After a brief flirtation with competitiveness, yesterday's Guinness Leinster hurling championship semi-final at Croke Park degenerated into a dour morass of errors, devoid of any sustained quality. Wexford won easily in the end as they had threatened initially.
In between, Laois clawed back the deficit to a mere two points by the 41st minute, 0-9 to 0-7, but then meekly surrendered the initiative, allowing their opponents to stir themselves from their torpor. Laois corner forward Fionan O'Sullivan could have reduced the gap further but his poor strike, when well placed, marked a watershed.
Wexford rattled off five unanswered points in a 10-minute spell, guaranteeing the contest would peter out to its expected conclusion. While a place in the Leinster final will be welcomed by Wexford folk, it will be embraced with some trepidation on the strength of yesterday's outing. Paul Codd contributed 10 of the 17 points, all from frees, which was as damning an indictment of the Wexford forwards as of Laois's indiscipline. Codd, full forward Gary Laffan and Barry Goff struggled against a tenacious Laois full-back line, epitomised by the excellent Seamus Dooley at full back.
He was facilitated by a collective Wexford penchant for overplaying the ball or simply failing to deliver possession to unmarked colleagues. The winners' half-forward line had a patchy afternoon, Larry Murphy an honourable exception in terms of winning and breaking ball. His shooting, though, was casually wayward. Wexford amassed 14 wides. Rory McCarthy drifted on the periphery of the game until the second half when he scored two fine points. In mitigation, the Wexford forwards did work hard in closing down their immediate opponents. Laois tried to flood the midfield with bodies but the excellent Wexford half-back line denied them time and space.
Laois craved those commodities but in dwelling on the ball they allowed themselves to be relieved of possession, thereby spurning several good scoring opportunities. Darren Rooney drifted out from full forward, using his physique to good effect but he found Wexford captain Darragh Ryan a worthy adversary.
Laois midfielder David Cuddy spurned three early frees before eventually contributing four points. His work ethic could not be faulted, nor that of his midfield partner James Young in a very competitive section of the pitch. Wexford sailed three points clear in the first six minutes but it took a wonderful block by Ryan on the charging Ollie Dowling to preserve that advantage.
Another four points without reply, the best of them from left half back Declan Ruth, offered ominous portents for the match as a contest. The Laois half forwards were being completely eclipsed but gradually they clawed their way back into the contest as Wexford sat back mentally. David Cuddy grabbed the first point from a free and the third from a 65, Rooney tagging on another in between.
Wexford replied with Codd's fourth and fifth frees but as the interval beckoned Laois offered a semblance of hope to their supporters with points from Rooney and corner forward Damien Culleton. When David Cuddy added a free three minutes after the restart and Joe Phelan struck a marvellous point, the deficit was down to two points and Laois voices could be heard in the crowd.
Manager Sean Cuddy had switched Ollie Dowling and Joe Phelan and it initially engendered a greater cutting edge. Laois's revival, though, merely served to tantalise as Wexford regrouped and increased their work-rate, demonstrating the greater desire in the 50-50 contests. Five points, the pick of which was a wonderful long-range score from midfielder Michael Jordan, saw them pull away to a 0-14 to 07 lead.
The hurling continued to be hard and uncompromising but there was precious little flair and poise to go with the perspiration. The teams shared six points in the closing 18 minutes, Damien Fitzhenry in the Wexford goal impressively coping with the occasional moments of uncertainty among his defenders. Wexford manager Tony Dempsey is a pragmatist and realises a huge improvement is required.
Wexford - 0-17 P Codd 0-10, 10 frees; R McCarthy 0-2; D Ruth 0-1; M Jordan 01; G Laffan 0-1; B Goff 0-1; A Fenlon 0-1 sideline.
Laois - 0-10 D Cuddy 0-4, three frees, one 65; D Rooney 0-2, one free; J Young 0-1; J Phelan 0-1; P Cuddy 0-1; D Culleton 0-1.
Referee: A MacSuibhne (Dublin).
Attendance: 45,475.
