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I agree 100% that we should be looking to have more success at minor and u20, but to say the last 2 years is ignoring the previous 50 odd years. Our minors last year were more successful than any other minor team we have had in many years apart from 2019. In fact they were the 1st to beat a Munster minor team in a knockout game in over 50 years I think. And they won that game well. The only disappointment was that they were inconsistent. Our u20s were poor ok, although they beat Dublin, but we don't take the grade as seriously as other counties do these days. Kilkenny got their lads together 3 times a week this year, ours still only got together twice a week. 2 of by far our best 3 u20s either missed the u20 campaign altogether, Rowley, or were obviously not fully match fit, Byrne. I don't think Michael Furlong ever really got match fit either after injury, and he was decent for our u20s last year. At the end of the day we should get at least 3 Senior Championship starters from the up to the age lads on that u20 team, which is a good return. No point in making those kind of projections for lads who are u19, u18 or u17 yet, but there are several more lads in those agegroups with excellent potential also. Our u19s were competitive, which along with the fact that so many of our u20s will still be u20 next year is a small positive also. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 15639 - 06/05/2025 21:08:03 2607227 Link 0 |
After the whole 2019 season nobody could have imagined this. I really thought it was the beginning rather than the end.
Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 3558 - 06/05/2025 21:17:12 2607231 Link 0 |
Agree, so all the work going into development squads and center of excellence is for 1 or 2 players a year. Players develop at different ages, our focus and investment should be at club level. Every club had to give €2500 to the centre of excellence this year. Most clubs are just about keeping their head above water. But we will probably get another bit of tarmac in Ferns or a 7th dressing room. Kilkenny have a history of bringing in new players out of nowhere, because they focus on developing hurling at clubs and schools so end up with a bigger playing pool of quality players. One thing about Kilkenny players over the years is they can have ordox players who can look unnatural but they know how to hurl from years of playing quality games.....Walter Walsh for example. WEX98 (Wexford) - Posts: 495 - 06/05/2025 21:21:48 2607232 Link 0 |
You have named out some exceptional players there. Those lads would have been top soccer or rugby players either. Generational talents. Rory O Connor played in a PP A senior AI football final, Lee Chin was excellent at Football and soccer, Mogie and Matt won Leinster u21 Football medals also. Those type of lads will always be exceptional hurlers if they choose to be so. That doesn't change the fact that our younger players largely play alot less hurling at their clubs growing up than their contemporaries in any other top county on average. Galway have a far higher percentage of hurling only clubs, we have a handful. Clare likewise. I've a good few friends in both counties. They all think it makes a bigger difference than I do tbh. People are also comparing apples and oranges when comparing us to some other counties. Galway, Cork, Tipp and Kilkenny all have many more 17 year olds playing hurling only at the top level than we have 17 year olds playing hurling at all, and that's including all our 17 year olds that prefer Football. They just have massive underage numbers compared to us. I like the Clare comparison personally. They have county winter training for every age from u11 up to u17. We only introduced u12 training winter before last. We don't have any other winter training programmes. Their u16s start back on the pitch at the beginning of January, ours don't start til after that. They get together 3 times a week, ours twice. Even Wicklows u16s get together 3 times a week. In fairness our minors have got together 3 times a week since December 1st. And were actually flying right up to their last challenge game before championship started. Now they are up against a good Laois team who beat Offaly by 31 points in the last round. And no doubt if they lose all the doom and gloom merchants will be out again. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 15639 - 06/05/2025 21:24:15 2607234 Link 0 |
No. But I wouldn't be surprised either. I've had plenty of false dawns since the early 90s. Our minors got absolutely destroyed by Galways not long after that. And our Seniors have suffered key injuries every year since that also. Numbers are a problem for us, we just dont have the depth most other counties have. For counties like ourselves, and Clare for example, thats critical. Look at how Clare went wirh a fully fit panel last year. Look at their game against Waterford without Cleary, Ryan, Kelly and O'Donnell. Was only chatting to a friend earlier about the game coming up in Salthill, last time we went up there Damien and Lee, our captain and vice captain, couldn't play in it. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 15639 - 06/05/2025 21:35:40 2607238 Link 0 |
Walter Walsh was very unorthodox, changed grip striking off left or right, but he's another lad that could've played any sport and been good at it. He's gone in with Leinster Rugby now. He was schooled in Wexford. As regards playing pool Kilkenny has a far larger hurling playing pool than we do. We have lads currently on our Senior Football team who could've been very good, and big, Senior Hurlers if they had of grown up in Kilkenny and not really bothered with Football. The CoE isn't specifically for developing intercounty hurlers and footballers, it's much more than that. It's a great multipitch neutral venue to have. And 1 or 2 Senior players a year isn't just 1 or 2 players, it's plenty of other lads who go back to their clubs and help drive the whole thing at club level. A rising tide that floats all boats, as a young lad from Ballybricken in Limerick described his experiences in Limericks underage set up as. Feeding back info on everything from Athletic Development to Nutrition, Performance Analysis to Sports Psychology. Kilkenny have a centre of Excellence as well, in Dunmore. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 15639 - 06/05/2025 22:55:00 2607247 Link 0 |
Fully agree . I thought then we had the underage structures in place to really become a force for the next 5-10 years. I also thought we had an excellent senior team that were at the right age to get us back to that stage and go one step further and reach an All Ireland Final. Please god we still have good days ahead starting on Saturday. Listening to the Wexford Hurling Podcast with Richie has wheted the appetite for Saturday. Richie thinks their back 6 really lack pace and we need to run at them at every opportunity . Im hoping its not too windy for a change and it doesnt become an arm wrestle
Afinestick96 (Wexford) - Posts: 571 - 07/05/2025 09:03:42 2607266 Link 0 |
Many of those clubs are punching well above their weight numbers wise. How many players do Fethard have around the senior panel as one example? But ultimately a lot of those clubs are up against a significant demographic shift in recent times which is accelerating. That's the move of people into the bigger towns at the expense of small villages and one off housing in rural areas. That's not unique in Wexford obviously but is what it is. We also can't rely on school teachers at primary or particularly secondary level to spend huge amounts of personal time developing young players. Society has changed, teachers and students have other interests now. That club and school structure simply needs to change to adopt to society today and tomorrow. As a county we are really struggling to develop elite level players in comparison to Limerick and Clare who would have a similar tradition and history to ourselves (no point comparing to KK). Huge investment in academy systems with the best of our coaches. Sure that might be to the detriment of clubs to a degree but we are simply miles off the required level currently. Timbertony (Wexford) - Posts: 398 - 07/05/2025 09:16:05 2607269 Link 0 |
Yep for some of those clubs there's been a bit of a demographic shift, but not all. Kilmuckridge village itself has tripled in population over last 2 decades or so never mind the surrounding areas, hurling only really, has the tradition and hardly anything. The Martins don't have a population issue, tradition, definitely do way way more hurljng than football and how many are on minor and u20 regular match day lanels this year? One? I see small rural clubs putting in huge effort and getting numbers and clubs of similar size if not bigger around them struggling so I genuinely do think a lot of it comes down to clubs and taking the easy options whilst bemoaning the county board and development squads etc. As I said I'm not totally up to speed with underage down the grades so had a look at fixtures this morning. Looked at u12 fixtures and tried to ascertain what clubs had 2 teams. The usual big clubs did but so did Blackwater and Ballyhougue and if they can I'm pretty sure many others could that would have bigger populations particularly than what Ballyhougue are pulling from. I just think we are too quick to blame the bigger picture in Wexford all the time as it's easier than doing it fkr ourselves at club level, is that harsh, maybe but I fear it's fhe reality. tearintom (Wexford) - Posts: 1495 - 07/05/2025 10:04:29 2607279 Link 0 |
Hard to believe alright. To be fair under Davy he kept the senior team very competitive, panel development wasn't his thing obviously. Under Egan we regressed hugely and now Rossi has a tough enough job moving experienced players on and trying to bring in new players. Some of them we expected from that u20 team that lost to Offaly are still struggling to step up to senior level. I would have thought Carley for one was a cert to be a starting midfielder by now but it hasn't happened. I honestly think if we did make a QF this year v a Limerick or Cork we would be annihilated. That's how far off we genuinely are. Galway supporters would be thinking the same Id say about their team. Timbertony (Wexford) - Posts: 398 - 07/05/2025 11:27:45 2607303 Link 0 |
I saw no matches at the weekend so am using scoreboard analysis and what I heard in the club last night. ExiledInWex (Dublin) - Posts: 1335 - 07/05/2025 11:31:06 2607308 Link 0 |
The only thing is ending is that team that Liam Dunne ushered in back in 2013 or 14. God its so depressing reading all these comments I thought we were doing great work underage or as Daragh Egan said himself other counties are copying a lot of Wexfords plans and documents. Personally I don't think we are making any progress underage, we seem to be where we always were given or take the odd decent period. Keith Rossifers 2 u20 teams were at least competitive and very close to winning in Leinster, we also got a few players off them onto the senior panel. Everything feels so negative at the moment I'm questioning why bother go to Salthill at all. We desperately need something to go right for us. If we drop any further then we are in the McDonagh scrap, that's reality. Ya can only expect Offally to improve year kn year now....I can't say the same.for us. So tough to keep positive right now WEXILE (Wexford) - Posts: 381 - 07/05/2025 11:33:20 2607310 Link 0 |
I don't really listen to podcasts regularly but if you have time Richie Kehoe is well worth listening to on this week's Wexford one. First time in a long time I've agreed with near enough everything a lad has said for a whole hour. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 15639 - 07/05/2025 11:46:26 2607317 Link 0 |
We don't have numbers for a second team but we enter the rising stars. If there's no fixture on a weekend, we'll organise a practice match so every player will get game time that week.
WEX98 (Wexford) - Posts: 495 - 07/05/2025 11:56:58 2607319 Link 0 |
Faythe Harriers constantly seem to have lads on the Minor, un20 and senior panels. Shelmaliers are the same as the Harriers. If you take the O'Connor dynasty out of the equation, the Martins don't produce many county men and Oulart have fallen off a cliff since 2015/16 in that regard. Can't remember who was the Alleys last senior county hurler. You can have all the huge numbers you want but it comes down to coaching within the club and kids wanting the desire to improve themselves away from club training so they have the necessary tools and skills to play for their county. It takes a ferocious effort. Some teenagers are happy enough to just play club even though they might be good enough for the county. The bar isn't high in Wexford hurling since the 60s really, there is no expectation on any minor, 20s or senior team to win the all Ireland compared to other counties. Winning provincial titles or at least competing in provincial final regularly would be the main aim the county should be striving for. If Lee Chin was to retire this winter would Wexford survive in the Liam McCarthy in 2026? Past hurler (None) - Posts: 921 - 07/05/2025 12:22:06 2607325 Link 0 |
Was a good listen Viking. I hope his optimism for Saturday is warranted and we are delighted on Saturday evening with two wins
Afinestick96 (Wexford) - Posts: 571 - 07/05/2025 12:22:41 2607326 Link 0 |
Davy knew Wexford's limitations as a hurling county, so he played with 1 or sometimes not 2 sweepers as he knew Wexford needed a system to compete. He also had a lot them leaders in their prime, Keith has lost them lads now to retirement and I think is facing into 3 very very tough games for Wexford. Win all 3 and it could be a Leinster final, if we lose all 3 then it's a Joe McDonagh relegation fight. Past hurler (None) - Posts: 921 - 07/05/2025 12:29:00 2607332 Link 0 |
Good post
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 15639 - 07/05/2025 12:51:04 2607337 Link 0 |
Very little end product with Carley in the Senior, Fitzgibbon and Barntown games I've seen over the last couple of years. He needs to get more involved in games he plays in. Playing a sweeper so many times has really blunted his mental sharpness. He doesn't seem to know when to go in and get a ball in his hand or not, he seems to wait in space for a pass, so when the opposition have the ball he's too far off any man to pressure him, and the odd time he gets the ball he seems to look backwards rather than forwards, then gives the "safe" pass, which is usually to a lad who wouldn't ve as good at striking as he is. He needs to believe in himself more, be braver with and without the ball, and lads who are managing teams he is on need to give him a more defined role to play, like tell him when the opposition have the ball, this fella is your primary man, process quicker with the ball in hand and pick out a man in a better position than you, not a worse position. He seems a good hurler skills wise, and has a good engine. Is athletic. I watched him for DCU Freshers in the League final and I don't remember many times seeing a player at any level run so many miles while getting on so little ball, making so few tackles, hooks, blocks, and generally affecting play so little. He was the same when I saw him with his club. He seemed to do better when playing a more orthodox wing forward or wing back role, and he can get you a point or 2 from there too. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 15639 - 07/05/2025 13:01:14 2607340 Link 0 |
There is no doubt there are problems all over the place in Wexford and no quick solutions. StoreysTash (Wexford) - Posts: 1825 - 07/05/2025 13:09:47 2607345 Link 0 |