Second-half surge wins Nickey Rackard Cup for Wicklow

Wicklow's stay in the Nickey Rackard Cup was a short one, as the Garden County completed their successful rebound from last year’s relegation with a two-point win over Donegal in this afternoon’s final.

The Ulster men had the better of the first half and put themselves in a commanding position thanks to goals from Liam McKinney and Ryan Hilferty, but Wicklow were dominant in the second half and controlled the game, building up a five-point lead before Luke White’s stoppage time goal from a free rounded off the scoring.

Ultimately, Casey O’Brien’s troops just had too much scoring power, particularly off the bench. Seánie Germaine, Daniel Staunton and Pádraig Doyle added six points between them after coming into the game, whereas a Donegal side that was operating without star forward Declan Coulter, simply didn’t have the same range of threats.

By some distance, Donegal’s sharpest weapon up front was Ronan McDermott at full-forward. The Burt man struck three points of his own, but also played central roles in the goals that were finished by Hilferty and McKinney, as his ability to win his own ball and get a clever pass away in little or no space caused Wicklow a world of problems.

McDermott's third point, kicked over the bar from close range in what was an attempt to score a goal of his own, made it 2-08 to 0-08, but Wicklow picked off the last two points before half-time, both from Moorehouse, to shift momentum ever so slightly before the break.

Wicklow continued to play on the front foot after half-time but missed some early chances, while a delightful sideline cut from Gerry Gilmore pushed Donegal’s lead out to five, but already they were showing signs of taking control of the game.

Defensively they were to hold Donegal to