Gaelic Games

Sligo nearly caught out by Wexford at Markievicz Park

Home side dominant throughout but end up hanging on during nine minutes injury time

Sligo were too strong for Wexford at Markievicz Park. Photograph: james Crombie/Inpho
Sligo were too strong for Wexford at Markievicz Park. Photograph: james Crombie/Inpho
Sun Feb 04 2018 - 19:13

Sligo 1-16 Wexford 1-13

Sligo did enough to earn their first win of the campaign but their three-point home defeat of Wexford, 1-16 to 1-13, didn’t reflect their overall superiority.

In front throughout, Sligo established sizeable leads on three separate occasions at Markievicz Park but ended up having to hang on during nine minutes of added time.

The visitors trimmed the difference to two points, 1-15 to 1-13, two minutes into stoppage time but finished with 14 players when Michael Furlong was shown red for halting substitute Kyle Cawley’s surge at goal. Liam Gaughan converted the subsequent free to leave the difference at a nervy three points - in contrast to earlier in the contest when Sligo three times eased into seven-point leads after zippy attacking play.

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Niall Murphy’s excellent goal after 22 minutes, from Eoin McHugh’s precise assist, put the home side seven up, 1-5 to 0-1, and suggested that Wexford, up from Division Four, were in for a long afternoon, especially with Stephen Coen on fire for Sligo.

But the visitors kept plugging away and were only three points down at half-time, 1-6 to 0-6, after a burst of fine points before half-time.

In the second-half another big Sligo lead was trimmed by a Wexford goal - substitute Cathal Devereux on target after in the 57th minute - but Wexford, even with Ben Brosnan, Daithi Waters and Nick Doyle working hard, were unable to close the gap.

Sligo: A Devaney; R Donovan, L Nicholson, E McGuinness; E McHugh, N Ewing, G O'Kelly-Lynch; P O'Connor (0-3), D Cummins (0-1); F Cawley, N Murphy 1-0, S Carrabine (0-2); S Coen (0-5, 2f), P Hughes (0-1), A Marren (0-3, 3f). Subs: L Gaughan (0-1, 1f) for Hughes (54), K Cawley for Coen (63), P Kilcoyne for O'Kelly-Lynch (67), J Clarke for McHugh (69) (black card), J O'Reilly for Marren (70+7)

Wexford: P Doyle; M Furlong, M O'Neill, J Rossiter; J Stafford (0-3), G Malone, C Carty; D Waters, S Byrne; T Rossiter, B Brosnan (0-4, 1f), D Shanley; P Curtis (0-2), N Doyle (0-2), C McCabe. Subs: C Devereux (1-0) for McCabe (25), D Holmes for O'Neill (h-t), B O'Connor (0-1) for Byrne (42) D Pepper for Curtis (46) ('blood' sub), R Frayne for Shanley (53), S Doyle for Rossiter (58); B O'Gorman (0-1) for Curtis (65)

Referee: Sean Laverty (Antrim)