Wexford GAA take unprecedented step around club championship schedule due to Electric Picnic Festival
WEXFORD GAA have taken the novel step of instituting a gap week when the Electric Picnic Festival is on.
The progressive step was taken on the basis of two primary reasons.
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This year's edition of the music and arts bonanza will be held from August 29-31
Credit: Getty
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Round five of the county's hurling championship had originally been slated for that weekend
County chairman John Kenny laid both out to the Irish Independent. He noted: "The CCC based it on what went on on that weekend last year.
"We had requests coming in from all over the place and everybody wanting to play their matches on a certain day at a certain time.
"So we just had the weekend free in the calendar.
"Unfortunately, we were out of our inter-county championships earlier than we had hoped this year and we just had the weekend to play with and we said we'd put it in then."
Kenny did acknowledge that not every club official was pleased with the measure since there has just been a gap week while the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann was on.
But the vast majority of players are bound to appreciate not being put in the annual bind of choosing between lining out for their club and attending the Stradbally showpiece.
It's a welcome good news story around GAA and the Model County given their hurling team's current plight.
County legend Larry O'Gorman fears even darker days could be ahead – with the 1996 All-Ireland hero insisting that even a loss to Kildare would not come as a major shock.
As evidenced by their failure to reach this year's All-Ireland series, O'Gorman feels his county have fallen behind Kilkenny, Galway and Dublin in the Leinster pecking order.
He said: "Why didn't we qualify? Because them other teams are far greater than us at the moment.
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'We're well able to beat them on the big occasion. But when it comes to the crunch, or when it comes to qualifying for a Leinster final or an All-Ireland quarter-final or semi-final, it's a different kettle of fish.
"And we haven't produced over the last number of years. That's the reason why we are where we are unfortunately.'
ON THE RISE
Kildare will enter the Leinster fray in 2026 as Joe McDonagh Cup champions. Backboned by their All-Ireland Under-20 winners of last year, Offaly are on the rise too.
On the Faithful, O'Gorman said: "They're a young, fit, eager, hungry team. They've carried it from Under-20 into senior. We're going to be under pressure, to be honest.
'From a Dublin point of view, where they've come from, they're looking further down the field again next year. I think Dublin will be back in the Leinster final.
"They'll be back in All-Ireland quarter-finals again next year. That's the level where Dublin are.
'From a Kildare point of view, their progress has risen so quick up the ladder that they can only get better.
"Now, have they got the skill levels? Have they got the drive to stay up at that level? Or is this just a pop up and a pop back down?
'But I think Kildare, naturally the club in Naas are producing top-class hurlers but yeah, Kildare are going to be a threat to Wexford as well.
"They're great hurlers, but the level we're at, I wouldn't be surprised if Kildare could even beat us."
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