Eventful weekend for Wexford hurling arrives against backdrop of uncertainty

A big weekend beckons for Wexford hurling. On Sunday, the county final takes place, featuring the unique pairing of Naomh Éanna and Oylegate-Glenbrien.

Before all that, possibly on Friday, the county hopes to be in a position to name a new manager for the senior hurlers to succeed Darragh Egan, who departed after two years earlier this summer.

Expectations are that the new manager will be Oulart’s Keith Rossiter, who has been in charge of the Wexford under-20s for the past two seasons, narrowly losing both Leinster finals.

Tightness of scheduling

Since the split season became a reality during the Covid summer of 2020, Wexford’s hurling showpiece has been an early fixture in the season given the county’s opting for playing their senior championships sequentially, hurling first, followed by football.

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That might be up for review in light of comments from county chairman Micheál Martin, who includes them in Sunday’s match programme.

His concerns spring from the tightness of the scheduling, which has been a disadvantage for the eventual winners, as they must wait more than two months before the Leinster club championship starts.

It is also a fixtures headache for the county, which began its hurling championship as soon as Wexford exited from the Tailteann Cup in June.

Whereas the move to separate football and hurling initially proved popular with clubs, especially dual players, who comprise a large proportion of the county’s total, there are growing reservations about the intensity of the season and the disproportionate impact of even niggling injuries on players’ participation.

This year, against the executive’s wishes, clubs voted to discontinue “finish on the day” protocols and to revive replays.

Speaking to The Irish Times, Martin said that this could have caused major problems. “It is entirely up to the clubs to decide how they want to organise the county championship but we as an executive have to lay out what’s possible in the window that we have, which is eight weeks for our hurling championship and eight weeks for the football.

“It didn’t happen in the senior semi-finals but had there been a draw, the replay would have had to take place on Wednesday of this week with the winners playing the final four days later. Oylegate are in a first final since 1963 and although they have decorated the village, it’s all a bit of a rush.

“Another downside is that with the [Faythe] Harriers [Wexford town club] gone since July, that’s the last we get to see of Lee Chin [county captain] until January. We will probably review the situation and see if there’s an appetite to do it differently and how that might work out.”

An eventful championship

To date, he’s very happy with the championship. “I’m not sure if it’s the disappointing weather keeping people off the beaches but up until the semi-finals, our attendances have been up by 20 per cent.”

And it has been an eventful championship. The finalists have one title each, Oylegate-Glenbrien 60 years ago (when Oylegate’s amalgamation was with Ballyhogue) and Naomh Éanna, the Gorey club in 2018.

The county title hasn’t been retained since Oulart managed the feat seven years ago, in 2016 — a run of novelty unsurpassed since the 1960s.

Tom Dempsey, an All-Ireland winner with Wexford, says that the championship has been turned on its head recently.

“We’ve had a lot of new winners over the last while in that there have been new winners, teams that mightn’t have been as fashionable whereas in the past you had dominant runs by Rathnure, Buffers Alley and Oulart.

“Then you’ve seen old traditional clubs getting relegated. Rathnure went down to intermediate last week for the first time in 80 years. Clubs need to bounce back quickly, like Oulart did a couple of years.

“My own old club Buffers Alley [with whom he won Wexford’s only senior club All-Ireland in 1989] went down in 2013, bounced back, went down again in 2017 and are still there.”

Outsiders on Sunday

Demographic shift plays a role — for Rathnure especially — and some of the breakthrough teams are from good population bases. Last year’s first-time champions St Aidan’s are from Ferns. Naomh Éanna are in Gorey, 2021 winners Rapparees an Enniscorthy club.

Dempsey thinks that the outsiders on Sunday will be dangerous.

“Gorey [Naomh Éanna] have only won one title but they’re strong favourites, but I give Oylegate-Glenbrien a good chance. Dessie Mythen’s their manager. He hurled with Oulart and played really well for Wexford in the 2005 Leinster final. Nobody would have tipped them at the start of the year but they’re deserving finalists.

“They’ve beaten Ferns [holders], St Anne’s and have some very good hurlers, Podge Doran, the two Recks [Shane and Damien] and their fringe players are going very well. Naomh Éanna have great players as well, Charlie McGuckian, Conor McDonald and Cathal Dunbar but a lot of people are thinking the closer it gets that Oylegate-Glenbrien have momentum and are hurling at their ceiling.”