1. Wexford hurlers regress even further
Two years ago in the Leinster championship, Wexford lost by five points to Dublin.
Last night, the margin between the sides was a whopping 13 points as a first visit to Croke Park for the Wexford hurlers in eight years ended in huge disappointment.
Injuries have hit Wexford hard but an alarming collapse in the last 15 minutes will have concerned loyal fans who made the trip to GAA HQ.
Those great days of two years ago when Wexford went toe-to-toe with, and knocked out, then All-Ireland champions Clare before seeing off Waterford in a Nowlan Park cauldron must seem so distant now.
Injured duo Lee Chin and Andrew Shore were massive losses but manager Liam Dunne was also without Aidan Nolan, Shane Tomkins, David Redmond and Shaun Murphy because of injury, while Jack Guiney and Kevin Nolan have both opted out.
Still, and Dunne was honest enough to admit it, he put 15 players out on the pitch to do a job and bar a few notable exceptions, they failed the test.
It’s Dunne’s fifth year in the role and while he may be unwilling to consider a sixth, county board officials could also decide it’s time for change even if the former playing great wanted to continue.
2. Missed chances cost Wexford footballers
Although Kildare dominated for spells, Wexford had the chance to turn them over.
Ten wides were racked up over the 70 minutes but missed opportunities at pivotal times proved costly.
Young Donal Shanley showed up well on his championship debut but missed a free when Wexford were 0-5 to 0-7 down that he would have been expected to convert.
Wexford still recovered to level the game and after falling behind again, they had a chance to restore parity when Ciaran Lyng stood over a free deep in stoppage time.
It favoured a left-footer but Lyng pulled his effort wide on the near post and the chance was gone.
In tight championship games like this, every chance counts.
3. Leinster final opportunity opens up for Kildare
Cian O’Neill won’t have been pleased with Kildare’s display but they’re 70 minutes away from a Leinster senior football final following victory over Wexford.
They have the easier side of the draw too, destined now to play the winners of Offaly and Westmeath in the last four.
In the first half, Kildare looked comfortable and carried a 0-7 to 0-3 lead with them down the tunnel at half-time.
But Wexford had sat back in that opening half and when they attacked Kildare, the Lilywhites looked as vulnerable as they had been against Clare in the Allianz League Division 3 final.
Kildare will be confident of clearing their next hurdle but if it’s against a resurgent Offaly, they could be in for more problems and not reaching a Leinster decider, given the draw, would represent a massive disappointment.
Huge improvement is required on the evidence of last night’s display.
4. Poor attendance a cause for concern
Just 13,066 spectators turned up at Croke Park last night – for a championship double header.
It was difficult to gauge what county was best-supported on the night but averaging it out, just 3,266 per team made the trip, a figure that of course is skewed given that Wexford had both of their senior teams in action.
It’s estimated that 33,000 is the ‘break-even’ figure to make opening the gates financially viable at GAA HQ, meaning that the two games represented a loss-making exercise for top brass.
Weather conditions wouldn’t have enticed a local walk-up crowd to support the Dublin hurlers and when the rain was at its heaviest, fans raced to the back of the hands to avoid being drenched.
When Croke Park has such a poor attendance, the atmosphere is virtually non-existent and perhaps a double-header at a tighter provincial venue was the better option for these two fixtures.
5. Dublin can pose problems for Kilkenny
It will take a major improvement from the Sky Blues against the Leinster and All-Ireland champions on 11 June but they’re certainly capable of it.
Kilkenny don’t need reminding that Dublin beat them in the 2011 League final and in the 2013 championship, games of major consequence, but forewarned is forearmed from the Cats’ perspective.
Dublin had a lovely spread of scorers against Wexford last night, 11 in total made up of both midfielders, all six starting forwards and three subs.
Ryan O’Dwyer was one of those subs and it was brilliant to see the Tipperary native back for his first start of the year following that horrific assault in Birmingham last year.
O’Dwyer, Niall Corcoran and Paul Schutte are now back to fitness for Dublin but key defender Peter Kelly will miss out again next time out, manager Ger Cunningham revealed after the game.
Kilkenny’s vulnerabilities were revealed in their League final defeat to Clare and while Dublin are the kind of team that can exploit them, Noreside boss Brian Cody is sure to have his charges primed for their championship opener.
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