Wexford football manager Aidan O'Brien could be in the sports pages as much as his famous namesake from the world of horseracing over the next few weeks if his team beats Meath on Sunday to qualify for the Leinster final.

Appointed as Jason Ryan's successor at the start of the season, the Westmeath native failed to keep the Slaneysiders in Division 2 of the Allianz League during the spring, but that disappointment was quickly forgotten about when they overcame a fancied Louth team in Drogheda for the second time this year to earn a crack at the Royals in Croke Park this weekend.

Tradition makes Meath favourites to advance to a final meeting with either Dublin or Kildare, but Wexford have been something of a bogey side for them in recent years and famously came from 10 points down at half-time to knock them out of the 2008 Leinster championship. Indeed, Wexford went on to make Leinster final and All-Ireland semi-final appearances that year, something O'Brien would love to emulate this summer.

"We've been focusing on Meath since they beat Wicklow a couple of weeks ago," he explains.

"They have a wonderful pedigree in the Leinster championship and beyond. Along with Dublin, they have been the staple diet of Leinster finals down through the years. Their supporters expect them to be in a Leinster final every year. It will be a big challenge for us to take them on, but these are the games you train for and we're looking forward to it."

The Adamstown clubman doesn't believe Wexford's 2008 comeback win will count for much on Sunday.

"While it gives us a certain amount of hope, it won't have any bearing," he emphasises.

"That was an extraordinary victory which provided the catalyst for the great season Wexford had after. I think it helped Wexford that that game was played in Carlow. Meath wouldn't be as familiar with Dr Cullen Park as they are with Croke Park.

"That was the last championship meeting of the counties and we haven't met in the league in the past two years. A lot can change in that time, so all past meetings are irrelevant as far as I'm concerned."

With forwards of the calibre of Redmond Barry, Ben Brosnan, Ciaran Lyng and PJ Banville, Wexford have the firepower to trouble most teams, but their manager insists they aren't looking past Meath.

"We're only looking at winning our next game and getting into a Leinster final. Most people aren't looking beyond Dublin or Kildare for Leinster. Whatever happens in Sunday's game, we hope to learn from it and keep improving.

"We have to make the most of the present and not be too focused on the longer term. It's not as if we have a stream of talent coming through from underage level and being a dual county makes things even harder. It's all about the here and now."

Even though they had already beaten Louth in the Allianz League, Wexford's Leinster SFC quarter-final victory in Drogheda was still viewed as a shock.

"It was a big ask to go up to Louth and win there for a second time in three months," O'Brien reflects.

"Their confidence was high after their 10-point victory over Laois in Portlaoise. At the same time, the weight of expectation on them was heavy and maybe we were in a position to take advantage of that. Maybe there was a degree of complacency on their part. No more than ourselves, being favourites was unusual for them and didn't sit comfortably with them.

"All things considered, that game was probably ripe for an upset. We gave a reasonably good account of ourselves, but we will have to improve substantially to beat Meath. They've shown they have the quality to go far in the championship.

"They are an incredibly fit and athletic team, but it's great to be in a position to have a go at them, give them a rattle and be the underdogs again."

Admitting that it was a major disappointment to be relegated from Division 2, Aidan suggests that Wexford aren't as good as they are often made out to be in the media.

"Some people's perspective of Wexford is coloured by the championship matches against Dublin in 2010 and 2012. Wexford came very close to winning both of those games, but people forget about us going out of the championship to Limerick and Tipperary in the past two years. And you saw how they did in the Munster championship this year.

"A county like Wexford needs the experience of playing against better quality teams, and that is why it was such a disappointment for us to be relegated in the league. In the previous two years, Dublin was the only team from outside Divisions 3 and 4 that we played against, so it's a pity from that point of view that we didn't get another year in Division 2.

"Having said that, we did take some positives from the league in that we beat Longford and Louth, drew with Armagh and played some very good football in parts of the other games, most notably against Westmeath and Galway. And we're the only team that played in Division 2 this year still involved in their provincial championship."

With Wexford dual star Lee Chin facing another hectic weekend (the hurlers are playing Carlow tomorrow), O'Brien is mindful of how much his body can take.

"Lee is the flag-bearer for dual players," he points out.

"It's not easy for him because his services are always in demand. The (GAA) fixtures don't encourage the dual player. There has to be a certain amount of flexibility with him and we also have to keep in mind his well-being.

"But what I will say about Lee is he's a fit, athletic, young fella - he's only 20 - who looks after himself well and knows what his limits are. He wants to play, and is good enough, to play both sports for Wexford, and so far he has managed as best he can. But it's hard to know going forward…"

Hailing from Ballinagore, which is the same neck of woods as former Westmeath star Michael Ennis, O'Brien has been based in the Model County since 1986 where he is Deputy Principal of the renowned GAA nursery, Good Counsel, New Ross. During his playing career with Westmeath, he actually played against Wexford in a 3-9 to 1-7 Leinster championship win for the Lake County in 1989.

The following year, he transferred from his home club of St. Malachy's (he also played with Ballinagore for a brief spell) to Gusserane and then joined Adamstown after building a house in the area.

Aidan is an uncle of rising Westmeath hurling star Niall O'Brien, who will line out against Waterford in Cusack Park tomorrow evening, while his brother Pat is the current Castletown-Geoghegan hurling boss and managed the Westmeath minor hurlers a few years back.

O'Brien first came to prominence as a manager in 1999 when he led Good Counsel to an historic Hogan Cup success. In 2005, he managed Horeswood to victory over Adamstown in the Wexford SFC final, having played for Adamstown in their JFC triumph just a fortnight earlier! He was in charge of the Wexford U21 team, which featured current senior stars Ben Brosnan, Shane Roche and Daithi Waters, that unsuccessfully contested the 2008 Leinster final against Kildare.

Aidan still keeps a close eye on how his native county is faring, and is backing them to beat Fermanagh in tomorrow's All-Ireland football qualifier in Mullingar.

"It was a big, big blow to Westmeath to lose to Dublin in the manner in which they did," he says.

"They had a great spring by winning promotion to Division 1 - beating us along the way - but their game against Dublin highlighted the huge gap that exists between Divisions 1 and 2. Galway and Derry also found that to their cost when they also went down badly to Mayo and Down.

"If Westmeath beat Fermanagh - which I expect them to do - they're back, but it's going to be very difficult for them to bridge the gap I've spoken about in Division 1 next year." Tweet

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