FROM REACHING the All-Ireland semi-final in 2019 to being on the verge of dropping to the Joe McDonagh Cup, the Wexford hurlers are now in fight or flight territory.
In the South East, heads are probably still spinning after their shock defeat to Westmeath on Sunday. Losing a 17-point lead on home soil leaves a bruise. And their final Leinster round-robin tie against Kilkenny seven days later won’t provide much of a cushion.
The terms of that showdown in Wexford Park are simple: Win and they will retain their senior status for another year. If they lose and Antrim beat Westmeath, then Wexford will play in the Joe McDonagh Cup in 2024. A draw for Westmeath would even be enough for Wexford in that scenario.
Wexford are capable of beating Kilkenny in Nowlan Park. We need only rewind the clock 12 months to recall their last successful outing their in the Leinster round-robin. The nature of last weekend’s defeat could galvanise the squad and inspire a huge reaction.
That all said though, how did it come to this for Wexford?
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1. Lack of underage success
Wexford’s trophy cupboard has been bare of late where their underage squads are concerned. They last won a Leinster minor title in 2019 but have not contested the All-Ireland final at that grade since 1985.
The Wexford U20s have reached Leinster final five times in the last seven years but haven’t prevailed since the end of their provincial three-in-a-row in 2015. They played in back-to-back All-Ireland finals in 2014 and 2015 but didn’t succeed on either occasion.
Wexford’s conveyor belt just hasn’t been as fruitful. Moreover, they’re still reliant on the players who guided them to the 2017 Leinster final. Of the players who appeared in that provincial decider against Galway, Liam Ryan, Simon Donohoe, Matthew O’Hanlon, Diarmuid O’Keeffe, Lee Chin, Cathal Dunbar, Conor McDonald and Jack O’Connor all featured in the defeat to Westmeath last weekend.
2. Letting that 17-point lead slip against Westmeath
Not to take away from Westmeath resolve, but Wexford’s errors contributed to their demise too. Local Westmeath reporter Gerry Buckley told The 42 this week that when there was a sniff of a Westmeath comeback, Wexford went hunting for goals “when maybe a cuter team might have just tapped over points.”
Both of Niall Mitchell’s goals came from an exhibition of high fielding on the edge of the square. It was route one hurling. Wexford’s defence, for their part, didn’t do enough to protect their own lines. Additionally, where Noel Conaty’s save against Jack O’Connor’s penalty inspired Westmeath, it also rattled Wexford. All of these game changing moments happened in the final 20 minutes which underlines the sense of panic that gripped Wexford.
There was simply no road back for Darragh Egan’s side from there.
3. Injuries earlier in the season
Lee Chin has struggled with injuries in recent seasons and missed the Leinster opener against Galway. Liam Ryan was struck down with a finger injury which kept him out of their last two league games, while Matthew O’Hanlon, Rory O’Connor, and Kevin Foley all had various ailments to conquer during the year.
Darragh Egan’s side finished with just one win from their five Division 1B outings. One problem causes the other and Wexford clearly haven’t been able to hit their stride since. Damien Reck missed the Westmeath game through injury too.
4. Breakthrough fatigue
Wexford have been on the fringes of a breakthrough in recent years. Winning 2019 Leinster title for first time in 15 years under Davy Fitzgerald signalled a major step forward, and they were unlucky not to reach the All-Ireland final that year. Some would even argue they fumbled their chance in the semi-final against Tipperary. But typically, Wexford are a team many would label as the horse most likely to finish third in Leinster.
That’s enough to secure qualification to the All-Ireland stages and they tend to perform reasonably well on that stage. They were six points clear against Clare with 11 minutes remaining in their All-Ireland quarter-final last year, but eventually lost out by four. Another fumble when a Wexford victory was within reach.
Perhaps falling short at that stage of the championship is starting to make Wexford stutter. Reaching semi-finals and finals are liberating. But if the quarter-final is your ceiling, a team can become disillusioned. It’s not miles from the destination but the final stretch still feels out of reach. Repeatedly knocking on the door and never getting an answer can make a player feel less resolute.
Freefall can be hard to stop, as the Offaly hurlers discovered when they went from senior to Joe McDonagh and then into the Christy Ring competition.
Now Wexford are on the brink of their biggest drop: the Joe McDonagh Cup. Had they not been facing Kilkenny in their final round, survival would seem more likely for Wexford. But maybe that’s just the challenge they need to prove that they still have some fight in them.
5. Low scoring tallies
Against Antrim in the round-robin, they chalked up a winning score of 1-30, and when they travelled to Croke Park to face Dublin, they put 0-23 on the board. Even in that loss to Westmeath, they racked up a score of 2-22 including two first-half goals which saw marquee forwards Rory O’Connor and Conor McDonald combining their forces.
But on the other side of the coin are the wides that Wexford have accumulated. The Dublin defeat was a particularly sore one for Wexford as they recorded 19 wides in that game, 11 of which were in the second half. Had they secured that win, Wexford would not be staring down the barrel of relegation now.
Their round-robin opener against Galway was another concerning game for Wexford. Yes, they scored two goals in the first four minutes off the sticks of Liam Óg McGovern and Conor McDonald. But they only managed a further 12 points throughout the rest of the game. Wexford have also had issues over a first-choice free-taker in recent seasons.
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