Anthony Masterson points out that more and more talented dual players in Wexford are choosing hurling over football.

The Model County are above only Waterford and Antrim on the NFL Division Four table after three rounds of games and former goalkeeper Masterson admits it’s a far cry from the days when they were standing toe to toe with the best in the land – less than a decade ago:

“We didn't expect we'd be down that far in a few years, but hurling is on a big plus at the moment,” the county football development officer told The Irish Daily Star. “There's ten lads on the hurling squad that would be brilliant footballers, so everyone has to remember that.

“Most of the hurlers are excellent footballers and some of the best club footballers are in the hurling panel. So you're really working off that. Aidan Nolan, Lee Chin, Liam Og McGovern … Simon Donohoe was one of our best young footballers that came through the last few years. They all headed over to the hurling and you don’t blame them.

“Redmond Barry, Brian Malone, Mattie Forde was a brilliant hurler as well; Ciaran Lyng was an exceptional hurler. We were lucky the time we were playing. We were going well and we were in Croke Park more often than the hurlers would have been, so lads were mad to play football for Wexford.

“Unfortunately, at the moment, it's not like that so my job is to try and turn it around and build from the bottom up.”

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