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Wexford Hurling Thread

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The Wexford club hurling scene is poor. Fitness and conditioning levels are sub par, coaching is poor, tactical awareness is behind the times. Our county team is a reflection of this. The players in the panel are good lads, but they're all coming from too far back.

icehonesty (Wexford) - Posts: 2589 - 26/04/2026 11:51:08    2668759

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Replying To Viking66:  "There was plenty ball being pucked into Lee but he got no support from the half forward line. He was being double and triple marked. Redmond got nearly no ball played into him. Most of what was played in was long ball from the back, our 21 to our 45, which is generally backs ball all day. When we did work it out to good delivery areas we stayed running with it, we didnt deliver it inside, and got turned over repeatedly as there was no space there."
I thought Redmond was poor in both games Viking. Good forwards win ball regardless

WEXILE (Wexford) - Posts: 479 - 26/04/2026 13:28:58    2668777

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Replying To Viking66:  "Cillian Byrne and Sean Rowley started in a Leinster u20 final as u18s too. Both were huge losses in their last year at u20."
Yeah, you'd imagine had Rowley not been injured and had Cillian Byrne been 100% and had we picked more players who were up to the age, we would've done much better at U20 level last year

But I suppose that's academic talk now, just important now that we continue to blood these young players in, has been rough so far and will probably continue to be rough but it's the best approach long-term

ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 1107 - 26/04/2026 13:48:33    2668781

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Replying To Viking66:  "Its very small and the food took ages, but that was ok compared to our performance up in Nowlan Park."
What every happened to the concept of sandwiches? at least with the sandwiches you know what you are going to get!

zinny (Wexford) - Posts: 2199 - 26/04/2026 13:49:29    2668782

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Replying To Viking66:  "We played man on man at the back, gave them a free man in Corcoran to double up on Chin, conceded the short puckouts all game to a keeper who is nearly as bad as Mark is at them, and still didnt win any turnovers because effectively we were playing with a 2 man half forward line when we didnt have the ball. We picked a few lads in the middle who didn't mark anything except space. Marking in general was very poor. Not sure if they were told to play zonal, but hurling is a game you can't play that way.
There's plenty of easy things for management to change to get a better performance against Dublin. Tactically especially developing attacking play but also defending from the front back, team set up as in where to play the 15 lads on the pitch, personnel changes, positional changes for some lads playing out of position, and maybe most importantly motivation. It's up to them to make those changes."
Felt that when we played the ball into Chin, he was massively out-numbered by KK players and it was similar for any time we played ball into our half-forward-line

But then when they played the ball in long, it felt like it was man-on-man

You'd have to wonder where our players were because wherever the ball was, they weren't

ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 1107 - 26/04/2026 13:51:20    2668783

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Replying To icehonesty:  "The Wexford club hurling scene is poor. Fitness and conditioning levels are sub par, coaching is poor, tactical awareness is behind the times. Our county team is a reflection of this. The players in the panel are good lads, but they're all coming from too far back."
How long since you posted on a hurling thread?

Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 4471 - 26/04/2026 14:30:23    2668792

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Replying To StoreysTash:  "Just watched the game.
The reality is Kilkenny wanted it way more and our forwards just did not work hard enough to stop the ball coming out.
If you haven't got work rate you have no place on the pitch.
My father said that lazy work rate was there last weekend in Kildare too. But they were limited hurlers.
And more worrying, our experienced players were all our best players but they are all nearing the end.
We need the u20s and minors to come through now and to put hands up. The only positive I can point to is Killian Byrne and hopefully Rory, Cian Molloy, Cian Byrne, etc will be back next year. And hopefully Sean O'Brien will be coming through.
Some of the younger players learned harsh lessons tonight but I got my harshest lesson off an experienced Rory Jacob when I first played senior hurling. They will learn from it.
I'm not sure if Rossi is the man to rebuild or if its time for JJ Doyle to get the job. Rossi, Wexford true and true but he was very slow to try freshen up the forwards today.
Well done to the minors, green shoots abound. Lots of talented hurlers on that team."
What best players are you talking about? Chinner and Foley? There's nobody left other than that really.

Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 4471 - 26/04/2026 14:32:29    2668794

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Replying To Doylerwex:  "What best players are you talking about? Chinner and Foley? There's nobody left other than that really."
Jippo and Shane Reck?

ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 1107 - 26/04/2026 14:56:25    2668795

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Replying To zinny:  "What every happened to the concept of sandwiches? at least with the sandwiches you know what you are going to get!"
You can't beat the hang sandwiches.

Magpie2 (Wexford) - Posts: 669 - 26/04/2026 15:45:12    2668804

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Replying To zinny:  "What every happened to the concept of sandwiches? at least with the sandwiches you know what you are going to get!"
Sandwiches are for work and school Zinny! Days following Wexford are special days out for the family ;-)

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19335 - 26/04/2026 15:56:19    2668806

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Replying To icehonesty:  "The Wexford club hurling scene is poor. Fitness and conditioning levels are sub par, coaching is poor, tactical awareness is behind the times. Our county team is a reflection of this. The players in the panel are good lads, but they're all coming from too far back."
Not sure thats entirely true, though there's truth in it. Rathnure put it up to St Martins as much as Ballyhale and Na Fianna did. And gave Martins more of a game than Naas did.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19335 - 26/04/2026 15:58:14    2668808

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Replying To WEXILE:  "I thought Redmond was poor in both games Viking. Good forwards win ball regardless"
He got very little ball played his way yesterday. Hard to win ball when it isnt played your way. Agree he wasnt his usual self as regards touch with the few balls he was getting.
But equally hes playing a position hes not used to, and probably hasnt the speed to play. Hes been a half forward all the way up with his club, school and county, and was one of the top scorers from play in the Senior Championship for his club playing wing forward. The other 2 were Simon Roche and Aodhan Doyle.
Both him and Lee would be better on the half forward line I think. And pick 2 faster lads to play inside.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19335 - 26/04/2026 16:04:40    2668810

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Replying To ElGranSenor:  "Yeah, you'd imagine had Rowley not been injured and had Cillian Byrne been 100% and had we picked more players who were up to the age, we would've done much better at U20 level last year

But I suppose that's academic talk now, just important now that we continue to blood these young players in, has been rough so far and will probably continue to be rough but it's the best approach long-term"
Rowley and Byrne wouldve made a huge difference just by themselves

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19335 - 26/04/2026 16:05:28    2668811

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Replying To zinny:  "What every happened to the concept of sandwiches? at least with the sandwiches you know what you are going to get!"
That reminds me of the landlord of one of my local pubs here in London. I'm going back 30 or more years, he's been gone a few years now. Anyway he was from Wexford, Enniscorthy I think. He flew over for a Leinster final, Kilkenny v Wexford. He was sitting on his own next to a Kilkenny couple, having the craic. He said "and they shared their sandwiches with me".

Cockney_Cat (UK) - Posts: 2873 - 26/04/2026 16:11:11    2668812

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Replying To ElGranSenor:  "Felt that when we played the ball into Chin, he was massively out-numbered by KK players and it was similar for any time we played ball into our half-forward-line

But then when they played the ball in long, it felt like it was man-on-man

You'd have to wonder where our players were because wherever the ball was, they weren't"
I suspect they were set up zonally, and if thats the case the coach who pushed it, and the manager, should have a long hard look at themselves.
And if thats not the case then there were a load of players picked who shouldnt have been. Marking was non existent. Whoever was involved, coach/selector and/or manager, in picking them should have a long hard look at themselves.
Does anyone know exactly what we way were trying to play yesterday? Because watching it there was no discernable pattern.
We couldnt really play a short running game, because we have a keeper that that doesn't suit. We had no high ball winning half forwards. And we were really poorly set up for long puckouts and long ball played forwards as we had noone on the quarters for the breaks on numerous occasions. So we couldnt really go long. Our men left off their markers to go and swarm Lee Chin when the ball was played long into him so they weren't there to pick up any breaks. Were they told not to leave their "zones" or something?
We won very little primary possession, and way less than 50% of the breaking ball. How are our lads supposed to score much? And giving Kilkenny the short puckouts, especially against a keeper who is nearly as poor at them as Mark Fanning iis, wasnt working as we werent turning their backs over as they came out. We werent even putting them under pressure. They had overlaps all over the pitch. Even though Kilkenny were poor enough themselves, any team will eventually score a good total if you give them the ball that many times, and allow them the space to do what they want with it.
Why werent the forwards told to push up on their men to stop the short puckout, and mark their men further back the pitch after 15 minutes or so, or at least at halftime, when it was apparent early enough that whatever their tactics/strategy was, it wasnt working.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19335 - 26/04/2026 16:20:24    2668813

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Replying To Doylerwex:  "What best players are you talking about? Chinner and Foley? There's nobody left other than that really."
Damien Reck and Kevin Foley were our best players by a country mile yesterday. Think they are 27/8 and 30/31? Lee is 33, Jippo is 30/31 but wasnt anywhere near his best Saturday, although it was great to see him get those minutes as we will need him fully on form for 2 weeks time. Same with Shane Reck who is 28/9 I think. Hopefully all those lads have a couple more years left in them. Rory O'Connor is 27/8 also, Barry around the same if he comes back and gives hurling a proper lash. Conor Hearne around the same also.
We will need them all until more of the 20-23 year olds get up to 25. And hopefully we will have a better conveyor belt of talented lads following them every year by then also.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19335 - 26/04/2026 16:26:31    2668816

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Replying To Viking66:  "Damien Reck and Kevin Foley were our best players by a country mile yesterday. Think they are 27/8 and 30/31? Lee is 33, Jippo is 30/31 but wasnt anywhere near his best Saturday, although it was great to see him get those minutes as we will need him fully on form for 2 weeks time. Same with Shane Reck who is 28/9 I think. Hopefully all those lads have a couple more years left in them. Rory O'Connor is 27/8 also, Barry around the same if he comes back and gives hurling a proper lash. Conor Hearne around the same also.
We will need them all until more of the 20-23 year olds get up to 25. And hopefully we will have a better conveyor belt of talented lads following them every year by then also."
Lack of good players between the ages of 25 and 27 is killing us right now

ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 1107 - 26/04/2026 16:42:04    2668824

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Would go with something like the following the next day injury permitting:

Fanning

Donohoe
Jippo
Shane Reck

Damien Reck
Cian Molloy
Conor Foley

Conor Hearne
Richie Lawlor

Jacko
Chin
Cillian Byrne

Simon Roche
Kevin Foley
Seán Rowley

Jacko didn't hurl well yesterday but we need size in that half-forward-line and you'd have to hope his performance was down to being ring-rusty (For as much as he has been hit and miss with Wexford)

Think they're going to put Eoin O'Donnell on Chin so may as well put Chin at #11 and allow him to roam, try to pull O'Donnell out of position

Cillian Byrne's not a big wing-forward and you wouldn't be asking him to win high ball but he has a lot of pace and I'd like to see him running at speed into the spaces vacated by O'Donnell if he follows Chin

Dublin defence can be got at with pace, important that we have Rowley and Cillian Byrne in our attack to try exploit that

They're surely going to start Hetherton as well and go after us, Jippo is much better equipped to handle him than anyone else we have, KK moved Reid away from goal and tried to drag Jippo out and then attach the space vacated, don't think Dublin will do that, they'll probably go the direct route to Hetherton

But most importantly, intensity levels need to be upped significantly, nothing else really matters if you don't bring the intensity, the next day isn't technically win or bust for us but it essentially is as we're relying on favours elsewhere if we lose, need to get the KK loss out of our system and move on, players need to show that they are much better than that performance yesterday

ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 1107 - 26/04/2026 16:50:14    2668829

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Having the right man over any hurling team is crucial.

Waltermitty2 (Wexford) - Posts: 301 - 26/04/2026 17:04:45    2668833

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Replying To ElGranSenor:  "Lack of good players between the ages of 25 and 27 is killing us right now"
That's exactly it. Davy didn't bring enough lads in. Even Richie Lawlor, patsy, Redmond are behind where they should be. I think they'll come good though.

Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 4471 - 26/04/2026 17:59:27    2668875

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