IF YOU’RE SEARCHING for the most important 60 seconds of Wexford’s stunning defeat of Kilkenny tonight, then it’s impossible to look past the 57th minute.
Having trailed by 1-13 to 1-5 after 40 minutes, Colin Fennelly had hauled the Cats back into contention with a devastating double blow.
First he drilled in a delightful goal from outside the 21, before winning a penalty that TJ Reid would stitch into the top corner. Kilkenny were back within a point and sensing blood. Wexford, it seemed, were heading for the qualifiers on the back of another moral victory.
But the script writers forgot to tell Lee Chin.
With the game on the line and all the momentum against them, the Wexford powerhouse stuck his hand up and plucked a Mark Fanning puck-out from the clouds.
Within seconds, the umpire behind the town end was reaching for a white flag. Chin’s team-mates stuck their chests out from that point. If their belief had wavered moments later, Chin’s intervention put them firmly back on track.
He added a point from a 65, while further scores followed from Matthew O’Hanlon and Shane Tomkins as they outscored their opponents by 0-4 to 0-2 down the stretch.
“Big time players make big time plays in big time games,” former NFL wide receiver Santana Moss once stated. That perfectly depicted Chin’s timely intervention that led his county to a famous victory.
“Look it, today it was me and the next day it could be another guy,” Chin said after the game.
“I knew when we got hit with a couple of goals it was going to take a certain moment to really get everyone going again. Luckily Mark Fanning pucked the ball down my way and I caught it and put it over the bar.
“Another day it could have been somebody else, there’s a lot of leaders in this team.”
A year ago Wexford were dumped out in the Leinster quarter-final after a 13-point trimming by Dublin. What a difference a year makes.
“Davy has us very confident,” explained Chin. “Very confident in each other and very confident in the team and our plan.
“I suppose as well the start we got in the National League is helping us as well in terms of being behind in a couple of big games and pulling it back too. That’s given us confidence along the way.
“The more games you play and the more you win, the more confidence grows. I suppose that was a result of today as well.”
A Leinster final against Galway or Offaly awaits on 2 July. The hype in Wexford will surely ratchet up another couple of notches before then.
“Look, we haven’t been in Croke Park very often. Last year was the first time in eight years and it was the first round of the championship. This time it will be extra-special because it’s the Leinster Final. Hopefully they turn up.
“This county always goes nuts when we win!” he grinned
A truer word has never been spoken.
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