Ryan the driving force as Starlights regain Wexford title

Starlights 0-17 St Martin’s 1-08 

Starlights bridged a 13-year gap with a shock six point victory over St. Martin’s in their Wexford senior football championship final at Innovate Wexford Park.

St. Martin’s, having won the senior hurling title seven days earlier, never really got off the ground in their quest for the ‘double’ as Starlights, inspired by Liam Ryan in midfield, dominated the game throughout. 

It was the inspirational fielding and driving runs of Ryan that provided the leadership for Starlights as he totally outplayed Martin's midfielder Daithi Waters. 

St. Martin’s struggled to match the pace and the skillful attacking football of their opponents, and while they managed to gain some momentum in the closing ten minutes, they were unable to create the goal chance they so badly needed to haul themselves back into the game.

Starlights took full advantage of their opponents failure to turn some early chances into scores, as they themselves managed to build a 0-4 to 0-1 lead by the twelfth minute.

While a superb twenty-first minute Ciaran Lyng goal brought some life into the St. Martin’s play they still trailed 0-9 to 1-2 at the interval, as Alan Tobin, Pepper and Eamon Furlong were all on target for the eventual winners.

The expected St. Martin’s second half recovery failed to materialise for Starlights had the perfect start to the second half with two Dylan Redmond pointed frees, and while St. Martin’s pushed forward they spurned many chances of scores with wayward finishing, and it was Starlights who controlled the closing quarter showing their defensive qualities and quick counter attacks they led to the crucial scores with some excellent point taking.

Starlights: D Pepper, A Tobin (1f) 0-4 each; D Redmond 0-3 frees, R O’Connor 0-2, K Foley, L Ryan, R Farrell, E Furlong 0-1 each.E O’Byrne for M Coleman (57

St. Martin’s: C Lyng (0-3 f) 1-3, Jack O’Connor, J Firman 0-2 each, R O’Connor 0-1.

Starlights:  P Doyle; R O’Connor, T Wall, M Doyle; J Kelly, R Fox, K Foley; L Ryan, R Farrell; A Tobin, N Doyle, D Redmond; D Pepper, E Furlong, R Mahon. Subs: A Dobbs for Farrell (32), B Edwards for Fox (57), T Mahon for Redmond (60), J Russell for Furlong (60).

St. Martin’s: T Hayes; M Coleman, W Devereux, H O’Connor; C Firman, A Maddock, Joe O’Connor; D Waters, Jack O’Connor; P Kelly, J Carthy, R O’Connor; B O’Connor, C Lyng, J Firman. Subs: J Coleman for B O’Connor (28); R Murphy for Kelly (42), P Barry for R O’Connor (50), E O’Byrne for M Coleman (51), D Codd for Carthy (58).

Referee: B Redmond (Clonard).