Full back - John O'Gorman and his Wexford team mates will not be turning up just to applaud the Dubs on Sunday. Any soldier worthy his salt will tell you that the most potent danger comes from the most unexpected source. Footballers would probably say something along the same lines. After all, if Dublin were going to Navan to face Meath or Newbridge to face the Lilywhites they would be expecting a tough game and they might even admit to being a little apprehensive about the outcome. However, as Sunday sees them take the east coast hop down to Wexford Park to face the Slaneysiders they will travel confidently. They are after all newly crowned National Football League champions, but they should also travel carefully, the boys of Wexford are not turning up just to applaud the Dubs for winning the League title, and as full back John O'Gorman reveals, this is one match that Wexford footballers have been waiting for with a growing sense of impatience. "They beat us six or seven points last year but had we a little more belief in our own ability, we could have won. That game was in Portlaoise, this one is in Wexford Park and make no mistake about it, that is worth a few points to us, no matter how many tickets are going to Dublin", says the man who does not stand alone in the Wexford defence. Far from it, in fact, as the Wexford backs can boast two other members of the O'Gorman clan as well. "My twin brothers Padraig and Bernard also play in the backs, but really over the last few years the team has developed into a real family unit, if you kick one of us, everyone limp", says John. And the Taghmon - Camross club man makes no secret of Wexford's game plan for Sunday, a plan which if it is adhered to will certainly find out once and for all if the Metropolitans have the stomach for heated Championship action. "Hit them hard, hit them fair, and hit them often. That has to be our war cry, we cannot allow Dublin settle into the game at all", reveals John who is rapidly becoming quite familiar with the man likely to be his direct opponent on Sunday. "I have marked Vinny Murphy a fair few times now and I feel I've done okay, he did score a goal against me last year but that was late in the match, in fact, Dublin only really made sure of beating us inside the last five minutes that day and ever since the draw was made last November, we have been chomping at the bit to get another crack at them". Harking back momentarily to Murphy, John does not hide his admiration for the Trinity Gaels player. "Last year he carried Dublin on his back to an All-Ireland final, people may say that's an exaggeration but I feel he was by far the most valuable player on their side. This year though, they seem to have developed more as a team". That said though, O'Gorman claims that Colm O'Rourke has been the most difficult opponent he encountered and in reply to the friendly suggestion that he is touting for a mention from the Meath man on the Sunday Game O'Gorman is quite revealing. "Vinny Murphy can win the Man of the Match award next Sunday, just so long as we win the game". Determination is not going to be in short supply with the home team in this clash, and according to John he will be ready for anything that's thrown at him and his team mates. "Generally speaking, Dublin like Murphy to stay close to goal, but if he decides to roam on Sunday, I'd be happy to follow him. I like being in the thick of the action anyway". Ah yes, to go or not to go, that is often the question for full backs these days. Though, O'Gorman says that the old rule of "He has to come back in if he is going to score" still holds true. "A lot of full forwards look for the ball all over the pitch but if they get possession seventy yards away from goal, they can hardly score. It is perhaps though, the one attribute that a full back has to have above all others these days and that is an ability to read the game and know when to follow a man out onto the pitch and when to mind the house. That sort of thing only comes with experience". And that is one quality the Wexford number three has in abundance, after all, he has played for has won a Railway Cup medal to boot. "That was in 1988. We won it below in Ballina beating Ulster in the final. Mickey McQuillan was the captain that year. I suppose if I, or any other Wexford player can get on that sort of team, then it has to be a great incentive to other younger footballers in the county". And so too, of course, must the recent mini revival shown by the Minor and Under 21 Wexford football teams and O'Gorman, who is incidentally a first cousin of Wexford hurler Niall McDonald, believes that the younger lads on the panel are the key to the future. "Players like Scott Doran, Jim Byrne and Niall Guinan are all fine footballers who with the few decent runs they have been involved in at underage, are starting to develop a winning mentality, they could well emerge as really great players in a short few years". Apart from the Railway Cup, John, who is married to Siobhan and is an accountant based in Kilkenny with McMahon McPhillips, has won the Trench Cup colleges competition. That was when I was at college in the NIHE, two of the current Limerick players Joe Reddington and Tom Browne played on that team also". There have of course, been the dark days, Wexford football has known these all too well, and O'Gorman recalls one match which he feels changed things substantially. "Back in 1985 I was on a Wexford team that lost a League division 2 play off to Roscommon. The game was played in horrible conditions in Athy. We lost by very little, but the older lads on the side had enough after that defeat and quite a few of them retired and things went backwards for a few years after that". As an outsider looking in, one is of the opinion that the continued dominance of Duffry Rovers, they have won the last seven Wexford Senior Football Championships, cannot be good for the county scene. O'Gorman, whose own club have reached semi finals on a regular basis of late, views the matters somewhat differently. "Duffry have shown the rest of us the way, to maintain such a high level of performance is incredible. It is up to the rest of the club to get to their standard and not for Duffry to drop back. As for the county being affected that is not the case. Duffry have supplied some brilliant players to the team and club rivalries are always put to one side when the county is in action". Having earlier outlined Wexford's up and at them plan of campaign, where though does John feel that the outcome is likely to be resolved against the Dubs. "Midfield will determine an awful lot, possession is after all, nine tenths of the footballing law, Louis Rafters and Gary Walters we have two very experienced players in this area. If we get an even break there, then we will win the match, I have no doubt about that". Confidence is high in the Wexford camp. Liam Fardy has his men well prepared and a long wait for revenge of at least the chance of it is about to come to an end. O'Gorman says he just cannot wait. "People who would know anything about the current state of football would realise that we are far from no hopers going into this match. I only have a look back to us playing a draw in a League tie with Clare last year and look what they went on to. We are going out next Sunday not to play a football match, but more importantly, to win a football match". The Dubs are facing a journey in the unknown on Sunday. "Look for the last few weeks Dublin have had their minds on trying to win a major national title. They haven't have time to think about anything else, for the last six months we've been thinking of nothing except Dublin in the first round of the Championship. We want this game so badly it is unreal. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain. The pressure is on them and Wexford Park with a partisan crowd on your back is no place to be if you can't handle pressure". Like I said, questions will be answered. Taken from Hogan Stand magazine 21st May 1993 Tweet

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