Cavan success against Wexford in Under 21 Semi Final

Cavan 1-10 Wexford 0-8

Just three days after winning the Cadbury's U21 Ulster Football Championship final, Cavan advanced to the All-Ireland Championship final after a hard-fought five-pint win over Leinster Champions Wexford.

Terry Hyland's charges swapped celebrations for rehabilitation on Wednesday night and were the first team off the mark in Parnell Park within 60 seconds of throw-in. Seven minutes later Michael Brady doubled their lead before the Model County rallied with three unanswered scores to eek them into a slender lead. But the deficit could have been more but for two heroic goal-line clearances from Fergal Flanagan.

On 19 minutes Cavan were level when full-forward Niall McDonald opted to go over the bar rather than go for the gaping goal that lay in front of him. By this stage Wexford were dominating midfield as Cavan struggled to win their own kick-outs but unfortunately for the Leinster Champions they were not converting their scores.

The sides traded scores again before the short whistle to leave it level on 0-4 to 0-4 at the interval.

Within four minutes of the restart, Cavan registered the goal that changed the complexion of the game completely when Jack Brady fed Niall McDermott who hammered the ball home. Cavan's lead was compounded less than a minute later when Niall Smith's score but four points between them.

Wexford got themselves back on the scoresheet through James Breen before Cavan goalkeeper Alan O'Mara was called into duty making the first of two fine saves. In the 47th minute Breen kicked his fourth score of the evening to close the gap to 0-1 but a series of wides proved costly for Kevin Kehoe's team as Cavan went on to kick four points with reply before Breen notched his fifth and Wexford's final score of the evening.

Wexford had their chances but a total of 11 wides to Cavan's 3 proved a telling statistic in the end.