Wexford are through to the Bord Gais Energy Leinster U21HC final, but only after they survived a late scare from underdogs Carlow in last night's semi-final at Wexford Park.

Wexford 2-17
Carlow 2-13

It was impossible to see a way back for Kevin Ryan's Carlow side at half-time when they trailed by a whopping 16 points, but finished the game very strongly to leave just four points in it at the final whistle.

Wexford, under the management of Tony Dempsey, were utterly dominant in the opening half. With Eoin Moore in fine scoring form, they led by 0-6 to 0-3 after nine minutes with the three Carlow points coming from Dwayne Kavanagh frees.

The Slaneysiders got a lucky break when James Gahan's sideline ball sailed all the way to the net and a second goal from Jamie Reck on 27 minutes eased them into a 2-13 to 0-3 lead at the interval.
Carlow resumed with a pointed free from Paudie Kehoe, but Wexford were still sitting pretty on a 2-15 to 0-8 lead at the end of the third quarter. However, Carlow were given a lifeline when Kehoe pulled back a goal, only for Wexford to respond with points from Michael O'Regan and Liam Og McGovern to lead by 2-17 to 1-9 with eight minutes to go.

As the home side made numerous changes, Carlow hit 1-4 without reply in the closing stages, with the goal coming in injury-time from Alan McDonald. Tweet

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