Wexford's Kennedy Cup journey ends on high as they beat North Tipperary on penalties
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Irish Times
a day ago
- Irish Times
John Hegarty taking Wexford footballers onwards and upwards despite club reservations
Any ambiguities about John Hegarty's intentions as Wexford football manager were resolved last week with the announcement that he had been reappointed after a front-loaded season. Seven straight league wins shot the county out of Division Four and if the championship and Tailteann Cup campaigns had the feel of a hangover, Hegarty makes the simple point that in the management's third year, there had to be one overriding ambition. 'At the start of the year, we were very clear that our number-one priority was the league. Now, it wasn't our only priority and sometimes that got lost a little bit in translation. But if we didn't get promotion, no matter how you wrapped it up, then the project was a failure.' A year previously, Wexford were denied promotion because of an injury-time penalty conceded in February against Leitrim, which ended up being the crucial, head-to-head difference in the league table. READ MORE 'I know the cool thing is to talk about 'process' and that it's not about outcomes, but in year three, it had to be about the outcome. Everybody – the whole squad came back, the whole backroom came back – was with that primary goal. And we achieved it after five games.' Promotion was both a peak and a watershed. They lost the divisional final to a Limerick side they had already beaten, but not by much and with genuine alibis. 'We lost Glen Malone in the warm-up; Martin O'Connor was sick the night before. Having conceded three goals while getting none, we still only lost by two points. Disappointing but it didn't take any of the gloss off the league for us.' The new split-season structure was about to take its toll. A refixed match against Wicklow in early March meant that Wexford faced a sixth successive match in the first round of the Leinster championship. Had they won, the next round would have been seven matches in seven weeks. 'No matter how good your squad is, that's where the cracks start to show. So, our Leinster championship – we felt that we gave it what was in the tank but our GPS numbers were dropping around that time. 'They were still covering the ground, but going from Pearse Park's (Longford) surface to Croke Park should mean that lads' max speeds are increasing but they were going the other way.' Wexford football manager John Hegarty says the age profile of his team, combined with their ambition, bodes well for the future. Photograph: Tom O'Hanlon/Inpho Wexford stabilised for the Tailteann Cup and reached the quarter-finals where they lost to familiar opposition. Limerick , who impressed hugely in the tier-two championship and would come within a last kick of winning it, beat them again. Prioritising the league makes sense for any team with thoughts of upward mobility. Teams in the bottom division are more or less debarred from the Sam Maguire unless they get a lucky draw in their province, which is almost impossible in Leinster. 'If you want to be serious about sustaining progress,' he says, 'then you have to go up to Division Two and that is true until you hit that mark and become comfortable there. 'Then, you can realistically plan to peak in May. For everybody else, and I'm talking about the Westmeaths, the Downs of this world, the league is still very, very important to establish yourself, so that's the level you're comfortable playing at.' I don't think we'll be putting a limit on what we'll be aiming for — John Hegarty Hegarty faces into a close season which will start with keeping a close eye on the county championship. That has changed for this season. Wexford formerly made a virtue out of running its hurling and football seasons sequentially, allowing players to concentrate on one game and then the other. Now, the seasons will be alternated with football and hurling on successive weekends, an arrangement Hegarty believes will not benefit football in a county with possibly the highest dual involvement in the country. 'In the alternate-weeks model, football tends to lose out. I'm not saying they don't get to train, but if there's any extra required, it comes from football towards hurling. 'What we were finding when it was a split – hurling first and then football – even the likes of Rathmore and Oulart, who would have not entered football teams for a long time, got involved because players got tired sitting around for eight weeks. 'It also meant that everybody got a block of the same seven, eight, 10 weeks of football and you could see the standard improving the whole way along. It meant that I felt the standard was improving within club games.' He will keep an eye on all grades to look out for new talent. However, he is equally conscious that with a settled team, radical overhauls won't be on his agenda going into such an important season. 'I think to sustain what we did last year, staying up is an absolute necessity. That is crucial. The age profile of the group and the ambition of the group, they're things that say they can be around and can keep improving. 'Promotion next year is not a must but at the same time, just because of those two things, the age profile and the ambition, I don't think we'll be putting a limit on what we'll be aiming for. I think it's the most stacked Division Three I can remember for a couple of years. 'We'll be under no illusion either that other teams will be circling us as a banker. We're crashing the party this year but we've fought to get this opportunity for a long time, so we're going to be looking to maximise our impact. This is where we want to be and we want to be looking upwards from here.'
The Irish Sun
3 days ago
- The Irish Sun
Lee Chin draws inspiration from Tipperary's rapid rise as he vows Wexford can bounce back in 2026
CHIN UP Lee Chin draws inspiration from Tipperary's rapid rise as he vows Wexford can bounce back in 2026 THE light went out on Wexford's season much sooner than they had planned – but Lee Chin believes Tipperary's resurgence is proof of how quickly the darkness can lift. Having failed to record a Championship victory in 2024, Tipp won six on the bounce to be crowned All-Ireland champions last month. 2 Lee Chin of Wexford reckons they can bounce back after a poor 2025 season 2 Chin is certain they can gain promotion back to the top tier Wexford skipper Chin said: 'I just think that's what hurling is now. You have a team that potentially might not be at the level they desire one year and they win the All-Ireland the year after. "Tipperary have high standards and their ambition is to win All-Irelands. "I don't think those sorts of goals would have changed for them coming into this year, regardless of how the previous couple of years went. "To come out and go all the way was incredible to see. And of course it gives you some sort of light at the end of the tunnel to think that regardless of how your year went, you can still turn things around the following year.' A win over Kilkenny in May was ultimately irrelevant for Wexford as the game was already a dead rubber. Their Leinster SHC campaign also yielded victories over Antrim and Offaly. Yet the Model men came up short of a top-three finish due to costly defeats to Dublin and Galway. Speaking exclusively to SunSport ahead of his involvement in the 2025 Hurler for Cancer Research match, Chin reflected: "We had to wait for other results to come our way by not getting the victory up in Salthill and obviously the Dublin game had left us under pressure as well. 'If you'd managed to get a win there, you would have put a bit of comfort in your way. Unfortunately we weren't able to go to either of those two venues and get a victory. "We kind of had to keep ourselves out of the relegation picture come the game against Offaly. The Kilkenny game was an odd one then because we knew that was the last day we'd hurl for 2025.' With 20 minutes remaining in their Parnell Park clash with the Dubs, Wexford were in the driving seat with a three-point lead. Scottie Scheffler suffers major blow ahead of PGA Tour playoff event after $43 million season earnings are revealed But a significant moment that turned the game in favour of the hosts was Seán Currie's penalty. While replays showed that the sliotar had not crossed the line, a goal was awarded by ref Michael Kennedy nonetheless. But Chin insisted: "Obviously when things like that do occur, you have to just suck it up and move on. After the game when you reflect, you can be very frustrated. "But as time moves on, you accept that these things happen and that's just sport. 'You get on with it. It's just foolish to be thinking about what could have been. At the end of the day, we didn't do enough in that game against Dublin. "We just need to improve. There are a lot of other areas that we needed to be better in on that day. "Just conceding too many goals, too many scores and ourselves probably as a forward line didn't really get into any sort of a rhythm through the Championship. "There are a lot of things we just need to address in terms of our performances. We can't really put it down to one incident or two incidents. We've got to be accountable for our own performance. We've just got to go searching for better." Next season will be Chin's 14th as a Wexford senior hurler. And with the county board this week proposing that Keith Rossiter be ratified to remain in charge for 2026, the veteran forward reckons they still have the right man at the wheel. He said: "I suppose we've gone through various different changes over the last number of years. As a county and especially as a player who's been around for a while, the one thing you want is continuity. 'You don't want change occurring all the time because any manager who comes into a project like ourselves, they want a year or two to bed in, to figure out players and who's in Wexford. "And obviously just to get everything in order for themselves. 'For someone like me, if that were to start all over again, that's probably not something I have time on my side for anymore. "If change was for the betterment of Wexford, I'd obviously support that. But for ourselves at the moment, we know what quality Keith brings. 'The county board are probably confident in that too and that's the reason he's going into his third year. I'm delighted that's happening." PROMOTION PUSH As well as reaching a first Leinster SHC final since the triumph of 2019, promotion back to the top tier of the National League will be among Wexford's top priorities in a year that will mark the 30th anniversary of their last All-Ireland win. And with Tipperary showing what is possible for teams who have lost their way, Chin is adamant that Rossiter's side can also turn a corner. The Faythe Harries man, who turns 33 in October, said: "I think a lot of teams are capable of bouncing back positively with how much they have at their disposal in terms of preparation and organisation and how detailed managements can be. "It's just fine lines and narrow margins with results or decisions that cause you not to get out of Leinster or Munster. "Small things can cause you to end up on one side or the other and it can make it a completely different year for you. "This was just a year that we were disappointed in. Our ambition would be to get back to Leinster finals and compete and go into an All-Ireland series. 'It wasn't to be and it's something that we'll look to rectify. Obviously getting relegated in the league didn't help with confidence either. "But we'll put our heads down over the winter and we'll work hard on sorting out a few things that we need to address. Hopefully we'll have found the improvements coming into 2026." *LEE CHIN will be one of the stars on show in the annual Hurling for Cancer Research match. Supported by Centra, it takes place at Netwatch Cullen Park in Carlow on Monday at 7.30pm. Tickets – priced €10 for adults and €5 for children – are available from selected Centra and SuperValu stores, as well as online at
The Irish Sun
3 days ago
- The Irish Sun
Wexford star Lee Chin calls for major All-Ireland SHC shake-up with four teams qualifying from Leinster and Munster
Chin says the Joe McDonagh Cup finalists deserve a break and insists extra provincial spots would boost competitiveness in the Championship ALL CHANGE Wexford star Lee Chin calls for major All-Ireland SHC shake-up with four teams qualifying from Leinster and Munster WEXFORD captain Lee Chin has added his voice to calls for four teams to qualify for the All-Ireland SHC from both Leinster and Munster. GAA president Jarlath Burns has vowed to review the current structure of the hurling Championship, admitting that the pathway into the All-Ireland series for the Joe McDonagh Cup finalists could be abolished. 2 County icon Chin says the Joe McDonagh Cup finalists deserve a break and insists more provincial spots would boost competitiveness 2 Wexford skipper Lee Chin has called for a major adjustment to the senior hurling championship campaign Along with the likes of Clare's Tony Kelly and Waterford's Stephen Bennett. Chin was one of many leading players whose season ended in May after Wexford failed to secure the top-three finish required to advance from the provincial stages. He said: "Every inter-county hurler wants to be hurling as late into the year as they can. It'll be interesting to see what will come if they do potentially change what way the format goes. "My own feelings on it would be that if they're going to keep the same one, maybe change it so that four teams come out of each province. "I mean this with the greatest respect, but the teams that are coming up from the Joe McDonagh over the last number of years, their games in the preliminary quarter-final just haven't really been competitive.' In light of the introduction of participation in the top-tier of Championship hurling as a bonus for Joe McDonagh teams, the 2019 win for Laois over Dublin remains an outlier. Since then, the eight preliminary quarter-finals have ended in victories for the Liam MacCarthy Cup sides by an average margin of more than 17 points. Chin added: "It's quite unfair on them too that they have to go out and play again only a week after playing their All-Ireland. "They're not able to put in the best week of preparation as a result and it's probably something that just needs to change. "If those places were taken by the teams who finished fourth in the provinces, I think it would just add more competitiveness to the rest of the Championship. Scottie Scheffler suffers major blow ahead of PGA Tour playoff event after $43 million season earnings are revealed "From a player welfare point of view, let the Joe McDonagh finalists have their few days to celebrate afterwards or whatever it might be because the bodies wouldn't necessarily be right to go into a high-intensity Championship game. "If there's not going to be any change to that – and I don't know where it's going to be found – then they're going to have to give those teams an extra week or two to be ready for it. "But if the same timeframe is there, the more appropriate alternative would be to have four teams coming out of both Munster and Leinster." Chin's next outing will be the annual Hurling for Cancer Research game at Netwatch Cullen Park, where he will be among an array of big names lining out on Monday evening. He said: "It's an absolutely fantastic occasion each year. I'm privileged to be involved in it and I love heading up to see the players, the coaches and the crowds that have gathered over the years. "Since my first year involved, which was 2015 or 2016, there's been a huge difference in the size of the crowds attending the game and the number of people who have bought into it. "Fair play to everybody who continues to make it happen because it's a brilliant thing they're doing for such a great cause."
