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Wexford Hurling 2025

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Replying To WEXILE:  "Well looking at age profile, travelling, injuries, retirement and form alone in the next few years we can expect to lose:

McGovern
Chin if he stays is constantly battling an injury
Liam Ryan (might never hurl again for Wexford)
O'Hanlon - gone
O'keefe - gone

Then you've lads near or at 30, baring in mind the age of retirement is getting younger in intercounty

Kevin Foley - form dipped not getting younger either
Jack O must be 30 now is he?
Conor McDonald near 30?
Donohoe near 30?
Fanning tipping around 30 also?

You've 2 Foleys that could play but won't, that's up to then

You've also lads that could play at this level but also won't in Kehoe, Carty , AJ Redmond,

You've also lads in there rather are prone to the odd injury like Rory O Connor l, he did well to stay fit last year but he's got an overuse injury in one knee that won't improve

I'm sure I'm missing someone else but put them all together and it's very hard to see us not struggling sorry

All the while where is our Adam Screeneys etc. coming out of u20s? We've a few good chaps granted but no superstars yet and lads we can't be waxing lyrical about a chap in transition year for God sake"
Yes we've lost Dee (who didn't play last year) and Matt. They're hard to replace.

Likely to lose McGovern too.

Mac and Jack are 30 this year.

Lets be realistic, we already have about 5 goal keepers who would improve us tomorrow.

Fanning is 34

I was talking about core players. Neither Dooley nor fanning fit that description.

Rory stayed fit because he gave up football and won't be playing it again.

I do agree we don't really haven't any ready made stars at minor or 21 but not every amazing senior is a game changer at underage either, while some super underage lads don't do well at senior so like I said before we just have to wait and see.

Regardless I don't see us as being massively behind and other team in the province.

It's just not reality.

Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 3282 - 20/01/2025 15:58:22    2586623

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Replying To Doylerwex:  "No team in the country is producing top lads at scale.

Clare are the current champions backed by a once in a generation team from 2013

Limerick the same but a little later

Kilkenny did it in the 00s but aren't now.

Galway are traditionally excellent at underage which has amounted to only 4 senior all Irelands in their history, ranking lower than us and Dublin and level with Clare.

There's absolutely no evidence that Dublin are producing better players than us at any underage grade at present. I've already explained why."
Results last year say different.

countyman2022 (Wexford) - Posts: 757 - 20/01/2025 16:02:09    2586624

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Replying To WEXILE:  "Well looking at age profile, travelling, injuries, retirement and form alone in the next few years we can expect to lose:

McGovern
Chin if he stays is constantly battling an injury
Liam Ryan (might never hurl again for Wexford)
O'Hanlon - gone
O'keefe - gone

Then you've lads near or at 30, baring in mind the age of retirement is getting younger in intercounty

Kevin Foley - form dipped not getting younger either
Jack O must be 30 now is he?
Conor McDonald near 30?
Donohoe near 30?
Fanning tipping around 30 also?

You've 2 Foleys that could play but won't, that's up to then

You've also lads that could play at this level but also won't in Kehoe, Carty , AJ Redmond,

You've also lads in there rather are prone to the odd injury like Rory O Connor l, he did well to stay fit last year but he's got an overuse injury in one knee that won't improve

I'm sure I'm missing someone else but put them all together and it's very hard to see us not struggling sorry

All the while where is our Adam Screeneys etc. coming out of u20s? We've a few good chaps granted but no superstars yet and lads we can't be waxing lyrical about a chap in transition year for God sake"
Of the 1st 5 lads you mention Matt Chin and Mogie were the only 3 to play most of the Championship last year. They've all been great servants to Wexford hurling but probably only Chin probably can't be replaced by someone over the next 2 years who would potentially be as good, and Chin didn't play particularly well in any of our big games, especially against Clare and Kilkenny .
The next 5 have a few years left, but tbh none of them have been outstanding for Wexford the last couple of Championships, and some would be replaceable by better or more effective lads, or at least lads more suited to modern intercounry hurling, right now, not even in a couple of years time. Forwards who can make runs out all day and also track their men back, as well as score a few points or the odd goal, and backs who won't keep running into traffic and getting turned over, and who can actually defend. And possibly a keeper who can puck a ball out short, both quickly and accurately, to a man running into space, instead of needing a man standing still in a clear acre to puck it to, sonething which never is allowed to happen by any opposition in a modern Championship game. Of all those 5 only Kevin Foley has had years where he consistently played well every game, and that's since Davy took over.
There's no point worrying about the next 5, as they didn't commit for this year. If any of them do in the future then that would be a bonus and only a bonus if they commit for a few years at least. In any case none of them played for the county last year either.
Adam Screeney is going to miss the League this year with a groin injury. He's got great potential but is far from a top Senior intercounty hurler yet. Last year Shane Reck kept him to one point from play in the Park. He also only scored 1 point in the Joe Mac final against Laois. Exciting lad to watch in underage games ok, but for now no more than that.
We had Cian Byrne, Eoin Ryan and Conor Foley all start regularly last year in Championship games from the previous 2 years u20 teams, while Patsy and CBD mightve grabbed spots had they not got injured during the League. Other players who might step up this year include Tucker, James Byrne, Rowley, Cillian Byrne, Simon Roche, Carley, Kehoe, Whelan, Cian Byrne from Rosslare, Dundon, Kelly, Paudie Casey, and a good few others. They have the League to grab their opportunity. I only hope they get given plenty of gametime to show what they can do, rather than seeing alot more of lads who have pretty much shown already at this stage that they don't have much to offer consistently come championship.
Just out of interest had you heard of Adam Hogan before 2 years ago, or Conor Leen before last year? In fact, honestly, how many of Clares Championship panel of 26 would you have been able to name before last year? Every team has new lads coming through every year, and no one team has lads who have won many more games at u20 in 2022 and 2023 than our lads did, and most, including Galway, Kilkenny and Dublin our closest rivals in Leinster were no more than a puck of a ball away from us or eachother in that time.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 14295 - 20/01/2025 16:07:20    2586626

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Replying To WEXILE:  "Whether I do or don't think they've better teams at underage than us doesn't matter.

Offaly are going in the right direction, there's plenty of talent coming through in Dublin and they'll be going on to a younger Dublin team so they'll be competitive for the near future.

Kilkenny and Galway will always have competitive senior teams regardless of underage, they get enough through. Always have always will. We might beat em they odd time

When we start producing top lads that go onto our senior team en masse then I'll be optimistic"
The only county that did that and got alot of Senior success after it was Limerick since 2018. In history. Ever. You have set a pretty high bar for optimism there!!!!!

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 14295 - 20/01/2025 16:14:10    2586629

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Replying To Doylerwex:  "No team in the country is producing top lads at scale.

Clare are the current champions backed by a once in a generation team from 2013

Limerick the same but a little later

Kilkenny did it in the 00s but aren't now.

Galway are traditionally excellent at underage which has amounted to only 4 senior all Irelands in their history, ranking lower than us and Dublin and level with Clare.

There's absolutely no evidence that Dublin are producing better players than us at any underage grade at present. I've already explained why."
Galway have 5 Doyler, they won it again in 2017!

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 14295 - 20/01/2025 16:15:37    2586630

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Replying To Viking66:  "Galway have 5 Doyler, they won it again in 2017!"
Clare also have the 5 now, better update the stats across the board!

Throughthemidfieldhewasstormin (Wexford) - Posts: 291 - 20/01/2025 16:42:59    2586634

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On the lay of the land at present, there seems to be more teams in a funny position no different to ourselves. Limerick, Clare and Cork probably only teams with a settled team and even then Limerick and Clare are probably only a year or two away from that changing in a big way, both heavily reliant on underage success from a decade ago..Clare on the older side of that. Cork look the best primmed to take advantage of these across the board. Not too dissimilar to Limerick from 2020 on, with no real equals. Tipp, Galway, Kilkenny, Dublin, Waterford, Ourselves all have issues. Think there's a big opportunity for some team if they get their acts together in the next year or two. Cork do look more set up for the short/medium term than anyone else and very well could harvest. I would love for that to be us. Kilkenny probably the most likely out of that group to play above themselves and get far even with a poor team but don't look like winning an all Ireland with their current team either.

Throughthemidfieldhewasstormin (Wexford) - Posts: 291 - 20/01/2025 16:58:58    2586636

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Thanks for the corrections in respect of both Clare and Galway lads. Apologies I left them both short!

Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 3282 - 20/01/2025 17:10:33    2586638

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Replying To Throughthemidfieldhewasstormin:  "On the lay of the land at present, there seems to be more teams in a funny position no different to ourselves. Limerick, Clare and Cork probably only teams with a settled team and even then Limerick and Clare are probably only a year or two away from that changing in a big way, both heavily reliant on underage success from a decade ago..Clare on the older side of that. Cork look the best primmed to take advantage of these across the board. Not too dissimilar to Limerick from 2020 on, with no real equals. Tipp, Galway, Kilkenny, Dublin, Waterford, Ourselves all have issues. Think there's a big opportunity for some team if they get their acts together in the next year or two. Cork do look more set up for the short/medium term than anyone else and very well could harvest. I would love for that to be us. Kilkenny probably the most likely out of that group to play above themselves and get far even with a poor team but don't look like winning an all Ireland with their current team either."
It's only the leinster teams though that are under real pressure with the relegation

Bon (Kildare) - Posts: 2115 - 20/01/2025 17:35:27    2586640

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Replying To countyman2022:  "Results last year say different."
So just so I'm clear... You're saying Dublin winning two figures by four points in close games is definite proof we're falling behind them for the foreseeable future?

Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 3282 - 20/01/2025 17:43:48    2586642

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Replying To countyman2022:  "Results last year say different."
We had more issues last year at u20 than just player quality, although we were definitely short a few natural scoring forwards on the pitch. Around 5 in most of the games I went to.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 14295 - 20/01/2025 17:44:06    2586643

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Replying To Throughthemidfieldhewasstormin:  "Clare also have the 5 now, better update the stats across the board!"
Feck I really should've read the whole post better!

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 14295 - 20/01/2025 17:45:08    2586644

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Replying To Bon:  "It's only the leinster teams though that are under real pressure with the relegation"
For sure. You can be pretty poor in Munster and console yourself with the thought that you will definitely be there again next year.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 14295 - 20/01/2025 17:47:23    2586645

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Replying To Afinestick96:  "Anyone hear what the team and subs was in Waterford yesterday? Looking forward to Saturday although we have a big task"
Rossi certainly wasn't too upbeat about our chances v Cork or the league generally. Got the sense he didn't know when Chin would be back from Aus (is there a chance he stays there surfing?), D Reck injured, Mac injured, Liam Ryan injured, two Foley's confirmed gone, Jacko out and unsure about McGovern either. I wouldn't be all that upset if both McGovern and Jacko called it a day, both have struggled in recent seasons to make an impact in championship.

Timbertony (Wexford) - Posts: 320 - 20/01/2025 21:34:40    2586680

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Replying To Timbertony:  "Rossi certainly wasn't too upbeat about our chances v Cork or the league generally. Got the sense he didn't know when Chin would be back from Aus (is there a chance he stays there surfing?), D Reck injured, Mac injured, Liam Ryan injured, two Foley's confirmed gone, Jacko out and unsure about McGovern either. I wouldn't be all that upset if both McGovern and Jacko called it a day, both have struggled in recent seasons to make an impact in championship."
I think that's a bit harsh on Mogie to be fair. He was unreal against Kilkenny in the most crucial game of Darragh Egan's time.

Jack isn't technically a key player for us but he's too good for us to overlook. We're not producing a lot of physically imposing forwards

Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 3282 - 20/01/2025 22:18:37    2586682

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Replying To Timbertony:  "Rossi certainly wasn't too upbeat about our chances v Cork or the league generally. Got the sense he didn't know when Chin would be back from Aus (is there a chance he stays there surfing?), D Reck injured, Mac injured, Liam Ryan injured, two Foley's confirmed gone, Jacko out and unsure about McGovern either. I wouldn't be all that upset if both McGovern and Jacko called it a day, both have struggled in recent seasons to make an impact in championship."
2023 league vibes to this year im starting to think

OpenStandWall (Wexford) - Posts: 160 - 20/01/2025 23:29:26    2586694

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Replying To Throughthemidfieldhewasstormin:  "On the lay of the land at present, there seems to be more teams in a funny position no different to ourselves. Limerick, Clare and Cork probably only teams with a settled team and even then Limerick and Clare are probably only a year or two away from that changing in a big way, both heavily reliant on underage success from a decade ago..Clare on the older side of that. Cork look the best primmed to take advantage of these across the board. Not too dissimilar to Limerick from 2020 on, with no real equals. Tipp, Galway, Kilkenny, Dublin, Waterford, Ourselves all have issues. Think there's a big opportunity for some team if they get their acts together in the next year or two. Cork do look more set up for the short/medium term than anyone else and very well could harvest. I would love for that to be us. Kilkenny probably the most likely out of that group to play above themselves and get far even with a poor team but don't look like winning an all Ireland with their current team either."
Apart from those 3, the standard is pretty average across the country atm. Can see Limerick and Cork splitting All Irelands between them for the next 3/4 years.

OpenStandWall (Wexford) - Posts: 160 - 21/01/2025 00:03:50    2586704

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Does anyone want to hazard a guess as to what l the starting 15 will be Saturday? Don't have the list from the people paper of the panel, don't think you can really go off the game in Piercestown and we've heard nothing about any of the challenge games.

OpenStandWall (Wexford) - Posts: 160 - 21/01/2025 00:12:24    2586705

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Bookies have it wexford 4/1 Cork 2/9 enough said

Hopefully we can get a performance anyway. I think matthew o hanlon and diarmuid o keefe retiring has unfortunately shown us there was not one last spark in this crop of players. I know the 2 lads gave so much to wexford up to 2019. But let's call it out it's very very disheartening. I really taught this group were going to go out fighting and give it one last push for 2025.

Jimbob96 (Wexford) - Posts: 17 - 21/01/2025 00:41:21    2586706

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Replying To OpenStandWall:  "2023 league vibes to this year im starting to think"
I certainly hope not. Looks like it might be a tough start though. We are a county that needs to take the league pretty seriously otherwise you end up like 2023, humiliating defeats to likes of Clare and those doubts don't just disappear. Egan saying judge us on championship and you just knew after an abysmal performance in Salthill first game out that we were at nothing.
Rossi can still pick a competitive team with a clear game plan, not like the Cork game last year where he picked a joke of a team and we were annihilated.

Timbertony (Wexford) - Posts: 320 - 21/01/2025 01:01:31    2586708

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