Ciara O'Connor: Draw with Kilkenny 'a step in the right direction' for Wexford

Ciara O'Connor was finding it hard to make sense of it all, after putting the exclamation mark to a thrilling Wexford fightback as well as a magnificent personal nine-point contribution with a brilliant injury-time score securing a 1-17 to 3-11 draw for the visitors against All-Ireland champions Kilkenny in the first round of the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship (Group 2) on Saturday.

The point came after O’Connor’s sister and former All-Star, won a do-or-die possession, lost her hurl in the process and so kicked expertly in the direction of her sibling, who showed good strength to gather before driving forward and sending over that soaring equaliser on the run.

That arrived as the clock moved into the seventh minute of additional time and six minutes after early second-half sub, Áine Lacey had astonishingly flicked an airborne sliotar from a seemingly impossible position with her back to the goal and outside the left post to the far corner of the net for what will take some beating for goal of the year.

Kilkenny were shellshocked and conceded the last goal and four points of the game. Denise Gaule, Katie Power and Katie Nolan (who was the Stripeywomen’s top scorer with six points) had put them in a decent position when pointing in response to Shelley Kehoe’s early goal for Wexford and Ciara O’Connor’s outstanding two-point sideline.

Julianne Malone goaled 40 seconds into the second half and Brian Dowling's side looked to be coasting as points from Aoife Doyle, her sister Kellyann and Gaule put them ten clear, but a Linda Bolger goal breathed life into Wexford and given their dominance in the final quarter, a share of the spoils was deserved.

"I don’t even know where to start," said Ciara O’Connor, who was