National Forum

Wexford Hurling 2025

(Oldest Posts First) - Go To The Latest Post


Replying To alwaysasub:  "Not much to say about it really. Match went as expected. Ya are too small to win our own ball in the forwards. Maybe we get a few of our bigger players back we might be more competitive but otherwise looking like a tough 5-6 years ahead."
If we are going to succeed this year apart from bigger more physical half forwards we need faster inside forwards tbh. Byrne is ok but Casey is too slow.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 14387 - 25/01/2025 21:44:05    2587520

Link

Replying To Timbertony:  "You would seriously have to question what S&C work these players have been doing to get themselves ready for senior level."
Totally agree

Lee Chin must be feeling like a king out in Australia and fair play to him.

Jimbob96 (Wexford) - Posts: 21 - 25/01/2025 21:44:15    2587521

Link

Absolutely zero positives to take from that I'm afraid. Conor Hearne was the only player who played above average.

I'm like a broken record at this stage - At the throw in, all 14 of our outfield players that started were shorter than the man they were marking or being marked by. We must be the smallest team on average at the Liam McCarthy grade and now we're getting found out for it, apart from Chin when he's playing we literally have no one who can consistently field a high ball, back or forward. I think Eoin Ryan and Conor Foley may be the only 2 that started this evening that were over 6ft. I'd really have to question our S+C, we're getting overpowered on a consistent basis now coupled with constant injuries.

It's very hard to defend Rory… he has a knack for going in late with the hurl of swinging wildly. 2 red cards in 2 games is not a great look.

On to our happy hunting ground…

OpenStandWall (Wexford) - Posts: 170 - 25/01/2025 21:50:36    2587525

Link

Replying To WEXILE:  "Hard times ahead for Wexford I'm afraid. It's no time to kick players when they are down, every one of em are putting their time in and working like dogs. Hard time for the state of the game inntje county on the whole.

I proposed that we might be staring at Joe McDonagh over the next few years and I was bamboozled with stats and other nonsense about the great underage teams we have etc.

Sometimes I wonder what planet posters are on at all or what's the point posting at all. You can't look at hurling in Wexford on the whole and be optimistic in the short term."
We played near enough Corks 1st team who were within a point of winning the AI last year. Without 4 of our 5 best players, Jippo, Chin and the 2 Recks, and other likely starters in Mac, Dwyer and Jacko. What exactly were you expecting to see?
We have to give our young lads experience and that's what they got tonight. They need to learn from it. You get less time at Senior Intercounty. Your 1st touch has to be perfect. Ours was poor. They need to work on that.
But as regards the championship and looking at being in the Joe Mac this year or next I think that's incredibly negative. Do you think Kilkenny, Galway, Dublin, Offaly or Antrim would've done any better tonight against Cork without 4 of their 5 best players, and missing 3 other experienced likely championship starters?

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 14387 - 25/01/2025 21:53:00    2587526

Link

Replying To Timbertony:  "You would seriously have to question what S&C work these players have been doing to get themselves ready for senior level."
Physically we weren't at the races, but the overall performance and approach was very disappointing. A terrible first touch, poor striking and even poorer passing.

Yellaman (Wexford) - Posts: 129 - 25/01/2025 22:35:33    2587536

Link

Replying To Viking66:  "Thought Conor Hearne was excellent all through tbh. Fanning is too slow on the puckouts. Dunbar did ok of the lads in their mid to late 20s, and didn't fade out of the game for long periods as he often does, the lads who have been poor enough the last few years still looked pretty poor. Jack Redmond did ok when he came on, and as you say so did David Codd, Eoin Ryan improved as the day went on after a poor start, Murphy was ok, Cian Byrne was ok, as was Carley. Kevin Foley also.
Thought Rossiter could've brought on more lads, and given Flood and Tucker longer. CBD had an off day.
We were missing Jippo, Chin, the 2 Recks, our 4 best players apart from Rory, who seriously needs anger management classes, and also Jacko, Dwyer and Mac.
The big negatives apart from the result was our 1st touch was shocking, especially in the 1st half, and Rowleys injury. Hopefully it isn't as bad as it looked."
Really disappointed in Rory (again). My fav Wexford hurler in a long time but his career is being seriously blighted by these red cards and acts of indiscipline. One would expect a lot more from him now that he's one of the more experienced players in this panel and also captain this year. The younger player are looking to him to set an example. Playing on the edge is fine so long as it's controlled

Purpleandgold72 (Wexford) - Posts: 231 - 25/01/2025 22:40:05    2587540

Link

It was a shame we didn't get to see Molloy, Kehoe or Whelan, or maybe Dundon or Kelly, although the latter 2 maybe would've been troubled by the Cork forwards pace. Up front he's obviously not seeing much from Clancy or O'Hagan in training.
In fairness to Franks and Rossiter they played a good style to suit our smaller team, but the conditions were shocking for the short game, and our 1st touch and finishing weren't good enough.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 14387 - 26/01/2025 00:12:32    2587549

Link

Replying To ElGranSenor:  "Well, if there's one positive that we can take from that game, it's that it's over

I want to avoid a knee jerk reaction as it's still January and this would have been one of our three hardest games but we'd want to improve hand over fist going forward if we've any ambition of doing anything positive this year

I think there were some hurlers playing who aren't good enough, some who were good enough once but aren't good enough anymore, and some who are good enough but just put in a very poor performance today

We were cleaned out of it physically, we played with zero intensity, we made mistake after mistake in possession, pretty much every single thing we did was wrong

On a separate note, I couldn't fully see it but does a player not have to be dragged down for a black card to be given? Didn't look to me like Barrett had been dragged down but maybe I didn't see it properly

Also, ROC getting sent off hurts us badly for next week, he should be capable of an awful lot better than what he showed in the first half but at the same time, we don't really have anyone available right now to replace him and you'd have thought that Tipperary along with Kilkenny and Galway would've been the games we had the best chance of winning

For me, two yellow cards would have sufficed

But I think the biggest worry for me is whatever S&C work we have been doing. To a man, we were pretty much smaller than Cork across the pitch and we still have too many young players who still haven't filled out their frame. This was understandable last season but the best time to develop S&C is in the offseason and a lot of our young players look the same as last year physically, just means that they get bullied around the place the whole time. You'd nearly question watching it whether we are doing any S&C work at all"
ROC can't keep being unlucky, how many red cards has he now in a Wexford jersey? On a day we really needed him to provide some leadership in the forward line, he got a point and an early bath for himself.

Timbertony (Wexford) - Posts: 327 - 26/01/2025 00:28:50    2587553

Link

Disappointing night last night in front of what was a decent crowd considering the weather . I hate being critical of the players I know what they are putting in but it was worrying how far we look off it . Hearne for me was the only one who had a decent game. Jack Redmond done ok when he came on and should start the next day . We really lack any kind of physicality which is a big worry . I know a few of the players and know they do loads of gym work but how do we look so small compared to other teams are we doing the right things in the gym. Dissapointed with Rory we needed him to lead the young lads last night . Kevin was a loss when he went off . We were without The two Recks, Jippo , Chin , Mac , Jacko and missed there experience . Cork had 9 starters from the all Ireland I think I heard. Are Eoin Whelan , Cian Molloy, Darragh Kehoe and Connall Clancy injured ? Think they definitely deserve a look over next few games. My worry is we don't seem to be producing much firepower or physically in the forwards I'm afraid and scores win games

Afinestick96 (Wexford) - Posts: 415 - 26/01/2025 05:43:04    2587561

Link

Replying To Viking66:  "Thought Conor Hearne was excellent all through tbh. Fanning is too slow on the puckouts. Dunbar did ok of the lads in their mid to late 20s, and didn't fade out of the game for long periods as he often does, the lads who have been poor enough the last few years still looked pretty poor. Jack Redmond did ok when he came on, and as you say so did David Codd, Eoin Ryan improved as the day went on after a poor start, Murphy was ok, Cian Byrne was ok, as was Carley. Kevin Foley also.
Thought Rossiter could've brought on more lads, and given Flood and Tucker longer. CBD had an off day.
We were missing Jippo, Chin, the 2 Recks, our 4 best players apart from Rory, who seriously needs anger management classes, and also Jacko, Dwyer and Mac.
The big negatives apart from the result was our 1st touch was shocking, especially in the 1st half, and Rowleys injury. Hopefully it isn't as bad as it looked."
I can't understand how Liam McCarthy level hurlers can have such poor basic hurling skills last night like some of the Wexford lads had.

Cork in contrast were super sharp in all aspects of their hurling.

It is something I've always noticed about Wexford teams, it could come back to coaching at various levels up along.

Past hurler (None) - Posts: 852 - 26/01/2025 08:59:26    2587573

Link

Replying To Past hurler:  "I can't understand how Liam McCarthy level hurlers can have such poor basic hurling skills last night like some of the Wexford lads had.

Cork in contrast were super sharp in all aspects of their hurling.

It is something I've always noticed about Wexford teams, it could come back to coaching at various levels up along."
We have some lads on the team who would probably be better footballers tbh. And over the last 20 years some of our better hurlers have chosen not to commit fully to the intercounty lifestyle unfortunately. It's a huge commitment. We have been producing lads at underage who are good at both, but not exceptional. Hopefully the new and altered structures at underage will address this in years to come. For example a big change last year was no dual players at intercounty level at u14. Over the next 3 years that will work its way up to minor.
The u12 ASH programme introduced last winter and continued this winter should help also. It's an excellent programme that highlights facets of play that might have been overlooked at club level, like heads up hurling and making better decisions, rather than encouraging the better and/or more athletically developed lads at that age to try soloing through multiple defenders for goals, as happens at club level at that age. That's grand at u12 at club level, but isn't going to happen consistently against older and better players as these lads get older. When it doesn't happen some of these lads lose heart/interest.
It was a noticeable problem in Peters loss to Dublin South schools in their Leinster PP A QF a cfew weeks back. Lads kept soloing into trouble, or holding the ball too long, and got turned over. Bit like some of our Senior players in recent years. That and an inability of the forwards to win their own ball any of the 3 ways of doing so. Clubs traditionally put their best 4 players at 6, 8, 9, and 11 at underage. If these lads are let solo forwards at every opportunity then lads playing 10, 12, 13, 14, and 15 don't get as much practice at winning their own ball.
Joe Shiel is involved in the u14 trials this year and apparently reckons the standard of basic hurling is way better this year than the last time he was involved at this level 7 or 8 years ago, and maybe the ASH programme and Wexford games development's club coaching courses and emphasis on clubs u12s training twice a week for more months of the year is starting to bear fruit .
There is also a bigger emphasis on size in the underage squads than was the case up til 2 years ago. We need to produce and develop more bigger hurlers.
It's not as if the powers that be aren't trying to change things for the better, from the County Board downwards, but it's up to all of us to encourage our kids to practice at home more, get out there with them sn hour an evening which is fun, good for you health wise, and good for your relationship with youe chuldren, and put more of our time into coaching and mentoring, and upskilling to be better at it.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 14387 - 26/01/2025 10:12:34    2587593

Link

I know conditions were terrible and pretty much took away any aspirations we had of working the ball out from defence but I don't really get what the tactical plan was supposed to be. We haven't got a half-forward line capable of winning primary possession at the best of times so we should be all-in on trying to work the ball out from the back. Yes, that would've been harder last night and you could argue the players we were missing made it even harder again

But Limerick off puck-outs basically set up in two banks of four and leave the opposition with an option: either sit back and let them work the ball short or else push up but leaves tonnes of space in your own defence. I don't really see any plan from us in comparison, we should be trying to work the ball out from the back the whole time (hopefully in better conditions although the same is probably true for Cork) but we seem more intent on showcasing our weaknesses and hiding our strengths

I don't want to be making excuses about who we were missing either as Cork didn't have a full team out either. Although the big difference between them and us is that we're very top-heavy whereas they're strong across the board and when you take out our best performers, we're left with a fairly weak core of a team

I still think there are good players there and a lot of these young players did show a lot of potential at U20. But you can have all the talent in the world and yet you will do nothing at this level if you don't have the S&C work done, players need the physicality in order to fully showcase their technical ability, otherwise they just get manhandled

ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 365 - 26/01/2025 11:35:13    2587614

Link

Replying To Viking66:  "We have some lads on the team who would probably be better footballers tbh. And over the last 20 years some of our better hurlers have chosen not to commit fully to the intercounty lifestyle unfortunately. It's a huge commitment. We have been producing lads at underage who are good at both, but not exceptional. Hopefully the new and altered structures at underage will address this in years to come. For example a big change last year was no dual players at intercounty level at u14. Over the next 3 years that will work its way up to minor.
The u12 ASH programme introduced last winter and continued this winter should help also. It's an excellent programme that highlights facets of play that might have been overlooked at club level, like heads up hurling and making better decisions, rather than encouraging the better and/or more athletically developed lads at that age to try soloing through multiple defenders for goals, as happens at club level at that age. That's grand at u12 at club level, but isn't going to happen consistently against older and better players as these lads get older. When it doesn't happen some of these lads lose heart/interest.
It was a noticeable problem in Peters loss to Dublin South schools in their Leinster PP A QF a cfew weeks back. Lads kept soloing into trouble, or holding the ball too long, and got turned over. Bit like some of our Senior players in recent years. That and an inability of the forwards to win their own ball any of the 3 ways of doing so. Clubs traditionally put their best 4 players at 6, 8, 9, and 11 at underage. If these lads are let solo forwards at every opportunity then lads playing 10, 12, 13, 14, and 15 don't get as much practice at winning their own ball.
Joe Shiel is involved in the u14 trials this year and apparently reckons the standard of basic hurling is way better this year than the last time he was involved at this level 7 or 8 years ago, and maybe the ASH programme and Wexford games development's club coaching courses and emphasis on clubs u12s training twice a week for more months of the year is starting to bear fruit .
There is also a bigger emphasis on size in the underage squads than was the case up til 2 years ago. We need to produce and develop more bigger hurlers.
It's not as if the powers that be aren't trying to change things for the better, from the County Board downwards, but it's up to all of us to encourage our kids to practice at home more, get out there with them sn hour an evening which is fun, good for you health wise, and good for your relationship with youe chuldren, and put more of our time into coaching and mentoring, and upskilling to be better at it."
Probably the best initiative of all though is the Rising Stars at u12 and u14, where the best players can't play and dominate the game, and lads get more chances to improve their first touch and ball winning ability. Especially for late developers and lads who take up hurling later in life, and bigger more awkward lads who are growing fast and suffering skills wise because of it, some of whom might be future county stars.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 14387 - 26/01/2025 11:44:59    2587616

Link

Strength and Conditioning won't make you physical, it will help but it must come from within aswell. Also you can do all the gym work you want, it won't add a foot or two to your height. Cork have the physicality and the size and we dont simple as, nothing Keith Rossiter can do about that. The most disappointing thing is we didn't seem to be able to play a style suited to our players, but the weather didn't help that and you'd hope on a drier day we will improve a good bit. No point getting too negative already.

WexMurph (Wexford) - Posts: 242 - 26/01/2025 11:57:24    2587619

Link

Replying To ElGranSenor:  "I know conditions were terrible and pretty much took away any aspirations we had of working the ball out from defence but I don't really get what the tactical plan was supposed to be. We haven't got a half-forward line capable of winning primary possession at the best of times so we should be all-in on trying to work the ball out from the back. Yes, that would've been harder last night and you could argue the players we were missing made it even harder again

But Limerick off puck-outs basically set up in two banks of four and leave the opposition with an option: either sit back and let them work the ball short or else push up but leaves tonnes of space in your own defence. I don't really see any plan from us in comparison, we should be trying to work the ball out from the back the whole time (hopefully in better conditions although the same is probably true for Cork) but we seem more intent on showcasing our weaknesses and hiding our strengths

I don't want to be making excuses about who we were missing either as Cork didn't have a full team out either. Although the big difference between them and us is that we're very top-heavy whereas they're strong across the board and when you take out our best performers, we're left with a fairly weak core of a team

I still think there are good players there and a lot of these young players did show a lot of potential at U20. But you can have all the talent in the world and yet you will do nothing at this level if you don't have the S&C work done, players need the physicality in order to fully showcase their technical ability, otherwise they just get manhandled"
For some reason we aren't playing our bigger lads much so far this year. Maybe they aren't going well in training. Or maybe they are injured. I thought Kehoe looked decent for DCU in the League final against UL, playing against some top young intercounty forwards from Limerick and Clare. I thought Dundons handing, first touch and positional awareness was very good against the TOTY. Patsy has great hurling ability for a bigger young lad also. Jack Redmond was very busy when he came on, I know he isn't a giant, but he's got a bit of strength and size for his age also. CBD was frankly poor last night, but I know from seeing alot of him the last few years that his first touch and hurling is generally much better than he showed. Whelan also is a decent hurler for a taller lad, but maybe he's struggling to come to terms with the physicality of Senior intercounty. Kelly has admittedly looked slow the few times I've seen him in a Wexford shirt. Ive seen very little of O Hagan and Clancy at Senior even in challenge games, but then they might not be going well at training either, or might be injured. Eoin Ryan is a tallish young lad also, and in fairness to him his touch did get better as the game wore on last night. Conor Foley isn't small either and was decent enough last night I thought, and I wouldn't say he made the wrong decision as regards the black card incident.
Of the slightly older lads, or even lads in their late mid 20s, Charlie and Simon have a bit of bite, inner dog, in fairness to them, but are small and their first touch and general hurling especially decision making is still not great. Casey has the hurling, but is small also and lacks that inner dog. He also isn't that quick. Murphy is a good hurler, and has a great attitude, but isn't particularly big either, or particularly fast. Dunbar is an exceptionally quick lad, and has hurling to burn, but fades out of games. Thought he was more involved yesterday though in fairness to him.
At the same time I am also mindful of friends in Kilkenny boasting about the 10kg Billy Drennan put on in the gym coming out of u20, only to see him miss huge chunks of playing time injured. His hurling also hasn't looked as good since, as it did at u20.
It does have to be said that only Dooley, Charlie, Hearne, Rory, Dunbar, Flood, Kevin Foley and Casey were over 24 of all the 19 odd out field lads who played, and all of these werent regularly starting championship games 2 or 3 years ago except Rory and Kevin, whereas most of Corks team and subs were 25/26 plus and fully physically developed, and starting championship games the last 6 or 7 years.
All Keith and his management team can do is try get these lads to improve in the areas where they are weak. I was really hoping to see some of the bigger young lads given a run though, would they have been any worse than some of the lads in the paragraph above?

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 14387 - 26/01/2025 13:40:16    2587648

Link

Replying To ElGranSenor:  "I know conditions were terrible and pretty much took away any aspirations we had of working the ball out from defence but I don't really get what the tactical plan was supposed to be. We haven't got a half-forward line capable of winning primary possession at the best of times so we should be all-in on trying to work the ball out from the back. Yes, that would've been harder last night and you could argue the players we were missing made it even harder again

But Limerick off puck-outs basically set up in two banks of four and leave the opposition with an option: either sit back and let them work the ball short or else push up but leaves tonnes of space in your own defence. I don't really see any plan from us in comparison, we should be trying to work the ball out from the back the whole time (hopefully in better conditions although the same is probably true for Cork) but we seem more intent on showcasing our weaknesses and hiding our strengths

I don't want to be making excuses about who we were missing either as Cork didn't have a full team out either. Although the big difference between them and us is that we're very top-heavy whereas they're strong across the board and when you take out our best performers, we're left with a fairly weak core of a team

I still think there are good players there and a lot of these young players did show a lot of potential at U20. But you can have all the talent in the world and yet you will do nothing at this level if you don't have the S&C work done, players need the physicality in order to fully showcase their technical ability, otherwise they just get manhandled"
For some reason we aren't playing our bigger lads much so far this year. Maybe they aren't going well in training. Or maybe they are injured. I thought Kehoe looked decent for DCU in the League final against UL, playing against some top young intercounty forwards from Limerick and Clare. I thought Dundons handing, first touch and positional awareness was very good against the TOTY. Patsy has great hurling ability for a bigger young lad also. Jack Redmond was very busy when he came on, I know he isn't a giant, but he's got a bit of strength and size for his age also. CBD was frankly poor last night, but I know from seeing alot of him the last few years that his first touch and hurling is generally much better than he showed. Whelan also is a decent hurler for a taller lad, but maybe he's struggling to come to terms with the physicality of Senior intercounty. Kelly has admittedly looked slow the few times I've seen him in a Wexford shirt. Ive seen very little of O Hagan and Clancy at Senior even in challenge games, but then they might not be going well at training either, or might be injured. Eoin Ryan is a tallish young lad also, and in fairness to him his touch did get better as the game wore on last night. Conor Foley isn't small either and was decent enough last night I thought, and I wouldn't say he made the wrong decision as regards the black card incident.
Of the slightly older lads, or even lads in their late mid 20s, Charlie and Simon have a bit of bite, inner dog, in fairness to them, but are small and their first touch and general hurling especially decision making is still not great. Casey has the hurling, but is small also and lacks that inner dog. He also isn't that quick. Murphy is a good hurler, and has a great attitude, but isn't particularly big either, or particularly fast. Dunbar is an exceptionally quick lad, and has hurling to burn, but fades out of games. Thought he was more involved yesterday though in fairness to him.
At the same time I am also mindful of friends in Kilkenny boasting about the 10kg Billy Drennan put on in the gym coming out of u20, only to see him miss huge chunks of playing time injured. His hurling also hasn't looked as good since, as it did at u20.
It does have to be said that only Dooley, Charlie, Hearne, Rory, Dunbar, Flood, Kevin Foley and Casey were over 24 of all the 19 odd out field lads who played, and all of these werent regularly starting championship games 2 or 3 years ago except Rory and Kevin, whereas most of Corks team and subs were 25/26 plus and fully physically developed, and starting championship games the last 6 or 7 years.
All Keith and his management team can do is try get these lads to improve in the areas where they are weak. I was really hoping to see some of the bigger young lads given a run though, would they have been any worse than some of the lads in the paragraph above?

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 14387 - 26/01/2025 13:40:24    2587649

Link

Well lads just a few points about last night..we are not any on par with any of the Munster teams including Waterford in that… if Waterford were in Leinster they would possibly be in Leinster final every year… we should forget about the Munster teams in the league and target the Galway and kk games as we wil be playing them in championship…. They are much physically stronger than us as regards height and strength but think if we get a few back we need to be competitive if anything to get a feel for championship.. I know I still harp on about it but if we don't have our big players come championship I think we wil really struggle this year.. imagine going into first game without Liam Ryan who after his injury might not be the same player again.. we lack serious height and strength in our backs and teams have targeted us and wil again.. I can say Davy wil be targeting that game for starters … as wil Offaly.. worrying times ahead in my opinion

gannett83 (Wexford) - Posts: 299 - 26/01/2025 14:26:49    2587673

Link

Replying To gannett83:  "Well lads just a few points about last night..we are not any on par with any of the Munster teams including Waterford in that… if Waterford were in Leinster they would possibly be in Leinster final every year… we should forget about the Munster teams in the league and target the Galway and kk games as we wil be playing them in championship…. They are much physically stronger than us as regards height and strength but think if we get a few back we need to be competitive if anything to get a feel for championship.. I know I still harp on about it but if we don't have our big players come championship I think we wil really struggle this year.. imagine going into first game without Liam Ryan who after his injury might not be the same player again.. we lack serious height and strength in our backs and teams have targeted us and wil again.. I can say Davy wil be targeting that game for starters … as wil Offaly.. worrying times ahead in my opinion"
We have been targeted by so called weaker counties every year I can remember since I started watching hurling. This is because in general we have been flakey and inconsistent for most of that time. Even our best players had poor games every year in that time, with the exception of 96. It's not just to do with height and strength.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 14387 - 26/01/2025 14:45:44    2587680

Link

Replying To Past hurler:  "I can't understand how Liam McCarthy level hurlers can have such poor basic hurling skills last night like some of the Wexford lads had.

Cork in contrast were super sharp in all aspects of their hurling.

It is something I've always noticed about Wexford teams, it could come back to coaching at various levels up along."
Accurate delivery of the ball from the half back line and midfield into the forwards has been a problem for many years. These days when it's often three defenders against two forwards that delivery has to be spot on. Hannon and McInerney (CE) always stand out for me on this regard, there's no lumping it. Any reasonable club player can whack it but county level is a whole different level. We had lads playing last night and in recent years, who firstly get blocked and hooked ridiculously easily. Others can't break a tackle, suspect touch and striking skills are nowhere near the required level. There's one particular player I can think of, a hard working lad, who has to plant both feet before clearing the ball.

Definitely by u20 level the most of those basic skills need to be already acquired. Our lads in the main are miles off it. Thats skills, S&C its like our lads have skipped the gym. Compare Aaron Gillane's conditioning to ROC as just one example.

Timbertony (Wexford) - Posts: 327 - 26/01/2025 15:47:28    2587693

Link

Replying To Viking66:  "For some reason we aren't playing our bigger lads much so far this year. Maybe they aren't going well in training. Or maybe they are injured. I thought Kehoe looked decent for DCU in the League final against UL, playing against some top young intercounty forwards from Limerick and Clare. I thought Dundons handing, first touch and positional awareness was very good against the TOTY. Patsy has great hurling ability for a bigger young lad also. Jack Redmond was very busy when he came on, I know he isn't a giant, but he's got a bit of strength and size for his age also. CBD was frankly poor last night, but I know from seeing alot of him the last few years that his first touch and hurling is generally much better than he showed. Whelan also is a decent hurler for a taller lad, but maybe he's struggling to come to terms with the physicality of Senior intercounty. Kelly has admittedly looked slow the few times I've seen him in a Wexford shirt. Ive seen very little of O Hagan and Clancy at Senior even in challenge games, but then they might not be going well at training either, or might be injured. Eoin Ryan is a tallish young lad also, and in fairness to him his touch did get better as the game wore on last night. Conor Foley isn't small either and was decent enough last night I thought, and I wouldn't say he made the wrong decision as regards the black card incident.
Of the slightly older lads, or even lads in their late mid 20s, Charlie and Simon have a bit of bite, inner dog, in fairness to them, but are small and their first touch and general hurling especially decision making is still not great. Casey has the hurling, but is small also and lacks that inner dog. He also isn't that quick. Murphy is a good hurler, and has a great attitude, but isn't particularly big either, or particularly fast. Dunbar is an exceptionally quick lad, and has hurling to burn, but fades out of games. Thought he was more involved yesterday though in fairness to him.
At the same time I am also mindful of friends in Kilkenny boasting about the 10kg Billy Drennan put on in the gym coming out of u20, only to see him miss huge chunks of playing time injured. His hurling also hasn't looked as good since, as it did at u20.
It does have to be said that only Dooley, Charlie, Hearne, Rory, Dunbar, Flood, Kevin Foley and Casey were over 24 of all the 19 odd out field lads who played, and all of these werent regularly starting championship games 2 or 3 years ago except Rory and Kevin, whereas most of Corks team and subs were 25/26 plus and fully physically developed, and starting championship games the last 6 or 7 years.
All Keith and his management team can do is try get these lads to improve in the areas where they are weak. I was really hoping to see some of the bigger young lads given a run though, would they have been any worse than some of the lads in the paragraph above?"
Good post viking, I agree with regards the bigger younger lads. I think we need to see cian molloy. Whelan. Kehoe possibly Dundeon, would do any worst then some last night. Maybe there are injured or just not doing it in training. Was molloy actually on the bench last night

hunting (Wexford) - Posts: 1040 - 26/01/2025 17:02:08    2587716

Link