His time in inter county management is up
He was interviewed pre-match, so Iâd assume so
Davyâs time was up years ago.
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He might take over from his mate Seoirse in Westmeath.
A good day out in Corrigan Pk. The scoreline in the end flattered Antrim. Dublin left an easy 2-6 behind. Antrim are so poor. Had a nice breeze in the 2nd half and played for about 15 mins with no full forward line. The rest of the time they had one inside. No sweeper, just loads of bodies in the middle, with no one with any idea what to do with the ball bar draw a free. Antrim would be far better served with Babs Keating in charge. Davys media men will no doubt come up with excuses for him.
NOC has done a great job with Dublin. They are well coached and have a plan. Paddy Smyth and Paddy Doyle were both very good at the back. McHugh did a damage limitation job on McNaughton who was Antrims best man by a mile. Eddie Gibbons is goal is now a top 5 keeper in the country. His puckouts are pinpoint and general game involvement is huge. Brian Hayes is a big threat with his pace carrying ball. Up front Sean Currie and Cian O Sullivan were the main men today. Hedgo had quiet day. Donal Burke came on and then went off inj. A recurrence of the shoulder vs Offaly.
However stiffer tests await and the cracks will be exposed but its encouraging.
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How was the overall Corrigan experience?
I only had half the clan with me. A 3 + 4 year old so I was hamstrung a bit.
I actually made it up in good time and parked about 5 mins away. I was able to get a spot in the stand. I had enough on my hands minding small people but had a few interaction with stewards, chip van men and political canvassers. They were all bang on.
The place is boutique alright. A lovely place for a BOICMC, however itâs strange having a championship game there. There are about 10 better club grounds in Tipp.
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With the help of God (and the DUP) we will have Casement in operation the next time you are up.
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John Kenny in Nowlan Park 
No sign of the famed Offaly support today either.
jez man, not sure we want that as it may mean the ulster football final will not be in Clones
Just like his dad, but strikes me as having a higher ceiling.
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John invariably calling Stephen Donnelly Cian Kenny
Do you remember they used to have these ads on British telly asking people to donate to a charity aimed at protecting children from parental violence.
The ad would feature a heart rending picture of a child around the age of five or six. The child would be on the verge of tears but would be bottling it up, too scarred mentally to even cry. This heart rending picture was clearly designed to imply this child was being beaten and abused by a monster of a father and possibly mother. The child was was UNLOVED.
All this child wanted, like any child, was to feel loved and respected by those closest to them. But they didnât have this, and that was a tragedy.
The GAA equivalent of this child is the Leinster hurling championship.
While all official documentation says it is equal to its Munster counterpart, the pictures of the empty seats, terraces, and grass banks from yesterdayâs games were heart rending. This competition is deeply unloved, beaten, abused, too emotionally stunted and scarred to even imagine a future.
Was there a crowd of even 5k at the heavyweight clash of Galway and Wexford?
Did the knowledgable Kilkenny hardcore really have to politely but patronisiongly applaud Oisin Kellyâs consolation goal for Offaly? Did TJ Reid really have to drop puck and wrongfoot the Offaly goalkeeper for a goal to emphasise in the most brutal way the gap in class?
Did RTE really have to emphasise the unloved child nature of this competition by sending John Kenny to Nowlan Park (maybe he was in an insulated freight container in Montrose?)?
Did Darren Frehill have to startle me in the stand in Clones as I had one earphone in listening to his final whistle score update of Antrim v Dublin at 5:35pm yesterday when he exclaimed âgreat scenes here at Corrigan Parkâ? Did he have to startle me into assuming by his words that Antrim had won when in fact Dublin had notched a facile victory?
Do Galway not feel a pang of remorse that theyâve now settled into a role where theyâre good enough to qualify ahead of Wexford but behind Dublin year on year and are thus condemining Dublin to a lifetime of limp Leinster final humilations at the hands of Kilkenny in front of 23k?
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Leinster Hurling Championship to be a viable competition needs a strong Wexford. As you outlined yourself during the league, Wexford are long since finished as a serious hurling county. Theyâve met Dublin 10 times in the championship since 2008 and only won once. Since Galway came into Leinster in 2009, Wexford have only won 1 of their 9 championship meetings with Galway.
Wexford had a decent enough crop of U21âs that won a 3 in a row in Leinster 2013-15, havenât won one since and that generation kept the county team going for a decade. They still have Lee Chin off that crop, whoâs arguably still the best hurler in the country but the rest are nearly all gone. Losing to a basket case like Laois last Monday at U20 says it all about where Wexford are at. Theyâve won 1 Leinster minor in 40 years since 1985 and Wexford schools donât seem to feature anymore.
The split season zealots and the adherence by the Wexford County Board to their mantra as regards the promotion and scheduling of the game in the country hasnât helped matters either.
There was a once every 25-30 years opportunity for Wexford to win an All Ireland in 2019 the way the season and events unfolded but with the guiding hand of Davy at the helm they proceeded to combust and blow their opportunity in the semi final against Tipperary. Wexford still havenât got over that defeat. Itâs the kind of defeat and implosion like Limerick in the 1994 All Ireland Final that can scar a county for decades.
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Jack Oâ Connor, Liam Ryan, Cathal Dunbar, Kevin Foley and Simon Donohoe all started from those teams yesterday so I wouldnât say the rest are all gone. Conor McDonald came in off the bench too. Paidi Foley is a huge loss from that period as heâd still be in his prime and is/was some hurler on his day.
The U21âs had a brilliant battle with Galway in the Leinster final in 2018 which they lost after extra-time (Rory Oâ Connor, Damien Reck, Conor Hearne and Seamus Casey), there was the Leinster minor winning team of 2019 who lost the subsequent Leinster U20 final in 2022 by a point to eventual All-Ireland champions Kilkenny (Cian Byrne, Richie Lawlor). The U20âs actually beat Kilkenny in a semi-final in 2023 before losing out narrowly to that crack Offaly team in the final. But the results the last couple of years at underage have been very concerning. The worst since around 2006 when Carlow minor hurlers beat Wexford en route to a Leinster final mauling against Kilkenny.
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I would suspect that Keith Rossiter is a bit out of his depth as well. I only saw the last 15 minutes of the match after I got home, at which stage Wexford were utterly brutal and rudderless. I did see and hear quite a bit of comment that Wexford with the benefit of the usual Salthill gale in the first half were withdrawing forwards, going with one man full forward line and persisting with short puck outs and generally faffing around.
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In Rossiterâs interview he said something like âWe missed a 65, I donât want to make it a blame game but the bare fact is youâre not going to win any match if youâre doing that.â
In publicly seeking to not apportion blame he was apportioning blame to by far Wexfordâs best player.
It reminded me a bit of the perhaps apocryphal Ron Atkinson quote âI never comment on referees and Iâm not going to break the habit of a lifetime for that prat.â
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Thatâs a cracking post & I think youâve hit the nail on the head. And I see youâve subsequently mentioned the manager/management to o & I think youâre on the ball there. Essentially itâs a factor of loads of things just not being good enough & all coming to the boil together:
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That goes from overarching strategic things like coaching & development & pipeline of players coming through being below the level of other counties (not playing enough hurling, need to end this rubbish of devoting resources to bogball)âŚinto the team specific things (see below).
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Some of the leaders of recent years retiring & replacements not up to scratch. Several of the lads who should now be taking on the leadership mantle are lucky to be on the team. So thereâs Chin & a few others, a clutch of lads who arenât really good enough & then young lads trying to find their feet. The prevalence of the last two groups means thereâs a big tail in the team.
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The manager seems a nice earnest lad but probably out of his depth, we seem to have a complete inability to adapt in game - prepare/coached to play a certain way & if itâs nullified or not working we donât have any answers. Are players EMPOWERED or do they know what the fuck theyâre meant to be doing? Management looking on & not changing things up. Not sure David Franksâ blueprint is having the desired effect. But itâs GGA at the end of the day. Most of the other management/coaching teams are full of rural simpletons so itâs not great when weâre being out thought a lot.
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Just a general lack of ruthlessness in every facet of the game. Are lads really trying their best? Whereâs the fucking pride? Galway lads receiving ball in space constantly & popping over points under no pressureâŚ29 points. Whoâs getting tight? Whoâs being a pest? Whoâs barking instructions & getting players in the right places? Are the forwards really fighting for the ball? Stopping defenders coming out & picking out passes? Making the hard runs to become available for a pass when we have it?
But looking back at the wider macro picture (& reproduced with kind permission of the Wexford hurling sub group), I think one of the big issues is the lack of professional services/career options in the county & thatâs only going to be exacerbated now with BNY Mellon exiting. You need business titans, strategic thinkers & competent professionals to drive things forward, oversee development programmes & plan/assess/evolve/ & implement consistent best practice.
A lot of these high achieving individuals (e.g., myself & @Ralphie) are lost to other counties/big cities & so is the next generation & the one after that. So youâre left with well meaning & enthusiastic but very harmless, inarticulate & borderline simpletons like @Appendage & @Gman thrashing out ideas in the meeting rooms & on the pitches of Wexford. Theyâre certainly doing their very best & I sincerely thank them for their hard work but weâre absolutely fucked.
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