Mick O'Dwyer watched his Wicklow troops chalk up win number two of their season in weather-beaten Aughrim this afternoon, as they beat Wexford 0-07 to 0-05 in this O’Byrne Cup quarter-final.
Wexford, who were afforded a walkover by Dundalk IT in last weekend's first round, were left shell-shocked as second half points from Paul Earls and Tony Hannon were enough to send O'Dwyer's new team, who led 0-05 to 0-00 at the break, through to the last-four.
The winners of tomorrow's clash between Dublin and Westmeath - which is a repeat of last summer's All-Ireland quarter-final - will face Wicklow next Saturday.
O'Dwyer said afterwards: 'Obviously, I'm very pleased. We were only five points up at half-time but we held the ball up very well and Wexford failed to score (for the last 20 or so minutes).
'It was a very good display, but I have to say the conditions were unbelievable. It's as bad as I've seen in many a long day, that's for sure.
'In fairness, they have been putting in a lot of hard work I'm pleased with them but we are not the finished article but we're working towards 20 May.'
Wicklow have a Leinster SFC opener against Louth at Croke Park that day and these two wins over neighbours Carlow and Wexford will have instilled some much-needed confidence in the Garden County’s ranks.
Four points from the boot of full-forward Paul Earls - the St Patrick's attacker's haul included two points from play, a free and a great score from the left sideline - nosed wind-aided Wicklow into their healthy interval lead.
Leighton Glynn, who was back in attack after deputising in defence last weekend, also pointed early on for the hosts.
But poor discipline looked like undoing Wicklow's good work as six of their players, including the hard-working Glynn, were yellow carded in the first half.
A solid start to the second period from Paul Bealin's Wexford side saw them back on terms within 13 minutes.
Substitute Peter Hughes, former All-Star Mattie Forde, who was making his return to inter-county action after his three-month suspension, Rory Stafford and Diarmuid Kinsella (0-02) all pointed in quick succession for the visitors.
But rustiness blighted Wexford's play - Forde missed a gilt-edged goal chance after Adrian Morrissey had put him through one-on-one with Wicklow 'keeper James Bolger.
And the Kilanerin star also missed a handful of frees which he would normally bisect the posts with.
With Wicklow's tireless full-back line of Ciaran Hyland, Dara O'hAnnaidh and Alan Byrne doing enough to keep Forde and company scoreless from the 48th-minute onwards, the home side nipped back in front.
Earls curled over a free and Jacko Dalton played in Hannon for a sweet right-footed finish on 61 minutes which proved to be the clinching point.
Rathnew's statuesque midfielder James Stafford, who is quickly becoming a crowd favourite in Aughrim with his tough-tackling style, could be one of a growing number of players to blossom during Micko's reign.
Wicklow: J Bolger; C Hyland, D O'hAnnaidh, A Byrne; S Cushe, C Foley, N Martin; J Stafford, JP Dalton (0-01); J Slattery, S King, P Phibbs; L Glynn (0-01), P Earls (0-05, 2f, 1sl), D Jackman.
Subs used: E Flynn for Phibbs (60 mins), T Hannon for King (64), D Power for Martin (70).
Wexford: A Masterson; D Byrne, P Wallace, N Murphy; C Morris, D Murphy, G Molloy; R Stafford (0-01, 1sl), E Bradley; C Deely, G Coleman, D Kinsella (0-02); C Lyng, A Morrissey, M Forde (0-01, 1f).
Subs used: P Hughes (0-01) for Coleman (26 mins), B Malone for Morris (31), R Quinlivan for Bradley (58), PJ Banville for Lyng (64), A Flynn for Morrissey (69).
Referee: Sean Carroll (Westmeath)
