty)
6. Shane Ryan (The Nire)
7. Aidan Trihy (Clashmore / Kinsalebeg)
8. Tommy Prendergast (Kilrossanty)
9. Michael Curry (Rathgormack)
10. Gavin Crotty (Dungarvan)
11. Kieran Power (Dungarvan)
12. Dylan Guiry (The Nire)
13. Jason Curry (Rathgormack)
14. JJ Hutchinson (Gaultier)
15. Conor Murray (Rathgormack)