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Wexford Hurling 2025

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Replying To hunting: "Good post viking, I agree with regards the bigger younger lads. I think we need to see cian molloy. Whelan. Kehoe possibly Dundeon, would do any worst then some last night. Maybe there are injured or just not doing it in training. Was molloy actually on the bench last night" Didnt see patsy warming up but maybe he was, We need him to step up and show his ability Afinestick96 (Wexford) - Posts: 424 - 27/01/2025 09:34:38 2587832 Link
Replying To Viking66: "For some reason we aren't playing our bigger lads much so far this year. Maybe they aren't going well in training. Or maybe they are injured. I thought Kehoe looked decent for DCU in the League final against UL, playing against some top young intercounty forwards from Limerick and Clare. I thought Dundons handing, first touch and positional awareness was very good against the TOTY. Patsy has great hurling ability for a bigger young lad also. Jack Redmond was very busy when he came on, I know he isn't a giant, but he's got a bit of strength and size for his age also. CBD was frankly poor last night, but I know from seeing alot of him the last few years that his first touch and hurling is generally much better than he showed. Whelan also is a decent hurler for a taller lad, but maybe he's struggling to come to terms with the physicality of Senior intercounty. Kelly has admittedly looked slow the few times I've seen him in a Wexford shirt. Ive seen very little of O Hagan and Clancy at Senior even in challenge games, but then they might not be going well at training either, or might be injured. Eoin Ryan is a tallish young lad also, and in fairness to him his touch did get better as the game wore on last night. Conor Foley isn't small either and was decent enough last night I thought, and I wouldn't say he made the wrong decision as regards the black card incident. Of the slightly older lads, or even lads in their late mid 20s, Charlie and Simon have a bit of bite, inner dog, in fairness to them, but are small and their first touch and general hurling especially decision making is still not great. Casey has the hurling, but is small also and lacks that inner dog. He also isn't that quick. Murphy is a good hurler, and has a great attitude, but isn't particularly big either, or particularly fast. Dunbar is an exceptionally quick lad, and has hurling to burn, but fades out of games. Thought he was more involved yesterday though in fairness to him. At the same time I am also mindful of friends in Kilkenny boasting about the 10kg Billy Drennan put on in the gym coming out of u20, only to see him miss huge chunks of playing time injured. His hurling also hasn't looked as good since, as it did at u20. It does have to be said that only Dooley, Charlie, Hearne, Rory, Dunbar, Flood, Kevin Foley and Casey were over 24 of all the 19 odd out field lads who played, and all of these werent regularly starting championship games 2 or 3 years ago except Rory and Kevin, whereas most of Corks team and subs were 25/26 plus and fully physically developed, and starting championship games the last 6 or 7 years. All Keith and his management team can do is try get these lads to improve in the areas where they are weak. I was really hoping to see some of the bigger young lads given a run though, would they have been any worse than some of the lads in the paragraph above?" Can you guess what time of the year lads get bogged down with size and strength? You guessed it, when the pitches are just that, boggy, slow and made for the big strong hurler. The hurlers who stood out a mile in Croke Park last summer were the speedy, electric hurlers with huge athleticism and skill. Tony Kelly, Shane Barrett, Shane O'Donnell, Darragh Fitzgibbon, Mark Rodgers etc are not big men but they ruled Croke Park last summer. Hurling is not rugby, Mick Fennelly said when he was playing it was a hindrence now to be carrying big muscles in the heat of Croke Park championship matches. The gym has it's place for injury prevention and power but this thing above size is overplayed. Past hurler (None) - Posts: 854 - 27/01/2025 12:48:02 2587876 Link
Replying To Past hurler: "Can you guess what time of the year lads get bogged down with size and strength? You guessed it, when the pitches are just that, boggy, slow and made for the big strong hurler. The hurlers who stood out a mile in Croke Park last summer were the speedy, electric hurlers with huge athleticism and skill. Tony Kelly, Shane Barrett, Shane O'Donnell, Darragh Fitzgibbon, Mark Rodgers etc are not big men but they ruled Croke Park last summer. Hurling is not rugby, Mick Fennelly said when he was playing it was a hindrence now to be carrying big muscles in the heat of Croke Park championship matches. The gym has it's place for injury prevention and power but this thing above size is overplayed." Those names mentioned are the best hurlers in the country and all were talked about since minor and u16. Only Rory and Chin from Wexford could be described in the same sentence as those names. The only minor or u16 I hear about in Wexford these days is Sean O'Brien from Rathgarogue. I hope there are more I don't hear about. My father said the most disappointing thing about Saturday was we had absolutely no game plan, a half forward line incapable of winning the ball and a defence who have relied in sweepers for years to bail them out. At any level of the game, you have to be able to win your own battle. Its not about winning every game but the performance has to be there every day. "Summer hurling" is an excuse. You play the game for a reason and Wexford's fate will be decided before the pitches heat up. I always feel every defeat is backed up by a list of excuses. That has to stop in Wexford if we're to close the gap. StoreysTash (Wexford) - Posts: 1797 - 27/01/2025 13:11:36 2587890 Link
One major worry I have after the weekend is our s and c . We look so physically small compared to other teams. I know we are doing gym work but are our lads being told to do the right things Afinestick96 (Wexford) - Posts: 424 - 27/01/2025 13:26:20 2587894 Link
The preoccupation with size in this county is ridiculous and holds us back in both codes at every level. Pick the best lads, regardless of size. Some will be big, some will be small, and everything in between. Look at Clare. They've won All Irelands with big men like Honan, Conlon, Ryan, Fitzgerald, Bugler and Duggan, and smaller men like the Galvins, O'Donnell, Reidy, Collins and Morey. If the big lads were going to be future county seniors, they'd be at home practicing their skills like the best lads are. Players of all ages are either going to be out in the sun and rain practising at home, or they're not. You can't put that into lads. Putting time and effort and resources into big lumps in the hopes they become skilful enough to be useful is a total waste. Would be far better just picking the best, regardless of size, and letting them get the coaching and resources, as that will be time well spent. icehonesty (Wexford) - Posts: 2570 - 27/01/2025 13:51:27 2587913 Link
Replying To Past hurler: "Can you guess what time of the year lads get bogged down with size and strength? You guessed it, when the pitches are just that, boggy, slow and made for the big strong hurler. The hurlers who stood out a mile in Croke Park last summer were the speedy, electric hurlers with huge athleticism and skill. Tony Kelly, Shane Barrett, Shane O'Donnell, Darragh Fitzgibbon, Mark Rodgers etc are not big men but they ruled Croke Park last summer. Hurling is not rugby, Mick Fennelly said when he was playing it was a hindrence now to be carrying big muscles in the heat of Croke Park championship matches. The gym has it's place for injury prevention and power but this thing above size is overplayed." We had a small side out against Cork. And they would've looked small against Clare too. Reidy is short ok but built like a little block, Rodgers is strong too and not that short, SOD is 5'9" and strong too, TK is over 6ft, and that's before you look at Conlon, Mac, Ryan, Fitz, Duggan, Cleary, Shanagher who are giants, well over 6ft. McCarthy, Hogan, Malone etc are over 6ft also. I agree about explosive players, but outside of Rory, Dunbar and maybe Byrne we didn't have any of these either. And we need at least a few, maybe 6 or 7, big ball winners so the explosive lads can do their thing, which we didn't have Saturday. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 14507 - 27/01/2025 14:50:50 2587938 Link
Replying To icehonesty: "The preoccupation with size in this county is ridiculous and holds us back in both codes at every level. Pick the best lads, regardless of size. Some will be big, some will be small, and everything in between. Look at Clare. They've won All Irelands with big men like Honan, Conlon, Ryan, Fitzgerald, Bugler and Duggan, and smaller men like the Galvins, O'Donnell, Reidy, Collins and Morey. If the big lads were going to be future county seniors, they'd be at home practicing their skills like the best lads are. Players of all ages are either going to be out in the sun and rain practising at home, or they're not. You can't put that into lads. Putting time and effort and resources into big lumps in the hopes they become skilful enough to be useful is a total waste. Would be far better just picking the best, regardless of size, and letting them get the coaching and resources, as that will be time well spent." More than half Clares current team are over 6ft. Some well over it too. Probably 10 of their starting team in the AI final. I agree big doesn't necessarily mean good, but you need some bigger lads in certain positions. Half forwards and Half backs especially. But I agree, they have to be able to hurl also. To totally ignore bigger lads at age 14 or 15 who are less well coordinated on account of growing fast at that time, in favour of smaller, more skilful at the time, trickier lads, is what we did for years. And where did it get us? We need balance, at Senior and at underage. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 14507 - 27/01/2025 14:58:39 2587940 Link
Replying To icehonesty: "The preoccupation with size in this county is ridiculous and holds us back in both codes at every level. Pick the best lads, regardless of size. Some will be big, some will be small, and everything in between. Look at Clare. They've won All Irelands with big men like Honan, Conlon, Ryan, Fitzgerald, Bugler and Duggan, and smaller men like the Galvins, O'Donnell, Reidy, Collins and Morey. If the big lads were going to be future county seniors, they'd be at home practicing their skills like the best lads are. Players of all ages are either going to be out in the sun and rain practising at home, or they're not. You can't put that into lads. Putting time and effort and resources into big lumps in the hopes they become skilful enough to be useful is a total waste. Would be far better just picking the best, regardless of size, and letting them get the coaching and resources, as that will be time well spent." More than half Clares current team are over 6ft. Some well over it too. Probably 10 of their starting team in the AI final. I agree big doesn't necessarily mean good, but you need some bigger lads in certain positions. Half forwards and Half backs especially. But I agree, they have to be able to hurl also. To totally ignore bigger lads at age 14 or 15 who are less well coordinated on account of growing fast at that time, in favour of smaller, more skilful at the time, trickier lads, is what we did for years. And where did it get us? We need balance, at Senior and at underage. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 14507 - 27/01/2025 15:10:52 2587946 Link
Replying To Past hurler: "Can you guess what time of the year lads get bogged down with size and strength? You guessed it, when the pitches are just that, boggy, slow and made for the big strong hurler. The hurlers who stood out a mile in Croke Park last summer were the speedy, electric hurlers with huge athleticism and skill. Tony Kelly, Shane Barrett, Shane O'Donnell, Darragh Fitzgibbon, Mark Rodgers etc are not big men but they ruled Croke Park last summer. Hurling is not rugby, Mick Fennelly said when he was playing it was a hindrence now to be carrying big muscles in the heat of Croke Park championship matches. The gym has it's place for injury prevention and power but this thing above size is overplayed." O'Donnell is well able to win his ball anyway. High or low it doesn't matter to him. Not easy knock Rogers over either. Despite their undoubted hurling ability and unbelievable speed on the run, both Fitzgibbon and Kelly would have been criticised by their own fans in recent years for inability to win the dirty ball. Both are over 6ft I think so you don't see them winning too many on the air. I guess successful teams have a mix of players with complimentary skills. In rugby the "piano players and piano movers" they call it. With Wexford, I don't see many players in the forwards capable of winning their own ball, v Clare we had no player that did it. We lack the slicker hurling skills further back the field to really develop a shorter passing game. I saw this in KK last year when they pushed up on us, very easy blame Fanning in that scenario when defenders aren't looking for the ball and losing it in contact twice as quick. Lots to work on but tough times ahead. Maybe necessary ones. Timbertony (Wexford) - Posts: 335 - 27/01/2025 15:36:28 2587957 Link
Replying To Past hurler: "Can you guess what time of the year lads get bogged down with size and strength? You guessed it, when the pitches are just that, boggy, slow and made for the big strong hurler. The hurlers who stood out a mile in Croke Park last summer were the speedy, electric hurlers with huge athleticism and skill. Tony Kelly, Shane Barrett, Shane O'Donnell, Darragh Fitzgibbon, Mark Rodgers etc are not big men but they ruled Croke Park last summer. Hurling is not rugby, Mick Fennelly said when he was playing it was a hindrence now to be carrying big muscles in the heat of Croke Park championship matches. The gym has it's place for injury prevention and power but this thing above size is overplayed." Our lads had no problems last year in horrible conditions that's just making excuses!!! The difference is we are in with all the big dogs of hurling now and that's the level we are at,maybe we could be a small bit better maybe!!! Of all the big lads we are missing it wouldn't have made a whole lot of difference because there best days are well and truly behind them,let's face it,it's a total rebuild that's going on and this is going to be the scenario for a while now we just have to buckle up and endure!!! We are miles off it, it's just reality!!! On the under 20s they played a cork development team not the real u20 cork team!! theboys (Wexford) - Posts: 243 - 27/01/2025 15:49:08 2587965 Link
Replying To Viking66: "More than half Clares current team are over 6ft. Some well over it too. Probably 10 of their starting team in the AI final. I agree big doesn't necessarily mean good, but you need some bigger lads in certain positions. Half forwards and Half backs especially. But I agree, they have to be able to hurl also. To totally ignore bigger lads at age 14 or 15 who are less well coordinated on account of growing fast at that time, in favour of smaller, more skilful at the time, trickier lads, is what we did for years. And where did it get us? We need balance, at Senior and at underage." Very good post. I agree there needs to be a balance, especially at underage, don't be discarding lads when they're having a growth spurt and are gangly and awkward, obviously at the same time a lad needs to practice to be the best they can be. Also, it can't just be that Wexford men are smaller by nature than their counterparts but we have one of the smallest in height, power, strength of any of the top tier teams, we genuinely have nobody apart from Chin currently and previously Matt O' Hanlon & Liam Ryan with any sort of physicality who have proven that they are/were able for the intensity of the intercounty game. Rory has the height and pace but lacks a bit of athleticism. YellowShadeOfPurple (Wexford) - Posts: 39 - 27/01/2025 15:58:42 2587970 Link
Replying To theboys: "Our lads had no problems last year in horrible conditions that's just making excuses!!! The difference is we are in with all the big dogs of hurling now and that's the level we are at,maybe we could be a small bit better maybe!!! Of all the big lads we are missing it wouldn't have made a whole lot of difference because there best days are well and truly behind them,let's face it,it's a total rebuild that's going on and this is going to be the scenario for a while now we just have to buckle up and endure!!! We are miles off it, it's just reality!!! On the under 20s they played a cork development team not the real u20 cork team!!" We didn't have a few starters either. According to Cork people there most of that team will be starting come the u20 Munster Championship. Suppose we didn't beat them well in a knockout AI minor game last year either? Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 14507 - 27/01/2025 16:40:47 2587983 Link
Replying To Viking66: "More than half Clares current team are over 6ft. Some well over it too. Probably 10 of their starting team in the AI final. I agree big doesn't necessarily mean good, but you need some bigger lads in certain positions. Half forwards and Half backs especially. But I agree, they have to be able to hurl also. To totally ignore bigger lads at age 14 or 15 who are less well coordinated on account of growing fast at that time, in favour of smaller, more skilful at the time, trickier lads, is what we did for years. And where did it get us? We need balance, at Senior and at underage." There has been a preoccupation with big lads for at least the last 35 years, I don't know where you're getting that we favoured smaller lads for years. icehonesty (Wexford) - Posts: 2570 - 27/01/2025 16:59:05 2587990 Link
Welcome to the doldrums lads, it sure is cosy in here!!!!!!! ahsure. (Galway) - Posts: 1641 - 27/01/2025 17:04:12 2587993 Link
Replying To icehonesty: "There has been a preoccupation with big lads for at least the last 35 years, I don't know where you're getting that we favoured smaller lads for years." Its not about height its about having the right s and c in place for us to compete . Could you not see on Saturday most of our forwards were just shoved off the ball so many times our lads just dont have the physicality right now. Afinestick96 (Wexford) - Posts: 424 - 27/01/2025 17:20:29 2587997 Link
Replying To icehonesty: "There has been a preoccupation with big lads for at least the last 35 years, I don't know where you're getting that we favoured smaller lads for years." Which bigger lads? Since we came out of the Doldrums around the early teens we have had Chin, Jippo, Matt and Mac as regular starters who would be at the big end of intercounty hurlers, though not the biggest either. Other bigger lads who started a few Senior Championship games in that time would include Guiney, Paudie and Oisin Foley, Jacko and Shore. I know I'm guilty of long posts but even I wouldn't list out the lads who have started for us who would be at the smaller end of modern intercounty players. If we were preoccupied with bigger lads I'm sure we would've had a few more than you can count on the fingers of one, in the case of regular starters, or 2 , altogether, hands in over a dozen years. I agree hurling, pace, inner dog and vision are all important qualities also, and ideally we would have 26 players with all 5 qualities, but that's not being realistic. What we need is balance, and currently we aren't balanced. I'd say we were comfortably the lightest, in terms of average weight, and shortest, in terms of average height, of all the 1a teams picked last weekend. And that would include Galway, who picked a very young inexperienced team even compared to ours. And if looking to address that imbalance means that we actually do become preoccupied with size/height at a young age, then so be it. You can improve a fellas hurling, touch, striking etc, and pace, to a lesser extent, with good coaching. Maybe even vision if you emphasise seeing the whole pitch from a young enough age. No amount of the very best coaching ever available will coach a lad to be a foot taller though. And I'm equally certain no amount of coaching can impart that inner dog, that hunger for the ball, that hunger to be first to it, that hunger to be the best. That's what makes the truly great players truly great. It's either in a lad, or it isn't. Without it the most skilful lad in the world won't drive on and reach his full potential. So it's definitely not all about size. But size is part of it. Its all about balance. And at Senior level if you are going to pick average hurlers, you may as well pick younger, bigger, average hurlers and see can you develop them, rather than pick the same smaller average hurlers that have been picked for the last few years and are still just average. As well as picking some younger smaller faster hurlers and seeing can they add some explosiveness to the team. We seem to be picking too many smaller to average lads, who train well, work hard, but in some cases are limited hurling wise especially as regards touch and speed of hurling, limited vision wise, won't get the head up and see a teammate in a better position and find him fast, most also aren't fast as in running, aren't particularly agile, aren't tall enough to catch a ball, and some who think inner dog is when you let the lad in of a bad night to sit by the fire. Maybe there's still too much store placed on who a lad is, what family or club he's from, but I do think that's definitely got better in recent years, and I personally dont think Keith Rossiter suffers from that affliction too badly. I don't have all the answers, what I do have is plenty of ideas some of which are either unworkable or just badly worked out, that's why I stick them up here on this forum. But I do know we are doing things differently at underage now, and hopefully we will see the benefits in the next few years. A fashionable saying at the minute is if you keep doing the same things, you cant expect a different result. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 14507 - 27/01/2025 18:36:49 2588020 Link
Replying To theboys: "Our lads had no problems last year in horrible conditions that's just making excuses!!! The difference is we are in with all the big dogs of hurling now and that's the level we are at,maybe we could be a small bit better maybe!!! Of all the big lads we are missing it wouldn't have made a whole lot of difference because there best days are well and truly behind them,let's face it,it's a total rebuild that's going on and this is going to be the scenario for a while now we just have to buckle up and endure!!! We are miles off it, it's just reality!!! On the under 20s they played a cork development team not the real u20 cork team!!" Get a grip its January things will improve talk to us in June. Tiger1 (Wexford) - Posts: 285 - 27/01/2025 20:02:20 2588039 Link
Replying To Afinestick96: "Its not about height its about having the right s and c in place for us to compete . Could you not see on Saturday most of our forwards were just shoved off the ball so many times our lads just dont have the physicality right now." It's not just about strength when it comes down to winning a ball on the ground . It's also about wanting it more. Plenty of times I've seen a smaller lad get the better of a bigger one in a fight, never mind winning a ball on a hurling field. Strength helps though, once you use it all. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 14507 - 27/01/2025 20:11:32 2588045 Link
Replying To Viking66: "It's not just about strength when it comes down to winning a ball on the ground . It's also about wanting it more. Plenty of times I've seen a smaller lad get the better of a bigger one in a fight, never mind winning a ball on a hurling field. Strength helps though, once you use it all." Richie Hogan was always good to win a ball in the air. Low centre of gravity with him, don't recall him being knocked around the place much in his career. Good spring off the ground too. McGovern too was well able to mix it. There's no hard and fast rules, some players with the physique don't know how to use it to their advantage. Being able to physically compete is the starting point though. The days of players picking up handy ball around the field are over. Timbertony (Wexford) - Posts: 335 - 27/01/2025 22:56:53 2588069 Link
Hard to be optimistic about our prospects in the short or medium term. With 3 key players retired and several others constantly injured we are not going to be chalenging for trophies this year. Even if Jippo, Damien and Shane Reck get back and Mac of course, will they be match fit. The game on Saturday clearly shows that our panel is quite weak and seriously lack physicality. However if the above named players plus Chin are ready for battle in the leinster round robin and we play with passion and intensity ( unlike in the Cork game) we might scrape into the top 3. We simply will not do well if our newer lads fail to improve. The game is all about a strong panel and not over reliance on our established players. I know it's only January and the pitches are heavy but lads need to be able to cope with all conditions. A lot to work to do then and i'm afraid i am not too sure we have what it takes at present. I would love to be proved very wrong. Magpie2 (Wexford) - Posts: 397 - 27/01/2025 23:07:55 2588070 Link