I wonder will there be changes? I think we need a performance and get the confidence up before our trip to Limerick.
I think there will be at least 1 as Iâd be surprised if Flood starts wing back and canât see anyone picked 8-15 who will slot in there.
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The U20 management would want to careful fielding Conor Foley. I read on here last week that heâs 21đ
What lads were dropped off the hurling panel after the Clare debacle?
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If we came away tomorrow after getting bet by 7 or 8 and after learning something positive from tomorrow, Iâd be happy.
Think Gavin Bailey, Mikie Kelly and AJ Redmond were let go at the end of January. Leaving us a bit threadbare in terms of options in the backs.
Anyone have a copy of line up for u20 game v WicklowâŚ
A fair St. Martins clatter gone there. Conor Firman was a starter when he was 19/20 but hasnât really kicked on I suppose. Eoin Murphy got caught standing stationary for a turnover for one of the late Clare goals the last day which probably proved costly for him.
No harm rid of then
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Kilmore with the Vols at minor. These amalgamations are getting stranger and stranger.
Sad to see @Bandageâs posting/interest in this thread decline with the fortunes of the Wexford hurlers
sunday march 12 2023
GAA
Wexford at a crossroads with tough times ahead
Next generation of talent is coming through but transition will take time
Chin is one of a group of senior players at Wexford over the age of 30
RAY MCMANUS/SPORTSFILE
Christy OâConnor
Sunday March 12 2023, 12.01am GMT, The Sunday Times
A mundane mid-January Saturday evening in Wexford town and the mood and buzz felt like the famous Wexford Opera festival in full flow. Huge crowds. A lightshow. Live music. A fireworks display. The venue was sold out but there were still throngs of people queuing over three hours before the main event was due to start. The Walsh Cup was never meant to look this glamourous.
Wexford-Kilkenny is always an attractive fixture but the razzmatazz was centred around the official turning on of the new floodlights in Wexford Park. The whole event was all the more satisfying again for the locals when the evening concluded with pyrotechnics on the pitch as Richie Lawlorâs late goal snatched the match from Kilkennyâs grasp.
Nobody was getting carried away with a Walsh Cup win but any victory against Kilkenny has always had the capacity to generate a counterfeit excitement in Wexford. In any case, the hype and hope in the air that evening has since evaporated as quickly as one of those exploding fireworks.
A huge crowd turned up again for the opening home league game against Galway, but Wexford were atrocious in the second half. Two weeks ago, the locals were left completely exasperated when Clare fired Wexford into a blender and blitzed them by 22 points.
The 6-25 Clare accumulated was the highest ever score that Wexford conceded in the league. Alan Aherne of the Wexford People outlined how it was the first time Wexford had shipped six goals in a league game since Cork put 6-7 past them in New Ross in 1971. In his match report, Aherne said the performance was a âfarce unacceptable on every conceivable levelâ
Injuries and a threadbare squad heavily contributed to the paucity of the performance, but such dire form and abject quality has been hard to accept. âMorale and confidence is at a pretty low ebb,â former player Tom Dempsey said on Newstalk after the Clare defeat.
Much of the mood has been defined by a silent acknowledgement that Wexford are edging closer to a difficult period in the lifecycle of this squad. Five of their most important players â Lee Chin, Matthew OâHanlon, Diarmuid OâKeeffe, Liam Ăg McGovern and Mark Fanning â are all over 30. Another raft of key figures are heading closer to that territory. If Wexford canât function without so many of those players now, how will they manage in the future?
The challenge for Darragh Egan and his management has been to subtly prepare for that reality while keeping the team competitive.
That was always going to be a difficult transaction when some of those new players arenât ready yet, or are not yet equipped enough to make that step-up in an environment devoid of so much experience. Against Clare, the side were missing 12 of the 20 players who featured in last yearâs All-Ireland quarter-final. Nine of the 19 players that lined out two weeks ago have little or no experience at this level. The squad was so depleted that Thomas Kinsella, who had played a challenge with the âNext Generationâ side in Ferns at 10am got a call at 11.30 to join the match-day 26 after Mikey Dwyer tweaked his hamstring.
The performances havenât been acceptable but OâHanlon hinted last autumn of how different this league campaign was going to be from last year. Wexford were the only Division One side to win all five of their regulation league games but then they got hammered by Waterford in the semi-final, before only managing to win one of their first four games in the Leinster Round Robin.
Wexford found some form at the right time, defeating Kilkenny and rattling Clare, but their league experience left everyone with a lot to reflect on. âIâm 31 next week,â OâHanlon said in October. âSo do I need to be playing every league game, or should I be focusing on getting ready for the championship?â
OâHanlon, Chin, Ăg McGovern and Kevin Foley went travelling until December. McGovern only returned to training in January. OâHanlon, Chin and Foley have been struggling with injury but Egan has also been holding them back to make sure theyâre right for April-May. Chin, OâHanlon, Richie Lawlor and Rory OâConnor will see game-time either today against Cork or against Limerick next week, but Liam Ryan wonât after requiring plastic surgery on a finger.
There has long been a narrative around Wexford consistently using the same players but the net has been cast wide and far; 38 players have appeared in the league and Walsh Cup. Resting key figures has been balanced with placing more trust in those getting their chance. Goalkeeper Fanning played 17 of Wexfordâs 18 games last year but James Lawlor has started in three of Wexfordâs six matches to date. Lawlor is in that age-category between 21-24 where Wexford have struggled to produce players, but more are finally starting to come through; Charlie McGuckin has been one of their best performers in 2023.
The crew behind are beginning to step up too. Richie Lawlor impressed before breaking his foot for DCU in the Fitzgibbon Cup. A handful of U-20s â Oisin Pepper, Corey Byrne-Dunbar, Conor Foley, Darragh Carley and Cian Byrne â may see game time in the summer but that has to be managed around their availability for the U-20 championship, something Pepper was denied last year after only playing three minutes against Galway.
As part of their five-year strategic plan, Wexford appointed Niall Williams as a director of hurling last September. Williams is working closely with Egan, while there is also a hurling advisory committee in place to help manage that transition.
The âNext Generationâ squad is loaded with good players. Some of the young hurlers between 17-21 are as talented as Wexford have produced since the successful U-21 crop of 2013-15. The foundation is solid but trying to marry transition with results takes time.
And patience. Loads of patience.
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If anyone gets in early for the u20 challenge can you post the team up? Cheersđ
What kind of physique are these lads?
Weâre constantly bringing through dinky little club corner forwards that get eaten alive against the Munster and Galway giants.
Not massive.
Is that reflective of the club game too? It seems for every Jack OâConnor or Matt OâHanlon we produce we have 22 Cathal Dunbars.
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