Antrim beaten by Wexford in Leinster SHC opener
Wexford avenged their Leinster Championship defeat by Antrim last year as they beat the Saffrons 2-24 to 0-19 in the provincial series opener at Wexford Park.
Antrim started impressively as they led 0-6 to 0-2 after nine minutes but Lee Chin's nine points helped the home side fight back to lead 0-14 to 0-10 at half-time, despite having Jack O'Connor sent off on 21 minutes.
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Chin went on to finish with 0-16 for Wexford although the key goals which effectively ended Antrim's hopes were scored by Kevin Foley and Cian Byrne in the 53rd and 60th minutes.
Antrim's early lead could have been even bigger with Nigel Elliott going close to notching a goal in the opening seconds and Gerard Walsh then firing a penalty over the crossbar for the opening score.
Walsh lined out despite the death of his younger sister Fionnuala last week and he went on to tally 0-4 for the Saffrons.
However after trailing 0-6 to 0-2, Wexford responded with six unanswered scores as Chin hit four straight points before two more Rory O'Connor efforts.
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Jack O'Connor's sending off for an apparent strike looked to be a major boost for Davy Fitzgerald's side on his return to Wexford Park after being in charge of the county between 2016 and 2021.
But with Chin continuing to fire over points from frees and play and Conor Hearne also notching two scores, Wexford led 0-14 to 0-10 at the interval.
Two superb James McNaughton scores helped reduce Wexford's lead to 0-15 to 0-13 but the home side regained control with four straight scores, with included two more frees from home skipper Chin.
Keelan Molloy then had a goal chance for the Saffrons but Wexford keeper Mark Fanning made a brilliant save to divert the sliotar over the crossbar for a point.
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The Saffrons were still in touch at 0-20 to 0-16 down but Foley's goal after he won the ball from a puckout and ran straight through the middle to fire past Ryan Elliott put Wexford in control.
Any remote hopes of a late Antrim fightback were ended by Cian Byrne's goal which was set up by Cian Molloy seconds after the Saffrons had been reduced to 14 men themselves following Conor Boyd's second yellow card.
After his side had appeared to be the victims of several harsh refereeing calls, Antrim boss Fitzgerald was yellow carded for protests in the closing stages.
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