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It's hard to describe how much of a let-down yesterday was. In truth, the defending was by and large solid; Westmeath scored 2-05 from play, of which their five starting forwards plus starting midfielders scored 0-03 across 70+ minutes. Mark Fanning has been a very good goalkeeper for Wexford for a long time but he won't want to look back at the two mistakes he made yesterday. I suppose that's the most depressing part, they were the softest goals you are ever going to concede, it's not as if the goals came from Westmeath bearing down on goal, they came from speculative long shots that dropped short.
Wexford created 45 scoring chances compared to Westmeath's 31 per Wexford GAA on Twitter, so Wexford did create more than enough chances to win the game comfortable. Moreover, there was no strong wind which makes hitting 21 wides all the more inexcusable. Wexford realistically should have won that game by 12+ points; that the match ended in a draw is shameful, truth be told.
I get that Egan is not responsible for hitting 21 wides but at the same time, he is responsible for setting up his team. In four Championship matches so far this season, I cannot for the life of me make out what Wexford's gameplan or style of play is supposed to be. The ball reaches the half-back line and then it all falls apart; no sense of purpose in possession, just aimless long balls into the corner that are generally lost. At least with Davy we did have a coherent style of play and knew what we were doing at all times. This is not to say that the sweeper system is perfect or that Davy was perfect; a lot of Wexford's depth issues right now originate from Davy's refusal to blood in young players during the League. But at the same time, other than a ten-minute spell just after half-time, Wexford had zero control over the game and had a complete lack of purpose in possession.
More worryingly, there was a complete lack of composure shown by the players. As the game moved on, it felt like the players became more anxious all the time and they retreated into their shell. At this level, Westmeath are a game side but they are also a relatviely limited side; that Wexford wilted under their pressure is simply inexcusable.
Another thing that really annoys me is out set-up off opposition puck-outs. I can get sitting off the full-back line; what I don't get is completely conceding the puck-out. Limerick don't do a full-court press but they set a trap for the opposition in a way that they can put them under pressure and force either a clearance instead of working the ball up the pitch or they force a turnover. Out set-up means that we can't do either and at this level, no team will struggle to play out from the back under non-existent pressure. More worryingly, it was obvious from very early on that Westmeath wanted the ball hit to either Clarke or Doyle off the puck-out; they did not want to hit the ball to the corner-back and they didn't want to hit the ball long. Why not press up on them or else force them to play the ball to the corner-back; their gameplan was highly built around a Plan A but I very much doubt they had a Plan B. Worse again, the few times we did press up on them off their puck-out, we turned them over as they lost every single long puck-out. And yet we then went back to sitting off them! Absolutely ludicrous stuff.
I do genuinely think the players will play better next week; in a way, the Seniors and the U20s are similar in that they only ever seem to do enough. I think they'll raise their performance next week. Whether it's enough is doubtful however based on what we have seen so far in the Championship.
ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 616 - 15/05/2022 11:33:41
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Replying To Jedobi: "Shambles, no direction, unable to take a decisive lead and dictate games, continually playing catch up, wrong decision making on and off the pitch, for the biggest county in Leinster, it's embarrassing, recent performance at all levels in hurling and football have been abysmal, million miles away from winning Leinster never mind an All Ireland. Anyone thinking Wexford, playing as they are, can beat Kilkenny after their performance last night, needs a reality check. Hoped I'm proved completely wrong but can't see it. Only be a false dawn if we did get through." So propose solutions then?
StoreysTash (Wexford) - Posts: 1920 - 15/05/2022 11:34:13
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Replying To Jedobi: "Shambles, no direction, unable to take a decisive lead and dictate games, continually playing catch up, wrong decision making on and off the pitch, for the biggest county in Leinster, it's embarrassing, recent performance at all levels in hurling and football have been abysmal, million miles away from winning Leinster never mind an All Ireland. Anyone thinking Wexford, playing as they are, can beat Kilkenny after their performance last night, needs a reality check. Hoped I'm proved completely wrong but can't see it. Only be a false dawn if we did get through." To b fair I don't think anybody would give us a chance next week and rightly so.
We will raise our game for them as we always do but it doesn't matter at this stage.
Nothing at stake but pride.
I would urge every Wexford supporter to go and get behind them come what may.
Show the players we are with them no matter what.
It's the last day out this year. Let's try to make it special.
Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 3873 - 15/05/2022 11:54:29
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Replying To Finchfurlong996: "Management are utterly clueless and don't know how to get Rory O Connor into the game. All credit to Westmeath, they wanted it more. People saying this our possible strongest lineup heading into today. That's more or less the same lineup we had in 19. We've had fuck all coming through in the last 3 years. Where's the next Rory O Connor, Lee Chin coming from? The lads who have come onto the panel of recent years are only realistically are making zero impact on this panel.
U20s are a very good team and I do expect a fair bit of that crop to go through but that alone is not going to get us back to where we want to be.
Plus why did the county board appoint a manager with zero experience of being an intercounty manager to replace one of the top managers in the country. Why is Derek McGrath with the Laois minors and not managing us." Dereck McGrath was approached by members of our county board but he told them that he was simply not interested in the position.
When you think about it, what quality former or present manager would be interested in the Wexford gig.
Joe Fortune was also mentioned as a possible manager. Did we make a big mistake going for Egan? Only time will tell.
Samson55 (Wexford) - Posts: 103 - 15/05/2022 12:04:17
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Replying To StoreysTash: "So propose solutions then?" Short term, play Cathal Dunbar, proven he can get scores, provide service into the full forward line and put pressure on the opposition puck out instead of conceding them, it doesn't work, find a free taker and somehow improve our scoring conversion, number of wides is alarming. Long term, whole structure needs looking at, it's not working, no minor or U20/21 All Ireland's since 1968, worst record of any of the main hurling counties, Offaly won an All Ireland football last year.
Jedobi (Wexford) - Posts: 262 - 15/05/2022 12:08:11
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And credit to Westmeath for their performance, plenty of spirit and fight.
Jedobi (Wexford) - Posts: 262 - 15/05/2022 12:14:26
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Replying To StoreysTash: "So propose solutions then?" A complete overhall at county board level is whats needed. Cronyism has wexford in the state its in. Same old faces behind the scenes that havent a clue. Out with the old and get some fresh new ideas to spear head a proper plan to focus soley on performance on the pitches.
Waltermitty2 (Wexford) - Posts: 275 - 15/05/2022 12:17:23
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Replying To Doylerwex: "First things first. Congratulations to westmeath. Huge result and fair play to them. A couple of very good players who were totally committed to every ball.
As for us, we created 42 scoring chances and converted only half of them.
We did enough to win that game, but were really poor in our attitude. We seemed to believe we'd win no matter what happened and ultimately got what we deserved because we treated it like a challenge game and lacked leadership at key stages.
It's been a disaster of a championship, and we have to face that.
Should we drop Egan now?
I don't know.
We knew what we were getting into with an inexperienced manager.
He will learn a lot this year.
I give us no chance of beating kilkenny which breaks my heart.
I haven't felt this low about playing them in about 10 years.
Looking to next year.
Matt is getting close to the end, Murphy will struggle to come back, Morris also.
Jippo, mac, Dee, Liam óg, Chin might have 2/3 more seasons.
Dundar, the foleys and Donoghue till there too.
The core of the team is now Devitt, flood, the recks, Bailey, Oisín, Rory, jacko.
We need to fill some gaps.
Hearne, Casey, Banville, rebmond, scallan, Molloy, Byrne Dunbar, pepper, o hagan, Eoin Ryan need to be the focus of development over the next league and Walsh Cup.
We also need to find a goalkeeper.
That's our panel for the next two seasons and we need to get the balance spot on, try to win another leinster in 23 or 24 and see what happens.
This is 100% within our capability, but we need to meticulously control absolutely everything, and it starts with turning our focus back to the most basic aspects of the game and being committed.
Our job as supporters is to keep showing up and taking these blows with the team.
We've been down before and almost vanished altogether. We came back then. We can come back now.
We are Wexford. Don't ever forget that.
The blood in our veins arms us for any challenge.
Le croí agus lámh" We drew with Westmeath. Well done to Joe and his team. Good post Doylerwex. If we beat Kilkenny we will finish 3rd at least. If we hammer them, lol, and Galway beat Dublin we will finish 2nd!!! Still all to play for. We just need to hurl for 70 plus minutes which we haven't managed so far this championship. I'll be travelling to Nowlan Park more in hope than expectation!
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 16767 - 15/05/2022 12:18:51
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Replying To Doylerwex: "First things first. Congratulations to westmeath. Huge result and fair play to them. A couple of very good players who were totally committed to every ball.
As for us, we created 42 scoring chances and converted only half of them.
We did enough to win that game, but were really poor in our attitude. We seemed to believe we'd win no matter what happened and ultimately got what we deserved because we treated it like a challenge game and lacked leadership at key stages.
It's been a disaster of a championship, and we have to face that.
Should we drop Egan now?
I don't know.
We knew what we were getting into with an inexperienced manager.
He will learn a lot this year.
I give us no chance of beating kilkenny which breaks my heart.
I haven't felt this low about playing them in about 10 years.
Looking to next year.
Matt is getting close to the end, Murphy will struggle to come back, Morris also.
Jippo, mac, Dee, Liam óg, Chin might have 2/3 more seasons.
Dundar, the foleys and Donoghue till there too.
The core of the team is now Devitt, flood, the recks, Bailey, Oisín, Rory, jacko.
We need to fill some gaps.
Hearne, Casey, Banville, rebmond, scallan, Molloy, Byrne Dunbar, pepper, o hagan, Eoin Ryan need to be the focus of development over the next league and Walsh Cup.
We also need to find a goalkeeper.
That's our panel for the next two seasons and we need to get the balance spot on, try to win another leinster in 23 or 24 and see what happens.
This is 100% within our capability, but we need to meticulously control absolutely everything, and it starts with turning our focus back to the most basic aspects of the game and being committed.
Our job as supporters is to keep showing up and taking these blows with the team.
We've been down before and almost vanished altogether. We came back then. We can come back now.
We are Wexford. Don't ever forget that.
The blood in our veins arms us for any challenge.
Le croí agus lámh" We drew with Westmeath. Well done to Joe and his team. Good post Doylerwex. If we beat Kilkenny we will finish 3rd at least. If we hammer them, lol, and Galway beat Dublin we will finish 2nd!!! Still all to play for. We just need to hurl for 70 plus minutes which we haven't managed so far this championship. I'll be travelling to Nowlan Park more in hope than expectation!
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 16767 - 15/05/2022 12:19:09
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Replying To jobber: "Thank you this is one of the St Lomans football brigade terrified hurling is getting stronger.As a proud Westmeath man it was a great result for us but the truth is we had the chances to do the same against Dublin but failed to take them.Wexford people should note that most of our team have beaten Wexford and Kilkenny at underage.We will have our final like yourselves next weekend against Laois a pure 50/50 game now." You only need a draw now!
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 16767 - 15/05/2022 12:20:05
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Replying To HurlingBuzz: "Hard to see us turning things around and going beating Kilkenny. Interesting point you make about the talent coming through. I went back over u20 teams to 2018. That team is the last side to give us any players notably the recks, Rory and joe O'Connor , Oisin foley and Mikey Dwyer. From 2019 mcguckin, James Lawlor and Niall murphy but mcguckin is the only one to get any championship game time. None since then. Look at Kilkenny last night and 5 ( butler, Carey, Mullen, Cody, blanchfield) of the team that narrowly beat us by 2 points in u20 final in 2019 played and the goalie ( mason)was a sub last night as well.
The point is that the last 3 u20 teams have provided very little to the senior set up which is amazing. Now we're pinning our hopes on some of this years team to step up. The problem is they're needed now but are in fairness aren't yet ready" Problem is u20s are 19 year olds and our S and C doesn't seem to kick in till lads are 23 or 24. We ve had some good players u20 in the last 2 years but most are too light for senior intercounty still. While our u20s were desperately unlucky not to force ET in the Leinster final they seemed on average a good bit smaller than the Kilkenny, Galway or Munster u20s.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 16767 - 15/05/2022 12:24:46
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Regardless of just drawing last night we were always facing having to win next week to progress but having said that A confident Kilkenny in nowlan park is not a prospect I'm looking forward to. You have to hand it to Cody with his decision to put Cian kenny in full forward on one of the best full backs in the game last night and he takes him to the cleaners. You never see that with our management, everything is so predictable. Kenny hurled midfield with Carlow i t alongside cathal Dunbar. . I'd like to see him in corner forward v Kilkenny. He knows Conor macs game inside out and along with Rory could give Kilkenny something to think about particularly with Hue Lawlor injured…..or a Cody like call would be Richie Lawlor corner forward ( his best position) and an eye for goal.
HurlingBuzz (Wexford) - Posts: 556 - 15/05/2022 12:37:32
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Replying To Jedobi: "Short term, play Cathal Dunbar, proven he can get scores, provide service into the full forward line and put pressure on the opposition puck out instead of conceding them, it doesn't work, find a free taker and somehow improve our scoring conversion, number of wides is alarming. Long term, whole structure needs looking at, it's not working, no minor or U20/21 All Ireland's since 1968, worst record of any of the main hurling counties, Offaly won an All Ireland football last year." No offence, but the 2nd half of that is just generic nonsense.
"Whole structure needs looking at"? What isn't working? Where, who or what specifically are we doing wrong?
I need to drop off the board now but I hope you have far more in-depth solutions than "whole structure needs looking at". HOW? Give us 5 in-depth points and areas, and S&C can't be one of them because we all know we are lacking there.
StoreysTash (Wexford) - Posts: 1920 - 15/05/2022 13:59:09
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Replying To Waltermitty2: "A complete overhall at county board level is whats needed. Cronyism has wexford in the state its in. Same old faces behind the scenes that havent a clue. Out with the old and get some fresh new ideas to spear head a proper plan to focus soley on performance on the pitches." Who then? Name names, who are the new names you suggest, who are the old names?
I think our county board are far better than they used to be.
StoreysTash (Wexford) - Posts: 1920 - 15/05/2022 14:00:35
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Hard to fault the Board from a hurling standpoint Storeystash.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 16767 - 15/05/2022 14:38:54
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Replying To StoreysTash: "No offence, but the 2nd half of that is just generic nonsense.
"Whole structure needs looking at"? What isn't working? Where, who or what specifically are we doing wrong?
I need to drop off the board now but I hope you have far more in-depth solutions than "whole structure needs looking at". HOW? Give us 5 in-depth points and areas, and S&C can't be one of them because we all know we are lacking there." What isn't working, are you serious? We haven't won a minor All Ireland since 1968, an U21 All Ireland since 1965, been in 1 Senior All Ireland since 1977, won 2 Leinster Championships since 1997, that alone answers that statement which is complete nonsense. How is it working when we lost to Kildare at U20 last year, Laois at minor this year, have won 1 Leinster minor championship in 37 years, haven't won an All Ireland Club title since 1989, ... Unbelievable statement, no wonder we are going nowhere fast...Look at the evidence... Biggest county in Leinster with the biggest school in Ireland yet can't produce teams at any grade capable of providing consistent, match winning performances...Think you need to open your eyes to the reality of the situation...
Jedobi (Wexford) - Posts: 262 - 15/05/2022 15:50:53
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Replying To Jedobi: "What isn't working, are you serious? We haven't won a minor All Ireland since 1968, an U21 All Ireland since 1965, been in 1 Senior All Ireland since 1977, won 2 Leinster Championships since 1997, that alone answers that statement which is complete nonsense. How is it working when we lost to Kildare at U20 last year, Laois at minor this year, have won 1 Leinster minor championship in 37 years, haven't won an All Ireland Club title since 1989, ... Unbelievable statement, no wonder we are going nowhere fast...Look at the evidence... Biggest county in Leinster with the biggest school in Ireland yet can't produce teams at any grade capable of providing consistent, match winning performances...Think you need to open your eyes to the reality of the situation..." How do you mean biggest county in Leinster? Also we have only won 8 Leinster minor titles ever. 5 in the 60s, 2 in the 80s and 1 in 2019. Laois have won 4 and that might be 5 after this year. Kilkenny have won 59. In fact in hurling generally we have had 2 good decades in the 50s and 60s where we basically overachieved compared to the other 120 years where we have been consistent. Consistently not quite good enough to win much at any grade. The 50s and 60s we had 2 Golden Generations who won most of our minor, u21 and Senior titles. The rest of the history of the GAA we have won very occasionally. That's the reality of our situation. Yes it would be great to have a bit more success. But the way lads on this assume we should have it, or expect us to have it, just because we had great teams winning AIs at every grade in the 50s and 60s, is fantasy stuff. We do have some issues we can address like s and c at underage for sure. We need to get our minor and u20 panels together more times a week and for longer also. Billy Drennan made the point on tv that the Kilkenny u20 team that beat us by a point was training 3 times a week since October or November last year. I'm fairly sure we don't have our minors or u20s putting that time in. And we don't produce as many tall hurlers as any other county. Maybe that's genetic? Or maybe club coaches spend more time with smaller more skilful hurlers at u7s and u9s rather than trying to get the big awkward young lads hurling better? Maybe parents in Wexford are too easy on kids not eating their dinners? Who knows. We have always been smaller than other counties in general since the early 90s and likely long before that.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 16767 - 15/05/2022 17:42:08
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I wouldn't be surprised that Joe Fortune was overlooked due to the fact he isn't a big name former player. We would sooner hire inexperienced lads from outside the county than give our own lads a try.
beano (Wexford) - Posts: 1503 - 15/05/2022 18:12:00
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Limerick v Clare today was real hurling. Full of intensity, brilliant scores, fast and furious. Even without some of their better players Limerick were immence and look good to win another all ireland. Im afraid we are light years behind these teams and the immediate future looks bleak. Yes we beat both Limerick and Clare in the League but its a different ballgame.
Let's hope we show up against Kilkenny. There's no magic wand to improve our play but maybe there's much more to this Wexford team and maybe there will be a big game in us next week.
Samson55 (Wexford) - Posts: 103 - 15/05/2022 18:15:48
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Replying To beano: "I wouldn't be surprised that Joe Fortune was overlooked due to the fact he isn't a big name former player. We would sooner hire inexperienced lads from outside the county than give our own lads a try." When we knew Davy was going I suggested Joe Fortune, maybe with someone else, might be worth a go and loads of lads said no on this.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 16767 - 15/05/2022 19:15:06
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