Wexford manager Keith Rossiter says he was delighted with the bottle his players showed to eke out a draw in their Allianz League opener against neighbours Kilkenny.
The Yellowbellies have beaten the Cats in consecutive Leinster Championship games over the last two years but they made the short trip to UPMC Nowlan Park with an inexperienced team in place.
The likes of Matthew O'Hanlon, Diarmuid O’Keeffe, and Conor McDonald were absent for Rossiter's side who went in four down at the break against a wasteful Cats outfit.
The second half burst into life with the lead changing hands on a couple of occasions but when BIlly Drennan scored his second penalty of the half with the game ticking into added time - Damien Reck was sent off for a second card in the build up - it looked like Wexford would be coming away with no points.
They hadn't read the script however as Lee Chin forced a goal chance. It was saved but Cian Byrne reacted quickest to bury the equaliser and neither side could force a winner, with Drennan dropping a free short at the death.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Rossiter told RTÉ's Sunday Sport that he was satisfied to get something out of a tight game.
"It was up and down and the heart was racing at times but delighted to get the result," he said, "it's a point on the board."
Wexford had elected to play against the breeze but it worked out as Kilkenny hit six wides before the break.
"We're trying out different things and seeing what the team is about. Would we try it again, I don't know. We'll be at Wexford Park next weekend to play Offaly and there's guaranteed to be a breeze again.
"We might do something different.
"Kilkenny missed a couple of frees and it could have been six or seven [points] in a heartbeat. We were flat, weren't winning much breaks... we were second to a lot of the play.
"We were fumbling a lot of ball. That'd be unlike us over the last few weeks. It's a step up from the Walsh Cup, a lof of guy making their league debut, new fellas out - I'd put it down to that.
"The first penalty, 100% guaranteed [penalty] - I thought the second one he might have been done for steps before he was fouled.
"We bounced back from the two sucker punches. We got a lucky break but when you're in the fight and fighting hard those breaks will probably come for you.
"It did at the end."
Off the back of a winning the pre-season Walsh Cup Rossiter says he's happy with how things are going, with the games coming thick and fast in his first year in charge.
"It's great experience for the amount of young lads who are getting games at the minute. We've a lot of lads to come back from injury and hopefully they'll be back in the squad and around the matchday panel by the middle of the league.
"Momentum is great and it's giving the young lads great confidence. It gives you a great bit of buzz to get back in training during the week and train hard again. When you're getting results it makes things that little bit easier. You can train that bit harder and they're happy to do it.
"But Offaly next week at Chadwicks Wexford Park, that'll be a fight as well."
