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Replying To StoreysTash: "I won't engage in analysis of a match that I wasn't at or didn't see any of but from here alarm bells have to be ringing in so many ways.
I am sure all the players are giving 100%. And no more can be asked. But some players are making teams now because Wexford have gone backwards rather than them improving. I played against some of these lads and they are really good club hurlers but nothing special. Players are the product of a coaching system which is just not producing hurlers.
Our underage record is so bad. We've won nothing bar 1 minor title and we were hammered by Galway after it yet so many in Wexford wanted to talk about this for years afterwards in underage circles. One good day doesn't make a summer. Our schools are way off and being hammered.
The last Wexford player to completely arrive on to the scene to great fanfare was Rory. Everybody has heard of Sean O'Brien and hope he will make it but we had no player like that between. Our defenders need a sweeper to defend in every club game.
Its not good to be negative but my father who is closer to me is of the belief that there is "toxic positivity" throughout Wexford GAA. A sort of shoulder shrug to bad results. Dancing at the crossroads after we stay in the Liam McCarthy cup due to a disallowed goal having lost to Westmeath.
And now we're barely getting over Antrim, Down, and talking about hoping that we will beat Carlow and valid talk about whether we can beat Kildare.
Does this sound like Joe McDonagh level or when do the alarm bells start to become a blaring foghorn?" We have had loads of different coaching systems since we last won an underage AI.
We have big problems in schools, both national and secondary, with the low number of coaching contacts primarily in secondary school, and both quality and quantity in National Schools.
We have big problems at many clubs even getting enough lads to mentor the teams st all, never mind how good or bad these lads might be.
Of course all this is down to toxic positivity. Why would anyone want to get involved if they might get a pat on the back?
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 18207 - 02/02/2026 14:52:37
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Replying To ElGranSenor: "I agree that in theory it's job done; we've won the two games and we've given players a lot of experience
But while I can excuse last week because of the conditions, I'm not sure I can excuse a lack of intensity across the board in the second half against Down
We were lucky to get away with it and we must make sure it doesn't happen again going forward" Still think alot of lads including the local paper have this backwards. We didnt drop off in intensity that much, we just didnt raise our intensity level. Down raised theirs appreciably.
That's a big difference between your average Wexford team at any level, and say Kilkenny under Cody. We need to get it into players heads that even if they are 10 points up at half time that it wasn't good enough. They have to give that extra 10% after halftime.
I strongly suspect that alot of the time our managers at different levels tell lads to keep doing what they are doing when they are up at halftime. They seem to make the assumption that the other team will still be doing what they were doing. Who in their right mind would send out a bunch of players who are 8 or 10 down at halftime and tell them going out to stay doing what they were doing?
We are too reactive, and not proactive enough. On the pitch and on the line.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 18207 - 02/02/2026 14:59:33
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Replying To ElGranSenor: "Our underage results aren't Joe McDonagh level though; I'm not saying we're not in danger but the quality of hurling in Wexford is not as bad as some make it out to be
Now this is not to say everything is perfect; it's not and we need to be doing better at underage level. But our biggest issues right now are the number of good hurlers not playing for Wexford and then a general under-performance by those who are playing for Wexford
I think "toxic positivity" is a really inaccurate way of describing things; I don't think anyone is under any illusions about our lack of underage success (Hence the Kinnerk Report) and moreover, I don't see how you're supposed to win anything without being positive, there's a major lack of belief in this county and it's feeding through to the players, a negative mindset gets us nowhere" Great post lad
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 18207 - 02/02/2026 15:08:49
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Replying To Doylerwex: "Underage results being bad and our schools being way off the pace just isn't objectively true.
Are there things that need to change? Absolutely. Are things as bad as they were from 09-12 ? Absolutely not.
We're in a difficult position that the likes of Ross Banville were overlooked for too long. But we have a decent group coming now that will need some time.
Like I said the other day, I'm not seeing any superstars there, but I think Roche, Redmond, CBD, Byrne can become that.
This year is going to be tough, but I wouldn't be writing an obituary just yet.
Finally on the dancing at the crossroads thing in 23. Even I thought that was too much, but it's difficult to describe the emotion in the park that day if you didn't feel it." It helped if you were actually there Doyler, which many weren't;-)
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 18207 - 02/02/2026 15:12:19
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Replying To Viking66: "Still think alot of lads including the local paper have this backwards. We didnt drop off in intensity that much, we just didnt raise our intensity level. Down raised theirs appreciably.
That's a big difference between your average Wexford team at any level, and say Kilkenny under Cody. We need to get it into players heads that even if they are 10 points up at half time that it wasn't good enough. They have to give that extra 10% after halftime.
I strongly suspect that alot of the time our managers at different levels tell lads to keep doing what they are doing when they are up at halftime. They seem to make the assumption that the other team will still be doing what they were doing. Who in their right mind would send out a bunch of players who are 8 or 10 down at halftime and tell them going out to stay doing what they were doing?
We are too reactive, and not proactive enough. On the pitch and on the line." I always think the best mindset is to forget about the game (Or even the training session) and just focus on the next ball and trying to be perfect with it
I think if you can get players to fixate on winning the next ball and then making use of it, intensity levels looks after themselves
ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 837 - 02/02/2026 16:34:34
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Replying To ElGranSenor: "I always think the best mindset is to forget about the game (Or even the training session) and just focus on the next ball and trying to be perfect with it
I think if you can get players to fixate on winning the next ball and then making use of it, intensity levels looks after themselves" Im not sure thats enough. At least for our Senior county team unless they are playing Kilkenny.
Our lads won very little ball in the 1st 25 minutes of the 2nd half. I havent watched the game back but I remember saying to the eldest young lad we weren't getting enough bodies around the puckouts, lads were slow getting to the quarters, so we won very little primary possession off their or our puckouts during that time, and won nearly none of the breaks. We were slow working it out the very odd time we went short, and didnt get it out far enough to play a good diagonal ball in. Down put the pressure on and we had to hit a long aimless clearance just to avoid being turned over. The forwards were living off scraps then, while theirs had a feast of possession. Down got the turnovers and won the broken ball because they raised their intensity. Alot of our better lads looked leggy, gassed, all over the field by the 3/4 mark. In fairness to them they raised their game and drove on in the last 5 minutes plus injury time. Not sure what way our lads are training at the minute either. Obviously they wouldn't be peaking for now anyway.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 18207 - 02/02/2026 16:57:26
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Hope I'm wrong but on current form it looks very much like we will struggle to get a win against Carlow or Kildare. Dublin and Clare could have an easy passage over us yellowbellies.
I'm sure management and the team will be mustard keen to improve on what we have seen to date. Problem is we are very inexperienced at this level and is a learning process for most of them. Surely they will come out all guns blazing next Saturday and not fall asleep for the 2nd half.
I can see Chin making an appearance for 30 minutes. We need solid leadership at the moment and by God do we need him. Even though I think the plan was to hold him back until we play the big 2 of this divison.
Our intensity needs to Improve. Our accuracy in passing needs to be improved. Frees conceded needs to be improved. Scoring goals is something that is almost a forgotten art and we need to find the net a couple of times, especially against the weaker teams.
If the current trend continues and I mean been lucky to beat the likes of Antrim and down then we will be viewed as a weaker county.
We simply can't let that happen.
Magpie2 (Wexford) - Posts: 587 - 02/02/2026 19:29:46
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Just had a look back at what our League results were like when some of our best players of the last 10 years were the same age as most of the current crop of lads. I looked it up as from memory the results were pretty poor.
In 2012 we lost to Antrim by 6 points, and only beat Offaly by 1 point, a young Dee O'Keefe scored 1-1 in this narrow win. In 2013 we lost to Offaly by 2 points. In 2014 we only beat Antrim by a point. In 2015 we only beat Antrim by a point in the Park. In 2016 we lost to an average enough Limerick side by 14 points, we lost at home to a poor Offaly side by 8 points, we only beat Laois by 1 point.
So not sure is it rose tinted glasses affecting some of the posters on here the last day or two, but the truth is we were pretty ##### between 2012 and 2016 in the League. We only came good in the League in 2017, when we finally got promoted. Mogie, Dee, Matt, Lee, Mark, Paul, James Breen, Jack Guiney etc were 25/26/27 then, in their prime, and Kevin, Mac, Jippo, Jacko, Paudie, Simon etc were around 23.
Our current crop of young lads are around 3 years behind that age wise, so their results should really be being compared to our 2013/4/5 League performances. Not our 2017 and later results.
Still hoping we will get promoted this year, even if its more likely to happen over the next year or 2 judging by the above history. time will tell if we will.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 18207 - 02/02/2026 19:52:08
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Replying To Viking66: "Im not sure thats enough. At least for our Senior county team unless they are playing Kilkenny.
Our lads won very little ball in the 1st 25 minutes of the 2nd half. I havent watched the game back but I remember saying to the eldest young lad we weren't getting enough bodies around the puckouts, lads were slow getting to the quarters, so we won very little primary possession off their or our puckouts during that time, and won nearly none of the breaks. We were slow working it out the very odd time we went short, and didnt get it out far enough to play a good diagonal ball in. Down put the pressure on and we had to hit a long aimless clearance just to avoid being turned over. The forwards were living off scraps then, while theirs had a feast of possession. Down got the turnovers and won the broken ball because they raised their intensity. Alot of our better lads looked leggy, gassed, all over the field by the 3/4 mark. In fairness to them they raised their game and drove on in the last 5 minutes plus injury time. Not sure what way our lads are training at the minute either. Obviously they wouldn't be peaking for now anyway." Can I just say my god what a journey to ballycran and for me personally that was from Dublin but for all people that went from Wexford well done lads and ladies. We got the result that's all that matters. Wickham was brilliant I taught.
I have a bit of concern about our goal scoring threat. Full back line was a huge concern. reck doesn't look fit either. Pitch was shocking but due to the weather ya can't blame anyone. Look 4 points from four well take it
Wexfordgaa (Wexford) - Posts: 384 - 02/02/2026 22:23:44
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