Crummey plays a captain’s role with late point for county hurlers

The Dublin Hurlers drew with Wexford last Saturday evening after an incredibly gutsy performance in Croke Park with the scores finishing 4-19 to 3-22 in a game where tempers flared throughout.

Lucan Sarsfields man and captain Chris Crummey would be the hero on the day scoring a last second point to secure a point for Dublin.

The game would certainly be an eventful one and it was Dublin who looked set to secure victory early on in the match after two first half goals from Cian O’Sullivan and John Hetherton put them on good track.

However they would squander their lead towards the end of the half. Simon Roche would keep Wexford in the game with consistent free taking and a goal from Kevin Foley just before halftime would essentially wipe out any advantage that Dublin would have hoped to take into the break.

Things went from bad to worse for the home side as Conor Groarke found himself booked for a second time and received his marching orders in injury time of the first half.

Roche and Lee Chin would be on hand to take advantage and put Wexford up 1-13 to 2-08 by the interval.

Wexford looked to take advantage of their superior numbers however momentum swung back in Dublin’s favour as Richie Lawlor of Wexford received a black card and Donal Burke coolly slotted home the resulting penalty.

Wexford shortly after would receive a penalty of their own after Dublin player Conor Burke was blackcarded.

Keeper Sean Brennan was on hand however to make an excellent save.

Wexford would get more goals however as Kevin Foley regained the lead for the visitors at the end of the third quarter for his second of the night.

 

Dublin refused to take it lying down however and would get another goal themselves with John Hetherton grabbing his second of the game.

Despite the fight on display it looked to all be in vain as Paddy Smyth saw himself sent off, with Dublin now reduced to 13 men, Lee Chin converted the penalty to give Wexford the lead heading into the final minutes of the game.

Dublin battled on however, despite their disadvantage and Brian Hayes clipped over several points to keep them hot on the heels.

Crummey would be the one to get Dublin over the line with a dramatic last second point to secure a well earned draw.

Manager Niall O Ceallachain gave his thoughts on Dublin’s disciplinary record.

“We found ourselves essentially two men down for about 17,18 minutes of the game overall. It’s a hard scenario to be in Croke Park. Overwhelmingly proud of the heart and desire to pull something out of that game so mixed emotions overall.”

“We need to be at that top level all the time if we’re going to get to where we need to. We can’t have periods like that second quarter mainly. Even though we were a man or two down at times I still thought we had more in us and if we want to keep progressing we can’t have more of those periods.”

After several disciplinary actions throughout the game, perhaps it was not a surprise that the melee erupted at the end of the match with both sets of players involved.

Dublin find themselves next in action this Sunday as they take on Antrim.