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Tipp have 53 adult soccer teams, we have 88. Tipp have nearly twice as many adult hurling teams as we have. But enough of the excuses, why do you think they have won more AI hurling titles than we have? Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 18048 - 19/01/2026 00:25:31 2651762 Link 0 |
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Tipp have 53 adult soccer teams, we have 88. Tipp have nearly twice as many adult hurling teams as we have. But enough of the excuses, why do you think they have won more AI hurling titles than we have? PS they don't have a League of Ireland soccer club featuring multiple teams, and an excellent underage academy, either. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 18048 - 19/01/2026 00:28:08 2651764 Link 0 |
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We beat them twice in 2023 also. But thats in the past now. All about trying to get a good few of those lads developed into good or great Senior hurlers now.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 18048 - 19/01/2026 08:16:14 2651773 Link 0 |
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You think Rossi has done a better job than Derek Lyng?
countyman2022 (Wexford) - Posts: 926 - 19/01/2026 09:34:34 2651785 Link 0 |
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I think both have suffered from the same problems in their general management, maybe experience has something to do with it. Both slow on the line, both have had players drop off their panels, rumours of unhappy players etc. The difference is I think Keith has made more of an effort to give younger lads more time on the pitch to improve their game. I get that some of it was enforced by injuries, but not all of it. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 18048 - 19/01/2026 10:17:43 2651802 Link 0 |
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At integrating new players yes. Our panel has changed an awful lot more than theirs in the past 7 years. I'm sure Viking knows Kilkenny have won every Leinster title since 2020 and are still reaching all Ireland finals. Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 4155 - 19/01/2026 10:21:54 2651807 Link 0 |
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I'm not making excuses. I'm providing a rationale as to why I think it's more difficult in Wexford than some other places. I still don't think we're getting the best out of what we have. Take Limerick as an example. Munster rugby decline is in perfect tandem with Limerick hurlings success. It's extremely difficult to have your eggs in every basket with the resources we have. If it were up to me, hurling would be the priority for everyone, particularly county level but that just isn't how most people look at it. In an age of professional sports, hurling just isn't as attractive to a lot of people. Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 4155 - 19/01/2026 11:43:05 2651837 Link 0 |
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As you said the other day, was either about Clare or Tipp, they have people willing to put their shoulder to the wheel to invest in coaching youth and earn days like they had last July. The harder you work the luckier you get. And fairplay to yourself or anyone else here that puts time aside to go and do it. Would you or anyone else for that matter feel overall, we're just happy to settle for mediocrity /less in Wexford in terms of hurling and just 'sleepwalk' almost? I take absolutely no joy in asking that but we have to ask the tough questions sometimes…. OpenStandWall (Wexford) - Posts: 318 - 19/01/2026 12:57:56 2651874 Link 0 |
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I know this question is directed at Viking but I said it myself the other day. We're far too satisfied with mediocrity. I know loads of lads who genuinely wouldn't swap the summer of 96 for what Limerick have done. "What's rare is wonderful" they say. Well why can't we have both, and why do we accept it as rare. I remember traveling home from the 07 all Ireland semi final, for which we had a good bit of hope after beating tipp but we were well beaten by Kilkenny. Lads on the train were saying what a good performance it was. That to me says a lot about our ambition as a county. I was absolutely disgusted thinking of my uncles who were hurling for Wexford in the 50s/60s, or cousin from 96 wondering how we'd gotten to where we are. "Sure isn't it great to get the day out in Croke park?" No. It's embarrassing sometimes that a people like ours looking back through the centuries to be so spineless and soft. Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 4155 - 19/01/2026 13:56:44 2651889 Link 0 |
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A mindset set change in the county is what we really need and that's across the board We shouldn't be ashamed for aiming high (Although high expectations are nothing without high standards), goal should be to dominate and win multiple All-Irelands in a given era, some may scoff at that but if they're scoffing at that, we'd be better off without them Too much negativity about as well, don't think I've ever seen anyone be successful in sports without a positive mindset. Keep on telling lads they're no good and they'll start believing it Some think our under-age results are poor but I think Michael Duignan said it best when he said that from the outside, our underage teams were never going that badly but never shooting the lights out either Kildare's under-age results wouldn't be anywhere near ours which some on here consider to be very poor but they're telling lads how well they're going and that they're making progress, we've lads telling others that we're only going in one direction and that's down Won't win anything with a negative mindset ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 785 - 19/01/2026 14:22:59 2651894 Link 0 |
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I think the people putting time in down here are absolutely as dedicated and driven as any of the friends or acquaintances I have involved with Tipp or Clare county teams. The main issue is we have way less numbers wise at most clubs. We also seem to have less teachers in schools willing to put the time in. Ive given this alot of thought in recent years, and asked people who were around back then what they thought, and part of that is probably down to the erosion of the culture built up during the glory days of the 50s and 60s. Mick Jacob Senior told me that as the 70s went on into the 80s he noticed less and less lads out and about with the hurls, and in those days there was no such thing as screen time. I myself noticed the bounce we got after 96 likewise faded as we didnt back it up. Since the mid 90s Clare didnt go more than 15 years without winning an AI, and Tipp famously have won one every decade. I think this definitely helps with numbers of kids wanting to play, and then parents wanting to get into coaching. Our longterm historical hurling base, numbers, as in back to the early 20th Century, just wouldn't be what Corks, Galways, Kilkennys is. Tipps either. That probably helps counties like Cork stay competitive even during prolonged AI droughts. Tipp didnt win an AI between 1971 and 1989 either, but again had a strong enough base to come back. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 18048 - 19/01/2026 14:32:01 2651899 Link 0 |
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Im not sure they are spineless and soft as such. It's just that hurling for the county, or getting involved in trying to get the county better at hurling, just isnt as important to them as it is to more people in the Munster counties, Galway and Kilkenny. Ive met plenty of lads around Wexford and especially around here who are far from spineless and soft. Its just the majority of them couldn't care less about GAA, and many of them care even less about soccer and rugby. If Wexford got to Croke Park some might go up for the day out as you say, but some of them wouldn't even recognise Lee Chin, never mind most of the other players. To give a recentish example I watched Cork play Limerick in the round robin in 2024 in a bar in Inchegeelagh at the end of a vintage motorbike run around West Cork down there. Its a small village, and would be primarily a Football area. It seemed like every man and woman in the parish were jammed into what was a pretty large bar to watch the Cork hurlers. Similarly I watched the Leinster Semifinal in 2004 in a largeish bar in Castlelyons. When Mick Jacob scored the goal and Cody fell to his knees the roof nearly came off the place. The place was jammed with locals watching the game, and cheering for Wexford. If I went into a bar up here and a Munster round robin game was on that same afternoon, or even a Leinster one, it would probably be a struggle even to get the match on the tv ahead of the horse racing, or Premiership soccer maybe. Apparently even when Wexford are playing there arent huge numbers watching the game in any of the local bars. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 18048 - 19/01/2026 15:16:08 2651909 Link 0 |
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In terms of comparisons, I think Clare or Limerick would be better, they arguably fell lower too with strikes etc. Tipp with 29 All Ireland's, granted only 5 since 68, have huge tradition that we will never match. But in recent years if the question is why are they further ahead - I would say their standards are far higher. A bit like Kerry in football but they are not shy about cutting the legs off their own. KK would be the same. Ahead of last year their support had deserted them, Cahill was having to go to club games in disguise. But they all pulled together, underage and senior and got their rewards. As others have said we tolerate mediocrity, for example we had senior players looking for Egan to be kept on after nearly getting relegated and losing to Westmeath. As Mcgovern was saying pre Xmas, far too easy going. Players at the peak of their careers not committing to the cause for various reasons.
Timbertony (Wexford) - Posts: 489 - 19/01/2026 15:36:56 2651919 Link 0 |
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Agree 100%. Against Offaly over the last good number of years, pretty much all this millennium, apart from the 1 great team they had, our underage teams often beat theirs by 20 points, 30 even a couple of years ago. We have lost to Laois more often at minor and u20 in recent years, think we have lost 3 or 4 times to Laois at minor and u21 this millennium. Westmeath would also have beaten us this millennium. Kildare beat us in u20 in 2021, but again that was the only time a Kildare county side beat our main county side at any agegroup in memory. I can't remember ever seeing any underage Wexford team lose to Carlow either, even the really good u21 side they had in 2017. We beat them pretty convincingly in the Park, Cathal Dunbar scored a hat trick! Our underage record against Dublin this millennium hasn't been great, last year was the first we beat them at every underage age group from u14 up since the 1990s I think. Our record against Kilkenny was pretty good in the early noughties at u20, then again in the early/mid teens, and the early 20s also. But pretty poor otherwise, and we havent beaten them much at minor this millennium at all, 2019 excepted. While we havent beaten Galway and the Munster counties much at minor or u20 it has to be said we haven't played them very often either. Until very recently you had to win Leinster first. Overall there's not too much to be negative about, or positive either! Depends on what your own outlook would be Id be guessing. Hate to agree with Michael Duignam but he was pretty much spot on that time you have quoted him! Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 18048 - 19/01/2026 15:40:12 2651920 Link 0 |
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Agreed but to be honest football isn't given a fair shake in the county anyway. The best athletes in the county still pick hurling over football. In terms of attracting non nationals or even the odd blow-in, sure we have the most marketable player in the GAA! Need to get more players playing hurling at a high level for sure and increase the pool of inter county quality players available. More of a demographics driven approach needed. You and others will know better what's not working in the towns but that needs to be prioritised. Chin was a very good soccer player when younger too, I think most young lads would pick playing for a good Wexford hurling team than pushing down the LOI route.
Timbertony (Wexford) - Posts: 489 - 19/01/2026 15:53:34 2651924 Link 0 |
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Spineless and soft was my feeling at the time, which admittedly was a reaction to something I felt was totally outrageous at the time. Sitting alone on the train when a well organised and well coached Wexford team had put in a really big effort and been well beaten in Croke Park, that was the first time I'd ever really seen that laid bare I suppose. What I'm really talking about is the lack of ambition our supporters showed that day. 07 is a good example of us saying we had a good season, but that ended with an all Ireland semi final that we were only really in for 30 minutes until Kilkenny totally took over. Mick Jacob scored 1-4 off the bench as I recall, including a last minute goal that probably didn't cross the line to bring us to a "respectable" 10 point margin. I'm getting a bit sentimental now, but I'll never forget Griffin's speech at the homecoming. He said it wasn't the end, it was the beginning. I was young at the time and really took it to heart. I'm not an emotional fella, but I am always moved when I can feel the spirit of Wexford on a big day, 96,97,01,03,04,07,14,19 and even 22/23 when our backs were against the wall. That's why I just can never understand somebody being invited to hurl with Wexford and saying no. It just doesn't compute. What could possibly be more important? A fella in work asked me recently, would I rather have won an Olympic medal boxing or an all Ireland with Wexford. Didn't even have to think about it. One is sport, the other is life. One is a coin on a string, the other is a representation of who we are and all that came before us. Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 4155 - 19/01/2026 16:38:56 2651937 Link 0 |