Lyng happy with Wexford's 'little bit' of atonement
Wexford 2-17
Offaly 0-16
Offaly's Daniel Currams and Wexford?s Richie Kehoe battle possession
Monday June 01 2009
It is not often that you will hear a player describe victory in the championship as only being "a little bit" of atonement for a league reverse.
But that is exactly what Wexford captain Diarmuid Lyng was saying in the aftermath of his side's seven-point victory over Offaly on Saturday night.
The stylish St Martin's stickman was one of his side's heroes, contributing seven points, two from play, a sideline cut and another from an 80m free.
While admitting that he would love Wexford to reach a ninth successive Leinster final, the man known as 'Gizzy' made little attempt to hide the fact that attaining Division 1 status had been the group's priority this season.
"We still need a build-up for next year and we would prefer to be in Division 1. If we'd lost the two games that would have been a disaster, so we'll have to take this as a positive. We'd like to be hurling in Division 1 next year, though, to improve hurling all around the county."
Perhaps the big difference between Saturday night's sun-soaked encounter and the league final loss was the performance of Stephen Banville.
powerful
The powerful Shelmaliers man was a fairly anonymous figure at Semple Stadium four weeks ago, but he terrorised David Kenny this time around, taking him for 2-1, while also scoring a point and winning a lot of possession at right half-forward for most of the second half.
"Two huge goals," declared Lyng.
"When he burst through for the last one, there were two or three lads hanging off him. It was fantastic to see. That's what Stephen's capable of. Once you get the ball into him and he pushes forward, he can do a bit of damage.
"Offaly, in fairness, had that locked down in Semple Stadium. Obviously, we were hoping they wouldn't be able to keep him under wraps as well the second day and thank God they didn't."
The first goal was crucial as Offaly were motoring well, leading by 0-3 to 0-1 and dominating in all areas bar Richie Kehoe's domain in the Wexford half-back line. It helped the Model men maintain parity at the break, 1-6 to 0-9, despite being second best, but they laid the foundation for the win with six consecutive points straight after the resumption.
Right in the middle of that scoring burst, Daniel Currams had a penalty saved by Malachy Travers. With Lyng and Tomas Waters among the scorers, Wexford opened up an eight-point gap. Offaly boss Joe Dooley referred to some of these points coming from "handy frees" but he didn't make a big issue of it.
"Wexford got a run on us after half time; they got three or four points from frees and that took some of the life out of us. We came back strong, but they got a goal at the end to clinch it. I'd be proud of the lads," he said.
Offaly did come out of their slumber to chip away at the deficit. Kevin Brady, the impressive Shane Dooley, Rory Hanniffy, Joe Bergin and Brian Carroll (free) all hit the target and suddenly the gap was down to a goal.
Lyng calmed the home supporters' nerves from a free and then Banville struck for his second a minute from time. Travers and Damien Fitzhenry denied Brian Carroll from another penalty and Wexford's qualification for a Leinster semi-final was assured. Annual punishers, Kilkenny, could provide the opposition.
"If we get Kilkenny we have them here, which at this stage is probably only fair," Lyng laughed ruefully. "Get them here and have a right cut of them.
"They're flying at the moment and obviously Wexford are coming from a far more low key build-up in Division 2. We've nothing to lose. We can throw the kitchen sink at them and the whole of Wexford will get behind us as they did today.
"Who knows? Over 70 minutes anything can happen."
Scorers -- Wexford: S Banville 2-2; D Lyng 0-7 (0-1 sl, 0-4f); T Waters, R Jacob, S Doyle 0-2 each; A Shore, D Redmond 0-1 each. Offaly: S Dooley 0-4; B Carroll 0-3(0-2f); K Brady, B Murphy, J Bergin 0-2 each; R Hanniffy, D Currams, D Horan 0-1 each
Wexford -- D Fitzhenry; M Travers, P Roche, D O'Connor; M Jacob, R Kehoe, C Kenny; P Atkinson, D Lyng; A Shore, T Waters, R Jacob; S Doyle, S Banville, D Redmond. Sub: P Carley for Redmond (62); W Dran for R Jacob (70)
Offaly -- B Mullins; D Franks, D Kenny, P Cleary; J Rigney, G Oakley, R Hanniffy; K Brady, B Murphy; B Carroll, J Brady, D Molloy; S Dooley, D Currams, J Bergin. Subs: D Horan for Oakley blood (5-7); C Parlon for J Brady (45); D Horan for Currams (52); C Mahon for Molloy (52)
Ref -- J Ryan (Tipperary)
- Wexford 2-17 Offaly 0-16 Daragh O Conchuir Leinster SHC
