It was Wexford who almost broke the deadlock in the second minute. Darragh Levingston slipped a lovely pass through the Kerry defence which Thomas Oluwa took in his stride but his effort struck low for the left corner and rebounded off the bottom of the post.

Kerry had their first chance in the tenth minute when Ryan Kelliher glanced a header wide of the Wexford goal. The Kingdom started to hit a purple patch and when a move starting from Nathan Gleeson clearing a corner resulted in Ronan Teahan racing down the right wing, Kelliher had a chance which just went wide.

Aaron O’Sullivan was the busier net minder and he had his palms stung when Reece Webb drove into the area but the effort was straight at the Kerry keeper. Nathan Gleeson had a chance in the 21st minute while Ethan Boyle came close at the other as he headed over from close range in a very end to end opening period.

Whatever was said at the break spurred Wexford on as they scored the opener two minutes into the second half. Daire McCarthy was dispossessed in the midfield and Mikie Rowe played a pass down the right channel for Oluwa.

He used his pace to evade Ethan Kos before cutting into the area, and he made no mistake finding the bottom left corner this time.

Kerry came close in the 51st minute when Amechi curled a shot from range that glanced past Moody’s right hand upright. Shy of the hour mark, Kerry came close to an equaliser when O’Connell floated a dangerous free kick which Kos headed for goal but Moody managed to claw away the effort.

Disaster struck for Kerry in the 72nd minute when Kevin Williams was shown a second yellow card after a coming together with Oluwa, a very harsh decision one that gave Kerry a bigger mountain to climb to come back into the tie.

However it was the Kingdom who had the next big chance as Teahan set up Kelliher on the edge of the box and the shot dragged right and wide.

Wexford almost sealed the win with five minutes left as a long ball over the top was not dealt with by Andy Spain, a miscommunication with his keeper almost gifted Aaron Dobbs a goal but the effort dragged just wide of the goal.

Then the drama as Kerry equalised the third minute of eight minutes stoppage time. Okwute played a ball across the face of goal from the left hand side and Kelliher slid along the turf to pounce and finish to the net.

KERRY FC: A O’Sullivan; K Williams, E Kos, A Spain, S O’Connell (C Brosnan 83); D McCarthy, R Teahan, S McGrath (S Aladesanusi 77); K Amechi, R Kelliher, K Amechi, N Gleeson (D Okwute 61).

WEXFORD: A Moody; R Webb, C Lennox, S McHale, J Crawford; E Boyle, K Corbally (M Hanratty 76), D Levingston; M Rowe (L Lovic 76), T Oluwa (A Robinson 81), C Curtis (A Dobbs 60).

Referee: R Dowling (Offaly).