Ferns St. Aidan's 1-20 St. Martin’s 0-22
Jonny Dwyer sent over a monstrous sideline-cut five minutes into added-time to finally etch Ferns St. Aidan's onto the Wexford SHC roll of honour after Sunday’s riveting final showdown with St. Martin’s at sun-scorched Chadwicks Wexford Park.
St. Martin’s were threatening to force a replay after free-taker Joe Coleman and Kyle Firman spearheaded a fightback to parity after 60 minutes (0-21 to 1-18).
But Dwyer then turned match-winner, feeding substitute Christopher 'Bitsy’ O’Connor to nudge Ferns back in front, before Dwyer cut the decisive line-ball to clinch the long-awaited breakthrough after five previous final defeats, the most recent in 2013.
Four points were shared before Ferns, with their rearguard dominating, carved out a 0-5 to 0-3 lead at the first drinks break through Ian Byrne (two placed-balls) and Jonny Dwyer.
While the venue was suffering an electricity outage, Ferns appeared to be on a different voltage as they negated Joe Coleman’s third contribution for St. Martin’s by extending into a double-scores lead after 21 minutes (0-8 to 0-4).
Ian Byrne (free), Jonny Dwyer and Diarmuid Doyle generated that margin, althogh Ferns were fortunate when Joe Coleman forced ‘keeper James Lawlor into shipping a fruitless ‘65.
That was an indication that St. Martin’s were finding their mojo as they struck six unanswered scores between the 23rd minute and first minute of stoppage-time to turn the tables by 0-10 to 0-8, a sublime Jack Devereux double adding to strikes from Coleman (two), Kyle Firman and Luke Kavanagh.
But Ferns amped things up when finding the town-end net two minutes into added-time, teenager Corey Byrne-Dunbar gathering in the left corner where he joined forces with Jonny Dwyer, who spotted defender Patrick Breen ghosting through to kick to the net, and a late exchange of points left Ferns leading 1-9 to 0-11 at the changeover.
While Ferns had a response to whatever was thrown at them, St. Martin’s fought back to parity on 0-21 to 1-18 by the 60th minute as Kyle Firman thrilled with three from play and Joe Coleman delivered four more vital contributions (four placed-balls).
But Dwyer then turned match-winner, as first he gathered a line-ball to feed ‘Bitsy’ O’Connor to point the red and whites back in front, before Dwyer sent over the decisive point from a sideline cut some 60 yards out on the left five minutes into added-time.
St. Martin’s, the champions of 2017 and 2019, refused to yield, but a mis-struck free deprived them of a chance to steal the show with the final-whistle soon releasing Ferns St. Aidan’s from the tag of bridesmaids to rapturous celebrations amongst connections in the 7,000-strong attendance.
Ferns St. Aidan's: James Lawlor; Patrick Breen (1-0), Niall Murphy, Declan Byrne (capt.); Ciarán Roberts, Eoin Murphy, James Tonks (0-1); Tommy Dwyer, Rory Scallan; Ian Byrne (0-5, 1 '65, 3 frees), Chris Turner, Jonny Dwyer (0-4, 1 line-ball); Diarmuid Doyle (0-2), Paul Morris (0-3, 1 free), Corey Byrne-Dunbar (0-3).
Subs: Benny Jordan (0-1) for I. Byrne, inj. (38), John Breen for Turner (41), Christopher O’Connor (0-1) for Doyle (57), Ryan Nolan for Scallan (60+1), Turner for Byrne-Dunbar, temp. (62-64).
St. Martin’s: Dylan Byrne; Diarmuid O’Leary, Joe Barrett (0-1), Patrick O’Connor; Philip Dempsey, Conor Firman (capt.), David Codd; Jake Firman (0-1), Mark Maloney; Luke Kavanagh (0-1), Aaron Maddock (0-1), Joe Coleman (0-10, 7 frees, 1 ‘65s); Mikey Coleman (0-1), Kyle Firman (0-5), Jack Devereux (0-2).
Subs: Darren Codd for Devereux (42), Willie Devereux for Kavanagh (49), Jack O’Connor for M. Coleman (52), Daithí Waters for Maloney (54).
Referee: Eamonn Furlong (Rapparees).
