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Wexford Hurling Thread

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Replying To Bryson: "Who told you Galway wont be strong next year? Galway are always strong. Coach the coaches thats our problem in Wexford. Good people involved but 15 years behind the top 8 counties. We are currently Joe Mc level. Offaly will drive it home on Saturday" I never said they won't be strong, I said they won't be as strong Their 2024 Minor team were beaten by Tipp by a point in the AISF after extra-time and Tipp ended up winning the AI so of course, they'll be strong and that's before we even mention Pres Athenry got to the Croke Cup Final this year without either Niland or Rabbitte being in the school But their U20 team next year is one which should be in the mix for a Leinster title and possibly an AI title whereas their team this year is one who have enough talent that if they had everyone available, they could coast to a Leinster title and would take the world of beating in an AI Final Niland and Rabbitte are very good hurlers and they're only 20, put them on an already U20 good team and you pretty much have a golden crop, can't have a golden crop every year I suppose that's what we should be aiming for, can't get a golden crop every year but you can maybe make sure that you have a fairly good team each year, these next few Galway U20 teams will be in the mix for Leinster at the very least so they're putting a high floor in for their Senior, I suppose the golden crop are the ones who put in the high ceiling ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 1217 - 14/05/2026 20:32:03 2673042 Link
Replying To Pikeman96: "To hark back to this one and to again echo something already said by Viking - In fairness to you, you started out in a good place. Those questions you posed could almost have been a copy & paste from the questionnaire that was circulated to clubs to try achieve exactly what you're suggesting. But on the matter of "important to bring them along with you" rather than "imposed from above", the events were: - Was outlined in detail at a meeting of club representatives and in correspondence to them too that clubs are the first step in producing players, that they've a hugely important role to play in this, and that if we can improve that, things will surely improve all the way up the line. - The questionnaire was then circulated, and clubs were asked to fill it in and return it as the first major step in developing their actual club coaching plan. - Staff from the coaching office would then contact all clubs who returned it, go through it with them in detail to actually formulate that club coaching plan, and then stay in touch with them as regards its implementation. However, only 18 clubs actually bothered to return the form, and I daresay at least some of those 18 didn't exactly fully engage with the process afterwards. To me, that was doing a lot to try to "bring them along", rather than just barking orders of "do this! do that!". If you have other ideas of how to make a better stab at "bringing them along", I'm sure the folks responsible are open to those ideas." Tbf, I should have chosen my words more carefully I suppose we can't force them to do it but we need to find ways to find key individuals in clubs, convince them of the importance of the programmes, and then get them to be the ones to drive it ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 1217 - 14/05/2026 20:35:11 2673043 Link
Replying To Viking66: "Most of that was requested the last 2 years from the clubs by coaching and games, and Coiste na Nog. The clubs were supposed to appoint coaching officers to oversee it, some didnt do this. The coaching officer was supposed to submit a plan along the the lines of what you have there. Only 18 clubs did so. There was alot of work put into this by County Board, and some of the meetings to do with it were only attended by around half the clubs. Club apathy is still an ongoing problem. Around one third of the clubs in the county never even bothered sending a representative to the launch of the 2026-2030 strategic plan. Attendance by club chairpeople, secretaries, CnN chairpeople and secretaries, coaching officers, and County Board reps was requested. Some clubs had 4 or 5 lads there. More never sent anyone at all." That is terrible, Clubs should have had a conversation on it and bring to County Board. Clubs should have at least 2 Reps there. I bet these will be the first to complain about anything …Clubs can force change but would rather moan.. Spuds&GAA (Wexford) - Posts: 21 - 14/05/2026 21:06:41 2673051 Link
Our seniors are in a bad place and it was obvious from the start of the year. Apart from our game v offaly the biggest game from our point of view is that kk beat kildare. Things are not good in the camp and confidence is rock bottom. We will be beaten Saturday I be amazed if we are not, but all the lads having a good at underage are either doing it to be super negative or haven't followed our underage set up for a long time. We are improving and hopefully will continue to improve underage. Yes we have a long way to go but we are getting there slowly. It's not going to happen over night and it will take even more hard work. hunting (Wexford) - Posts: 1218 - 14/05/2026 21:48:21 2673056 Link
Replying To Purpleandgold72: "That's unfair on the Wexford lads. Surely if Galway are going to play in Leinster then they have to be prepared to travel to places like Wexford for an away game." Yeah, but just for the sake of pointing out on the other hand, it's the same rule that saved our minor footballers from having to travel to Antrim last weekend despite Antrim having the home draw, and getting to play them in Dublin instead. Or if last night's match had technically been a Galway home fixture, would have saved our lads from having to travel all the way to Galway for it. They'd still only have had to travel to Portlaoise instead. As stated, I don't know the exact mechanics of the "distance rule". To the best of my knowledge, it's measured between county grounds, and so it must be 250km or thereabouts. Google Maps says 220km from Pearse Stadium to Parnell Park (Galway's second longest trip), and they're "allowed" to travel there all right. But 253km from Pearse Stadium to Wexford Park if you come the "normal" way through Ballinasloe, Birr, Roscrea, etc., and it seems that's judged too far. Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3615 - 14/05/2026 21:55:38 2673058 Link
Replying To ElGranSenor: "Tbh, I think the silly part is that Galway had away games and neutral games but no home games If every game was a neutral game for them, I could understand but it's unfair on them to ask them to play away but not to play at home" They were allowed to actually play at home last year, but with the way the group fixtures went and the way the existing home/away structures stood, they only had one home game each in Minor and U20. Also one away game in the U20 group (where there were just three teams per group), and two away in Minor. Will be interesting to see what happens next year. If Wexford are the only ones being affected in the "wrong" way by the distance rule this year (i.e. Galway are still expected to travel to Kilkenny and Dublin), then stands to reason that Kilkenny and Dublin will be expected to travel to Galway in 2027. Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3615 - 14/05/2026 22:02:11 2673060 Link
Replying To Bryson: "Who told you Galway wont be strong next year? Galway are always strong. Coach the coaches thats our problem in Wexford. Good people involved but 15 years behind the top 8 counties. We are currently Joe Mc level. Offaly will drive it home on Saturday" You seem happy about that. He said Galway won't be AS strong next year. They have two of the best underage players they've ever produced in that team. Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 4508 - 14/05/2026 22:18:59 2673064 Link
Replying To Afinestick96: "Hard luck to the 20s last night they gave it absolutely everything and that's all we can ask for. The lads will know we left that one behind us in normal time. We had too many wides from good positions in the first half in particular which ultimately cost us a place in the Leinster final. It's disappointing as we really could have done with a boost after the last few weeks we've had but I am hopeful a lot of those lads can push on and become top players for our seniors. If im not mistaken I think the majority of the team is underage for next year again so I would keep the same management team in place who in fairness made good strides this year and the aim next year has to be to get to a win a Leinster final." Sorry to ask but what strides did we make this year at U20? Last Year we were well beaten by Laois who were the whipping boys for Galway/Offaly?? at Leinster 1/4 final Stage. This Year we got to Semi Final with Galway who completely rubbed our noses in it. Leaving off their better players, they felt they would beat Wexford no matter what. That's Embarrassing, We don't need that BS and stings me today. And then they beat us by 9/10 points in X-Tra time. We shouldn't forget that,someday we'll get to rub it into their faces. We need new Mgtm every couple of years, Youngsters need to be stimulated all the time, New Approaches,Fresh ideas to keep them on their feet, to be ready for any outcome and to be exposed to all types of Training, Diet, Routines before games. Spuds&GAA (Wexford) - Posts: 21 - 14/05/2026 22:52:23 2673071 Link
Replying To Spuds&GAA: "That is terrible, Clubs should have had a conversation on it and bring to County Board. Clubs should have at least 2 Reps there. I bet these will be the first to complain about anything …Clubs can force change but would rather moan.." Wonder if that club apathy is repeated in the other Liam McCarthy counties? The same clubs enthusiastically voted in that go games format of a club championship. We wonder then why our senior panel has no physicality or cut to it. Hard work I guess lads, no quick fixes to getting back competitive at all levels. Timbertony (Wexford) - Posts: 570 - 14/05/2026 23:07:11 2673073 Link
Replying To Tox73: "It is a forum and that what it is for. Too much Optimism is as bad as too Much Crititism. We can give as close to your opinion be it right or wrong, But we need to call it straight, less of the BS and more idea's or system changes, Give your Opinion with an honest view of where you think Wexford Gaa should go to change our fortune's. It is tough at the moment and i am sure everyone agree's with that. We are probably worse than the Bonnar Years 2008-2011. It took 3/4 good years at Minor and u21 to get a decent team together again. At this moment in Time no one know's what our Minor or U20s will look like in 4/5 years, i really hope we improve. My 50p worth is Coaching, we need it in the National Schools, in the underage Clubs, Are underage Development Squad's the way to go??? This one is a hard one because we have done it for the last number of years but taking the last 10 year's we got very little from Them. Underage can be tricky, you could have a unreal Club team in Wexford u14,By the time it gets to U17 the better players are not as prominent as they were and the lesser well known Players are passing them by. Then a youngster hitting 17 is a tough age, College, Drink, Parties, Cars, Girlfriends etc etc By the time you get to U20 it's really the players that have being getting better year by year and a once in a generational Player or 2 might come along. A lot of young lads get left behind when they are not picked on a development county side, they loose good coaching for a few years. Over the years i heard about unreal U14 teams but by the time they get to U20 only 8 of them are still playing,rest have given up and gone onto pastures new. Anyway last night's U20s had plenty of intent, heart and fight but 2 things stood out. Galways Strenght and Conditioning was unreal for an U20 side, everyone one of them. We were way off in the S&C. We lacked pace, our bigger guy's were slow compared to their Opponents. Galway's touch was so much better,Striking so much better, back's would break the tackle,look up and pick a perfect pass for their forwards, whether it is into space or a 20 foot pass to the hand. Was it a bit disrespectful that they held back player's?? Sure was, it should be on every Dressing room Wall for any Wexford team playing Galway in the future, That hurt and it should hurt everyone that has a Wexford Heart beating inside them. Under 20s tried with plenty of heart, guts and bravery, Can't blame them for effort. Do i think Management stay, Results usually answers that question. Last year knocked out by Laois, This year knocked out by Galway at same stage. We gotta keep rotating Management teams to keep things fresh, no harm having a new MGT Team that might try something different. Wouldn't be a fan of keeping same MGT for all, Young lads need to experience a new approach,to broaden the mind. As i said my 50cents worth!" Last year we were knocked out by Laois in a QF. This year it was a SF that went to ET. And we beat Kildare and Laois comfortably, and drew in Nowlan Park with Kilkenny. We actually only lost 1 u20 championship game in 60 minutes out of 5 all year, and only 1 of those 5 games was at home. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19572 - 14/05/2026 23:27:56 2673074 Link
Replying To ElGranSenor: "Tbf, I should have chosen my words more carefully I suppose we can't force them to do it but we need to find ways to find key individuals in clubs, convince them of the importance of the programmes, and then get them to be the ones to drive it" And therein lies the nub. It's not easy to find people like that in clubs. I know that the Coaching Officers in many clubs barely tick a box of what a Club Coaching Officer is supposed to do, and also that many are very sceptical of anything the Coaching Office in Wexford Park tries to do (often in case it makes work for them!). Not in any way claiming that everything the Coaching Office tries to do is perfect, but at the end of the day, they're the ones with the main role of trying to develop the games in the county, so you'd think club people should work with them rather than just think "sure that's a load of ______, what would those eejits know?" Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3615 - 15/05/2026 00:07:00 2673075 Link
Replying To Triffic: "Clarinbridge don't have a secondary school - perhaps you meant Gort? Or Claregalway?" Sorry, yes, you're right, should have said Claregalway ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 1217 - 15/05/2026 06:38:27 2673083 Link
Replying To Spuds&GAA: "That is terrible, Clubs should have had a conversation on it and bring to County Board. Clubs should have at least 2 Reps there. I bet these will be the first to complain about anything …Clubs can force change but would rather moan.." This isn't directed at you personally but to anyone who agrees that it isn't good that so few clubs even bothered to take part, check whether your club did up a programme and if they didn't, try to convince them to come up with one ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 1217 - 15/05/2026 07:13:04 2673084 Link
Replying To Spuds&GAA: "Sorry to ask but what strides did we make this year at U20? Last Year we were well beaten by Laois who were the whipping boys for Galway/Offaly?? at Leinster 1/4 final Stage. This Year we got to Semi Final with Galway who completely rubbed our noses in it. Leaving off their better players, they felt they would beat Wexford no matter what. That's Embarrassing, We don't need that BS and stings me today. And then they beat us by 9/10 points in X-Tra time. We shouldn't forget that,someday we'll get to rub it into their faces. We need new Mgtm every couple of years, Youngsters need to be stimulated all the time, New Approaches,Fresh ideas to keep them on their feet, to be ready for any outcome and to be exposed to all types of Training, Diet, Routines before games." Put your name forward for the job WEXILE (Wexford) - Posts: 498 - 15/05/2026 09:28:42 2673099 Link
Replying To Viking66: "Last year we were knocked out by Laois in a QF. This year it was a SF that went to ET. And we beat Kildare and Laois comfortably, and drew in Nowlan Park with Kilkenny. We actually only lost 1 u20 championship game in 60 minutes out of 5 all year, and only 1 of those 5 games was at home." I also never really get those who think there's a better way other than development squads, the counties who are better than us right now also have them (And as you know, they tend to have bigger squads than us as well), can understand questioning the coaching at development squad level, their training time, and their size but getting rid of them would make us even more out of line with those counties who are better than us right now Simplest case of action is to break down every thing we are doing, then break down what the better counties are doing right now, compare the two, identify where we're worse, and then address those areas where we are worse Although I feel like this gets said every few months, suppose the fact it takes so long for changes at underage level to bear fruit at adult level is one reason (Although others would say it's because the changes aren't working or else not enough changes have been made), hard to know tbh ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 1217 - 15/05/2026 10:42:19 2673120 Link
Replying To Spuds&GAA: "Sorry to ask but what strides did we make this year at U20? Last Year we were well beaten by Laois who were the whipping boys for Galway/Offaly?? at Leinster 1/4 final Stage. This Year we got to Semi Final with Galway who completely rubbed our noses in it. Leaving off their better players, they felt they would beat Wexford no matter what. That's Embarrassing, We don't need that BS and stings me today. And then they beat us by 9/10 points in X-Tra time. We shouldn't forget that,someday we'll get to rub it into their faces. We need new Mgtm every couple of years, Youngsters need to be stimulated all the time, New Approaches,Fresh ideas to keep them on their feet, to be ready for any outcome and to be exposed to all types of Training, Diet, Routines before games." Wrote a reply to this last night but must not have hit "post message" properly as it hasn't appeared and there was nothing contentious in it. Anyway, you've more or less answered your own question in your first couple of lines. Last year we lost to Laois in the quarter-final. This year we beat them by 21 points at the same stage. That's a stride in itself. And overall, a "glass half full" view of this year's U20 campaign: - nowhere near as bad against Galway the first day out as the result suggests. - Kilkenny then needed a last-gasp free to get a draw against us. A free that was awarded a few seconds after there should have been a free out instead for a foul on a Wexford man, and if that free out had been awarded, ball would have been sent to the other end of the field and we'd surely have hung on for the win. - Then hammered two "weaker" teams (Kildare by 23 points, Laois by 21 points), as opposed to struggling against them like we'd done in recent years - e.g. lost to Laois last year. Drew with them the year before. Beat Westmeath by only five points in 2023. Beat Laois by only one point in 2022. - And finally, Galway also needed a last-gasp free on Wednesday evening to avoid defeat to us. It's their own business what players they use or don't use. If we'd held on for that win, we'd now be looking forward to a Leinster Final next week against a Kilkenny side we've already gone toe to toe with, and where we'd give ourselves a strong chance of winning. So, we've gone from a team beaten by Laois last year to a team where the two "strongest" sides in the competition needed at-the-death frees to salvage draws. Excuse my positivity if you're one of the people who thinks people like me pretend that everything is rosy in the garden, but to me, that's a stride or two forward all right. Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3615 - 15/05/2026 10:47:31 2673122 Link
Replying To Pikeman96: "Wrote a reply to this last night but must not have hit "post message" properly as it hasn't appeared and there was nothing contentious in it. Anyway, you've more or less answered your own question in your first couple of lines. Last year we lost to Laois in the quarter-final. This year we beat them by 21 points at the same stage. That's a stride in itself. And overall, a "glass half full" view of this year's U20 campaign: - nowhere near as bad against Galway the first day out as the result suggests. - Kilkenny then needed a last-gasp free to get a draw against us. A free that was awarded a few seconds after there should have been a free out instead for a foul on a Wexford man, and if that free out had been awarded, ball would have been sent to the other end of the field and we'd surely have hung on for the win. - Then hammered two "weaker" teams (Kildare by 23 points, Laois by 21 points), as opposed to struggling against them like we'd done in recent years - e.g. lost to Laois last year. Drew with them the year before. Beat Westmeath by only five points in 2023. Beat Laois by only one point in 2022. - And finally, Galway also needed a last-gasp free on Wednesday evening to avoid defeat to us. It's their own business what players they use or don't use. If we'd held on for that win, we'd now be looking forward to a Leinster Final next week against a Kilkenny side we've already gone toe to toe with, and where we'd give ourselves a strong chance of winning. So, we've gone from a team beaten by Laois last year to a team where the two "strongest" sides in the competition needed at-the-death frees to salvage draws. Excuse my positivity if you're one of the people who thinks people like me pretend that everything is rosy in the garden, but to me, that's a stride or two forward all right." Nothing beats winning and we all know that's a gap we need to bridge. However, that needs to be acknowledged as a solid improvement this year. Based on the age profile we are in a position to kick on again next year hopefully. Producing seniors is the whole purpose of this grade don't forget. Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 4508 - 15/05/2026 12:06:50 2673138 Link
Senior team named. Really really hope there are are 1 or 2 changes before throw in. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19572 - 15/05/2026 12:37:50 2673144 Link
Replying To Doylerwex: "Nothing beats winning and we all know that's a gap we need to bridge. However, that needs to be acknowledged as a solid improvement this year. Based on the age profile we are in a position to kick on again next year hopefully. Producing seniors is the whole purpose of this grade don't forget." I suppose the best way to look at it from a standards perspective is that this year wasn't so much an improvement but more so the baseline as to how bad a Wexford U20 team should be (As in a decent enough team, not world-beaters but decent enough) Last year was not good enough and I'm saying that at someone who think Simon Roche, Cillian Byrne, and Seán Rowley could have big futures ahead of them at Senior level (Granted that Rowley missed the entire U20 campaign due to injury and I suspect Cillian Byrne was playing through injury) If this is the baseline going forward, then it raises the floor as to how bad the Senior team can be Question then becomes how do we raise the ceiling which probably comes down to producing teams good enough to win Leinster titles and ultimately AI titles at U20 level ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 1217 - 15/05/2026 12:38:34 2673145 Link
Replying To Doylerwex: "Nothing beats winning and we all know that's a gap we need to bridge. However, that needs to be acknowledged as a solid improvement this year. Based on the age profile we are in a position to kick on again next year hopefully. Producing seniors is the whole purpose of this grade don't forget." Wexford team just named - how certain players can still retain their starting place one will never know. MyOhMi (Wexford) - Posts: 310 - 15/05/2026 13:11:30 2673153 Link