Wexford SHC: Jonny Dwyer the hero as Ferns St. Aidan's pip St Martin's

Ferns St. Aidan's 1-20 St. Martin’s 0-22

Jonny Dwyer sent over a monstrous sideline-cut five minutes into added-time to finally etch Ferns St. Aidan's onto the Wexford SHC roll of honour after Sunday’s riveting final showdown with St. Martin’s at sun-scorched Chadwicks Wexford Park.

St. Martin’s were threatening to force a replay after free-taker Joe Coleman and Kyle Firman spearheaded a fightback to parity after 60 minutes (0-21 to 1-18).

But Dwyer then turned match-winner, feeding substitute Christopher 'Bitsy’ O’Connor to nudge Ferns back in front, before Dwyer cut the decisive line-ball to clinch the long-awaited breakthrough after five previous final defeats, the most recent in 2013.

Four points were shared before Ferns, with their rearguard dominating, carved out a 0-5 to 0-3 lead at the first drinks break through Ian Byrne (two placed-balls) and Jonny Dwyer.

While the venue was suffering an electricity outage, Ferns appeared to be on a different voltage as they negated Joe Coleman’s third contribution for St. Martin’s by extending into a double-scores lead after 21 minutes (0-8 to 0-4).

Ian Byrne (free), Jonny Dwyer and Diarmuid Doyle generated that margin, althogh Ferns were fortunate when Joe Coleman forced ‘keeper James Lawlor into shipping a fruitless ‘65.

That was an indication that St. Martin’s were finding their mojo as they struck six unanswered scores between the 23rd minute and first minute of stoppage-time to turn the tables by 0-10 to 0-8, a sublime Jack Devereux double adding to strikes from Coleman (two), Kyle Firman and Luke Kavanagh.

But Ferns amped things up when finding the town-end net two minutes into added-time, teenager Corey Byrne-Dunbar gathering in the left corner where he joined forces with Jonny