WEXFORD CAPTAIN EOIN Conroy was stunned by the intensity that Limerick brought to the table during Saturday’s Bord Gáis Energy All-Ireland U21 hurling final.
The Slaneysiders suffered a massive 16-point hammering against Limerick in Thurles, the county’s second successive final defeat.
Conroy spoke openly and honestly about his 2014 final experience last week and the Naomh Éanna clubman pinpointed reasons for Wexford’s latest setback.
“It’s hard to explain how a performance like that can come out when we prepared so well throughout the year.
“We didn’t think it coming in to the game but maybe it was that we hadn’t been tested.”
Limerick were battle-hardened after beating Tipperary, Clare and Galway in their previous outings.
Wexford, in contrast, strolled to Leinster glory before a facile All-Ireland semi-final victory over Antrim.
And Conroy suspects that the Model County may have been undercooked.
“We got the fright of our lives when Limerick brought that intensity to the game – we hadn’t seen anything like it.
“Maybe the standard in Leinster and the standard of Antrim wasn’t enough for us to prepare for a final.
“Last year we got the Dublin challenge and the Galway challenge and maybe that suited us better.
“But you can’t make too many excuses either. We didn’t perform and Limerick really, really did.
“I don’t know what the stat is but it felt like we didn’t win one breaking ball all day.
“That’s so disappointing for our team. We pride ourselves on workrate and breaking ball and it just didn’t happen.
“There’s massive disappointment – we’re full of regret.
“The one thing we said going out was that we didn’t want to have any regrets. But the dressing room there is full of them.”
