Break serving Wexford well for Tailteann focus

RTÉ News​

14-05-2025

For the Wexford footballers, it has been either a feast or famine.
Due to a rearranged league fixture with Wicklow, they played seven weeks on the trot.
Unbeaten for the first five games, things fell apart in the Division 4 final against Limerick. A week later and Laois ended their interest in what proved to be the most open Leinster championship in years.
After an unforgiving schedule, John Hegarty's side then had five weeks to prepare for the Tailteann Cup, where the Yellowbellies opened their account with a Sean Nolan-inspired victory over Longford, the second time they have outgunned the Midlanders in three months.
Midfielder Liam Coleman acknowledges it was a challenge turning around from a league final defeat in Croke Park to the championship in the matter of six days.
"That was difficult to refocus for and we didn't get it right," he told RTÉ Sport.
"For most of us it was our first time in Croke Park and it didn't go as we would have liked. Like a freak injury in the warm up, lads sick…stuff that hadn't happened all year and we were in such a rhythm.
"So not that that's an excuse we just didn't perform on the day."
Having conceded four goals across seven league games, Wexford shipped three to Limerick at GAA HQ.
That hangover seemed in evidence at half-time less than a week later at Wexford Park when the hosts found themselves trailing 2-12 to 0-06. With the game over as a contest, the Model County put a better gloss on the scoreline, Coleman's fifth Leinster campaign coming to an early conclusion.
Having watched Meath take down the Dubs before Louth annexed the province for the first time in 68 years, there is a sense that greater possibilities are possible in Leinster.
"It does breed a sense of enthusiasm into, for me anyway," he sayd. "For the next few years it's something you can really look at and try to target."
For now it's all about the Tailteann Cup, with an away fixture on Sunday to take on a Carlow side that raised eyebrows in seeing off Fermanagh in round one.
In another world, Coleman could have been lost to Australia, having dabbled with the prospect of AFL for a period before Covid put the brakes on when he was 19. All in all, he took part in trials over a period of around two years, but it never went any further than that.
"It's not like there was an offer or anything there," he says. "I was just one of 20 lads. It was an enjoyable experience."
The team captain is a vital presence around the middle of the pitch and as someone who thrives in contesting possession, believes the new playing rules suit his style.
"It's a part of the game that I love, being around the middle for the kick out," he says.
"It's everything, there's stats out there now where if you can win your kick out it breeds 80% shots, so it's the platform.
"With the old rules, they could be manipulated and you could take back control of a part of the game that you probably shouldn't necessarily have the quality to have that control. And you can't do that with kick out now."
With a single win in their two previous Tailteann Cup campaigns, Coleman believes the squad can now build on their opening win this time around. Would they back themselves against anyone in the competition?