Dublin dominated from the off against Wexford Minor footballers

The hosts were on fire in the early stages and stormed into a 2-2 to nil lead inside seven minutes, and even at that early stage it was clear that our provincial campaign was about to come to an end.

It was a pity that these promising youngsters didn’t get more time to savour their fabulous success away to Meath, but there could be no complaints with the outcome here as a rampant Dublin were simply operating at a higher level.

The situation looked ominous from the off, with no Wexford player managing to touch the ball before Rían Doherty picked off the opening Dublin point.

And the visiting defence was split wide open on the first of several occasions in the third minute, with a Finn McGinnis delivery finding Josh Kennedy who in turn picked out Charlie Loughran, before centre-forward Cillian McCabe drilled low to the net.

The second goal followed in the fifth minute, with Kennedy swapping passes with Loughran before sending a long handpass from the right to the far post for Senan Bolger to execute a clinical finish.

Bolger quickly added a point, and it required a fine save from John Gallagher to prevent a third goal in the seventh minute, diving to his right to deny midfielder Cian Gavin after a kick-out was turned over and Rían Doherty put his colleague into the clear.

Dublin had clearly done their homework on the underdogs, with Killian Costello keeping a tight rein on dangerman Tom Funge.

And after Ian Noctor dropped back to fill his regular sweeping role, defender Eoghan O’Donovan also vacated his position in order to go man-to-man on Seán Fitzharris.

The Dublin mentors had identified that the powerful runs made by Funge and Fitzharris were instrumental to Wexford’s progress up to this point, so they were intent on stemming that flow and largely succeeded

Fortunately for the visitors, their rivals were a little wayward in their execution for a period after that early scoring burst, going without another score for more than 13 minutes.

The opening Wexford point finally arrived from an Odhrán Morris free at the start of the second quarter after a high boot impeded Darren Rossiter.

The Castletown lad added a second after earning the free himself in the 19th minute, but Dublin got back on track with the first of two scores from wing-back Ryan Ennis before Charlie Loughran drilled a shot into the side-netting.

Wexford clearly needed a goal to give them a lift, and it almost arrived in the 21st minute. Morris, Rossiter and Funge combined before the latter returned the ball to his fellow joint-captain from Gusserane, but his shot flew agonisingly across goal and wide of the right-hand post.

Another opportunity quickly presented itself, after an attempt at a point by Jamie Hughes rebounded off the woodwork. Rossiter latched on to the break and popped a pass across the square to Darragh Forde, but he couldn’t keep his shot down and it flew over the bar (2-3 to 0-3).

Dublin realised they had been lucky to survive those two attacks, and they quickly set about well and truly wrapping up the contest.

Their strong running from deep was proving impossible to curb, with defenders Jack O’Keeffe and Josh Kennedy claiming points before a mark by Ryan Ennis from the resultant kick-out laid the platform for goal number three.

The move ended with Eoghan O’Donovan handpassing the ball to Charlie Loughran and, although John Gallagher got his body behind the shot, he was unlucky to see it squirm past him and into the net (3-5 to 0-3).

Rían Doherty and Cillian McCabe added points before Odhrán Morris left Wexford trailing by 3-7 to 0-4 after a foul on Seán Fitzharris, but the fact that the entire tally for the Dubs had arrived from open play said it all in terms of their dominance.

Wexford showed some early promise on the restart, with Funge winning the throw-in and sending a quick ball in to Rossiter who was fouled.

Morris did the needful from the free, before Ian Noctor ventured forward from his defensive berth to kick the sweetest point of the night off the outside of his right boot in the 33rd minute (3-7 to 0-6).

That brief momentum was quickly brought to a halt when Fintan Lydon sent a low shot to the left corner of the net on the next Dublin attack, and Rían Doherty added goal number five after slipping away from Kian Steadmond in the 38th minute.

Wexford moved Tom Funge to full-forward but were restricted to consolation points from Odhrán Morris (free), Jamie Hughes and Morris from play as the game petered out to its inevitable conclusion.

It was a disappointing night to be sure, but all is not lost as Wexford are among the eleven counties eligible for the newly-created All-Ireland Tier 2 championship at this level.

They will enter the action at the preliminary quarter-final stage on May 25, against opposition to be decided.

Wexford: John Gallagher (Volunteers); Kian Steadmond (Ballynastragh Gaels), Liam Kenny (Castletown), Seán Fitzharris (Rathgarogue-Cushinstown); Rory Cooper (Ballynastragh Gaels), Eoin Hughes (Ballynastragh Gaels), James Rothwell (HWH-Bunclody); Tom Funge (Naomh Éanna, joint-capt.), Fionn Kavanagh (Castletown); Jamie Hughes (Ballynastragh Gaels, 0-1), Odhrán Morris (Castletown, 0-6, 5 frees), Darragh Forde (Ballynastragh Gaels, 0-1); Abram O’Neill (Monageer-Boolavogue), Darren Rossiter (Gusserane, joint-capt.), Ian Noctor (Castletown, 0-1). Subs. – Alex Carton (St. Patrick’s) for Kenny, temp. (14-18), Adam Furlong (St. Patrick’s) for Gallagher (HT), Carton for Forde (37), Andrew Kelly (St. Mary’s, Maudlintown) for O’Neill (42), Cathal Power (Duffry Rovers) for Rothwell (42), Mitch Cullen (Gusserane) for Steadmond (46), also Dylan Hayes (Bannow-Ballymitty), Ben Furlong (Ballynastragh Gaels), Max Beary (Shelmaliers), Conall Butler (Kilrush).

Dublin: Finn McDonnell; Eoghan O’Donovan, Jack O’Keeffe (0-1), Dara O’Sullivan; Josh Kennedy (0-1), Finn McGinnis, Ryan Ennis (0-2); Cian Gavin, Killian Costello; Danny McGill, Cillian McCabe (1-1), Senan Bolger (1-1); Charlie Loughran (1-0), Fintan Lydon (1-0), Rían Doherty (1-3, 0-1 free). Subs. – Hugh O’Neill (0-2) for McCabe (HT), Jack McNair for Kennedy (45), Jacob Comiskey for Doherty (48), Shane Devane for O’Donovan (48), Jack O’Connor for O’Sullivan (53).

Referee: Darragh Byrne (Wicklow).