Sick to my stomach. Apart from Mc Donald no starting forwards scored from play as ROC was midfield.

Nolan and chin seemed way off their best and seemed injured. Jack didn't catch any ball. In fairness to fanning he made a number of excellent saves.

This morning I thought we could win Leinster now I feel we are back to square one.

Our forwards put absolutely no pressure on the Kilkenny short puck out and they played it up with ease for the entire second half against the wind. This was a tactical disaster and led to most of their scores.

We couldn't get any ball past their half backline in the first half for at least 20 minutes in the first half and Kilkenny always seemed to have an extra man in space. I really thought beatings like this were behind us and it will set us back a lot. 5 minutes into the second half we burst into life and I was sure we would win it but we fell apart again.

It was the first loss in Wexford Park since Davy took over and the condition no were absolutely awful for hurling. It was a bad day at the office - a day when nothing went right. It looks as if they need a long rest and regroup and hopefully come good for the championship.

Still gutted though as I felt we had gotten better than Kilkenny at long last.

Yellow (Wexford) - Posts: 589 - 01/04/2018 18:44:47    2090070

Another poor stat; Rory o Conor scored all our points except 2. One from Shaun Murphy and one from Conor Mac.

Yellow (Wexford) - Posts: 589 - 01/04/2018 18:50:09    2090074

Apart from ROC and Ryan from a driving out with the ball point of view, no-one else played anywhere near their standard. Mac gets a free pass too as he took his goal brilliantly and largely played off scraps.

I haven't looked back at the stats but I would hazard a guess that close to eight KK points came directly from give aways in defence, with Murphy in particular culpable in this regard. Our free count was simply too high with a top bracket free-taker like Reid on the field. It's worrying that neither the basics of holding possession at all costs (or more to the point not finding the free KK man each time) or our discipline haven't improved.

But the biggest concern is the lack of proactivity on the sideline. JOC won one clean puck-out all day (during one of Wexford's rare spells of dominance) and was very much in the periphery, yet wasn't substituted till 30 seconds before the end of normal time. Dunne came on and got zero ball as the game plan wasn't adjusted to suit his strength and put the frighteners on Kilkenny. Ger Alyward was out in front winning ball all day and there was no switch made there either. Even how they lined out seemed a bit dis-organised. P.Foley looked to be moved completely out of the right wing back berth he has excelled in all year, Nolan was at centre-forward and Chin shunted out to the wing.

Then again, maybe Chin and Nolan are still carrying knocks, and they were accommodated for the occasion that's in it. And I think losing now may in fact crown the lads. Dampens the hype among the supporters and allows Davy to re-assess ahead of the the enormous championship schedule. And maybe Tipperary will comfortably beat Kilkenny in the interim and dent their confidence in the process.

beano (Wexford) - Posts: 1502 - 01/04/2018 18:55:51    2090078

Jesus lads before today ye were goin on about how good we are and now ye are slating the team make up your minds its one game ya kilkenny were far better today but that happens to best of teams they are human after all mistakes happen give them a break theyve had a good league campaign any of ye would have taken getting to a league semi at the start of the year wexford have proved they can mix it with the best and today doesn't change that.!

oneills09 (Wexford) - Posts: 130 - 01/04/2018 19:23:35    2090086

890202 (Wexford) - Posts: 1278 - 01/04/2018 19:38:59    2090095

Apparently we won the toss today but elected to play against the wind...not a very good decision. I seem to remember the same thing happening v cork a few years ago in wex park and Liam dunne got fair abuse over it(quite rightly)...would be good to get Davys reasoning behind that decision. Surely he wouldn't be as blasé as dunne who at the time remarked that he just left it to the captain to decide! Not saying we would have won or anything but it may have made for a better game as the wind was strong enough. On another note, good to see Darren byrne back in the panel, we need a good corner back, Donohoe had a torrid time today.

wexford1997 (Wexford) - Posts: 88 - 01/04/2018 19:45:58    2090099

Jesus lads we are a great county when we are winning but when we lose the knifes come out... first of all kk won and won fair and square... on the ref Wexford game a way a load of frees as in my opinion kk players can't be touched but there rolling on the floor... anyway on the performance we looked flat footed which i thought our backs looked last week against Galway but we got away with it... reck should of been on Aly ward in my opinion as he did a job on Donohoe who was lucky to stay on in the second half for kneeing him while on the ground...other than McDonald and o Connor our big name players didn't show up chin and Nolan didn't perform as I don't think they were fully fit...Jack o didn't win one puck out today Foley's were quite Ryan did ok d o is not a half back end of... Morris was quite... and final 2 points mac scores a goal from direct ball in first 5 mins of second half why not let more in on top of him.. also Rory o Connor missing a 20 yard free to make it a 2 point game kk go up the field win a free tj scores it 4 point game in a 1 Minute spell... also I would be wary of Dublin in first game of championship they have cuala players to come back and rush... aswell... anyway I wil be there to cheer the lads on win lose or draw haven't missed o e game this year including Walsh cup games

gannett83 (Wexford) - Posts: 322 - 01/04/2018 19:57:04    2090104

Poor performance, didn't do themselves justice. KK beat us twice in the league.

Division 1 status assured. League semi. Momentum.

And something tells me Davy has plenty of powder dry for championship. He wanted to win, but this loss isn't the worst thing in the world. It'll be a different Wexford in 6 weeks time from what we saw today.

icehonesty (Wexford) - Posts: 2581 - 01/04/2018 20:05:00    2090114

Jesus the fickle nature of some of ye here is embarrassing, no doubt we had a shocker today but 1 bad performance doesn't make a poor team the same way 1 good performance makes you world beaters.people were writing Kilkenny's obituaries after they lost there 1st 2 league games and now I'm sure there going to be hyped up to the hilt, just shows how quick things can change.

We were so flat today kk won every 50/50 ball and there was no intensity to our play. Hard to explain did the galway game empty the tanks? Has some heavy training caught up with us? Was it just bad day at the office? Taught O'Hanlon and ryan battled mannifully and Rory O'Connor had a good 2nd half, Conor mac worked hard off limited supply and took his goal superbly. Don't understand people here slating fanning yeah a couple of poor puckouts but without his saves we wouldn't have been able to make our short-term revival at the start of the 2nd half. Credit to kk they just outfought us today and were full value for there win. Everyone is entitled to there opinion but before anyone slates player A or player B remember these are amauters who are just partaking in a hobby, yeah the players get a few perks along the way but they more than earn that with the sarafices they make to put on the jersey.

2 final points,the referee had no barring today the far better team won but the amount of blanent illegal handpasses kk got away with was ridiculous, secondly hopefully the county board will put on 3 rounds of club games in April now. How many of ye here slating individual players here today will actually be at those games?

bostonredsox (Wexford) - Posts: 4368 - 01/04/2018 20:14:12    2090120

Gaawex (Wexford) - Posts: 46 - 01/04/2018 20:36:59    2090130

Fulgrim (Wexford) - Posts: 270 - 01/04/2018 20:40:10    2090132

It can't be deemed as fickle when every issue brought up in the post-match analysis have been brought up many times before. Less fickle more beating on the same drum.

beano (Wexford) - Posts: 1502 - 01/04/2018 20:53:58    2090136

One swallow never made a summer and this team will learn more in defeat than winning today.

Its also a reality check for everyone on the terraces and especially to those who only jump on the bandwagon and come on to slate the team.

We are somewhere in around number 4-6 in the rankings at the minute. On our day capable of beating anyone and on our day capable of losing to anyone in the top 8.

Club championship to give the boys a break and let them come back refreshed and hungry for championship.

The reality is its going to be very tough to get to a Leinster final, we will have to beat a full strength Galway team in Wexford Park or a resurgent Kilkenny in their own back garden. Very doable but also very easily not done.

End of League report - One of the best league campaigns in 10 years with some new players blossoming and some issues still needing to be addressed.

hurlorhurley (Wexford) - Posts: 1660 - 01/04/2018 22:21:55    2090177

God some of the part time posters are back for a whinge. Sure puckouts aren't all Fannings fault. Some1 at the other end has to contest and win them. And bar for his few saves we couldve been back looking at a noughties scoreline. All the players looked tired. Like theyd had a hard weeks training. They were all 2 steps slower than kk. And 3 steps slower than their usual. Like theyd run a half marathon yesterday. Or something like that. We hardly won a ball on the ground all match. We didnt chase down the man in possession in packs as usual. There was no running off the shoulder. We didnt track their runners. Matt o hanlon paudie foley and dee o keefe were especially slow getting back. Almost like they were told to be. Or made run a half marathon yesterday. Rory O was the exception. Maybe because hes 19. Or maybe he missed some training during the week. Id be thinking back to what alot of us were thinking at the start of the league. Safeguard our 1a future 1st then prepare for whats going to be a very different championship this year. 4 games in 5 weeks. 2 of which are going to be against the 2 teams we ve just played. Time will tell. But 1 thing Im sure of is that you wont see our lads as tired looking for the rest of the summer. And lastly lads just as a win or 2 doesnt mean youre great, equally 1 loss doesn't make a bad summer. So to the "occasional depressing post" lads who are whinging, go back watching eastenders or whatever other depressing rubbish youre into. Or at least come up with something better than the repeated criticism of especially fanning and murphy and donohue which never seems to contain anyrhing positive, constructive or helpful, like he should try doing it this way or that way. Or shouldnt jump out in front and end up being on the wrong side or get closer and dont let your man turn etc. Yes Sean Murphy was slow backing up the tackler or running off the shoulder of the man with the ball. He looked as tired as the rest of our lads. Maybe he didnt pick out runners ahead of him as well as he usually does beause with the exception of Rory O no1 was making runs ahead of him. Anyway Im still optimistic about the summer LOCH GARMAN ABU

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 16577 - 01/04/2018 23:20:06    2090206

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 16577 - 01/04/2018 23:21:16    2090207

There is no point in saying it was just a bad day at the office. We need to look at why it was a bad day at the office. General stuff like we were flat footed is just rubbish talk. Let's look at just 3 specifics.
1. Are puckouts good enough?
2. Are our corner backs good enough?
3. Does our sweeper offer enough support to the other backs, does he win enough breaking ball and is his delivery of passes good enough? Kilkenny don't play a sweeper system but they were far better at using their extra defender than Wexford were.

Its no use in just saying it was a bad day, that is obvious and we know it was bad. The key thing is why. I've given my ideas why.

And for the information of those who make ridiculous assumptions, I stayed until the very last puck of the game regardless of whether we are winning by 20 or losing by 20. I'll also be at a large number of club games every weekend. In fact on one weekends last summer I attended 9 championship matches. So I've given my views on our problems and what I believe needs to change. Does anyone disagree with the issues I've raised?

890202 (Wexford) - Posts: 1278 - 02/04/2018 00:37:36    2090224

Thanks god for a few of the last few posts.

The whole rip it up and start again from scratch reaction on the back on one loss was kinda a bit much.

No team is perfect and no squad is perfect, of course we have weak points and areas where we have struggled from time to time, every bloody team in the country has the same issues in reality, we are no different.

I was disappointed leaving the park but but not to the it's all over, that's it extent some seem to be going down. Id be far more worried had we hurled ok or hurled well and still got beat.

Fact is we had a collective stinker as a team including management, that will happen some days, has happened and will happen to the best of teams.

We won't be as bad again for the rest of the year and will learn from it. We looked like a team that played a serious game of hurling less than a week ago and Kilkenny were far fresher on the day. That's not to say Kilkenny didn't deserve it, they did, but this is Kilkenny who have been the most improved team throughout the league yet I think people just thought we had nothing to do only turn up today, it's Kilkenny.

That defeat will set a nice little fire burning over the next few weeks, get our players back fit and fresh for championship and I'm quite confident we won't see a performance even close to that for the rest of the year, we've added players to our first 15 compared to the majority of last year and still have others like Guiney etc to come back in.

Disappointing but we are in a good place to push on.

tearintom (Wexford) - Posts: 1534 - 02/04/2018 08:12:54    2090230

gminor (Wexford) - Posts: 488 - 02/04/2018 10:13:10    2090247

gminor (Wexford) - Posts: 488 - 02/04/2018 10:45:58    2090255

I think we peaked against Galway,we are on a slipery slope now and it may get worse before it gets better,we showed no hunger yesterday with kk winning all the 50/50 balls..i cant see us doing well in the leinster championship..the timing of every match and who we are playing is against us...our first match is against Dublin who we will be favourites and Dublin have yet to show there hand i can see an upset there..we play galway a week before we play kk and kk will have a 2 week break before they meet us....our 2 week brake is before we play offaly!!!.

fathermurphy (Wexford) - Posts: 330 - 02/04/2018 10:55:13    2090256