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Wexford boss Liam Dunne (left) with Dublin supremo Ger Cunningham last night. Ryan Byrne/INPHO
straight Talk

'Some fellas will die for it, everyone is different' - Wexford boss Dunne on absent stars

The Model County supremo was without a host of big hitters for last night’s heavy defeat to Dublin at Croke Park.

WEXFORD MANAGER LIAM Dunne revealed a lengthy list of absentees following last night’s crushing Leinster SHC quarter-final defeat to Dublin at Croke Park.

There had been some speculation that Lee Chin would fill the number 26 slot that was left vacant in the Wexford squad but Dunne insisted that was never a runner due to the nature of his injury.

Chin wasn’t the only missing star as Andrew Shore was also ruled out with cruciate knee ligament damage sustained recently.

Aidan Nolan, Shane Tomkins, David Redmond and Shaun Murphy are other players on the treatment table while Dunne also revealed that talented forward Jack Guiney, who quit earlier in the year, has left for the United States.

Dunne also explained that Kevin Foley, a recent U21 star, cannot give the commitment required to the senior squad.

Dunne said: “Look, we’re missing players but we still had 15 guys out there.

“We came up here to do a job and we didn’t do it.

“We don’t have the strength in depth but that’s not going to be an excuse.

Liam Dunne It was a tough night for Liam Dunne at Croke Park. Lorraine O’Sullivan / INPHO Lorraine O’Sullivan / INPHO / INPHO

“Lee wasn’t on the panel at all. We did a fitness test on Thursday night and he got through it but he has lateral medial (ligament) damage and if we had chanced him, medically it was going to be 50-50.

“He could have been banjaxed for the year. I would have loved to have him, he’s a huge loss to us.”

When asked if Wexford are making progress under his stewardship, Dunne was typically honest in his response.

“When you look at a performance like that, straight up you’d have to say no.

“But there’s a such a transition of players from this team in the last two or three years, it’s just phenomenal. 

You have Jack Guiney going over to America in the middle of last week, you have Kevin Nolan, a guy with three Leinster U21 medals and he feels he can’t give the commitment and doesn’t want to hurl for Wexford at the moment. We can’t afford not to have everybody.

“It’s happening all over. It’s not just Wexford and it’s not just hurling teams. You see the Tipperary footballers there and three lads away to America last week. It’s just happening all over. The demand is there for them.

“And you think of those guys in the dressing room there, they’ll be ridiculed by everyone after that, which you have to take on the chin. Some fellas don’t want that.

“They wonder is it worth the hassle and they decide it isn’t. Some fellas will die for it – everyone is different.”

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Grim night for Wexford as Dublin hurlers and Kildare footballers send out different messages

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