Matty Forde says he regrets the fact that Wexford didn't make it to last Sunday's All-Ireland football final, despite the huge strides they made this year. Under their rookie manager Jason Ryan, the Model County were arguably the success story of this year's championship. They reached their first Leinster final in 52 years only to lose heavily to Dublin, but showed remarkable powers of recovery to beat Down and Armagh before going under to Tyrone in the All-Ireland semi-final. But coming so close to playing in the All-Ireland final has the Kilanerin sharpshooter thinking of what might have been. He said: "If someone had told us at the start of the year that we would win the league (Division 3), get to a Leinster final and an All-Ireland semi-final, we would have been delighted with that. "But I suppose the further you get, the further you want to go and we have very little to show for it all at the end of the year. Progress is relative though and we have made progress." Forde, who is expected to return to club action this weekend from the ankle injury that forced him to leave the fray at half-time in the Tyrone defeat, believes the Leinster championship will be as difficult to win next year as it was in any other year for Wexford. "A lot of people are saying Leinster might be more open than it has been for a long time next year. "Three or four teams will have new managers which will make it interesting. One of those is Dublin, of course, and they have been the big stumbling block for us and everybody else in the last four years. To be honest, I don't think it's going to be any easier at all." Tweet

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