Harsh Kilkenny lesson will drive Wexford forward, says Conor McDonald

Conor McDonald had never been chastised in a Kilkenny tutorial. Not through all the age grades. Not once. The black and amber was just another jersey to the deceptively dangerous full forward who will play a fourth season of under-21 in 2016.

Kilkenny were unable to instill fear in him on the recent journey to Nowlan Park. No, McDonald’s Wexford always had their number. His peers should gather a third Leinster under-21 final next Wednesday. At Kilkenny’s expense.

But they always get you in the end. So long as ash trees have been felled, they eventually even the scores. Wexford’s young men, with their jingling bag of medals, had never been on the end of a five-goal pasting until last month.

“Getting beaten by Kilkenny, for me, was a weird one as it hasn’t happened too often,” McDonald. “I think it’s a first for somebody to say that. We’ve been fairly lucky to get the right side of Kilkenny at underage but I suppose that’s what happens sometimes. Kilkenny is out of the picture. Cork is the sole focus at this stage.”

Wexford still seem destined to transfer underage success to the senior ranks but the idea was dismissed for another year as Kilkenny move into Sunday’s Leinster final against Galway while Liam Dunne’s men seek full value of their home crowd on Saturday night.

Cork’s visit to Wexford Park is not unlike this very same weekend last year when Wexford broke even with Clare in Ennis before beating the All-Ireland champions in the replay.

“Every year a qualifier comes up where you are thinking, ‘Jesus, them lads you are expecting to see elsewhere’ but these things happen. Anybody can beat anybody. If you are not going well, you can be beaten. It’s knockout hurling. Either Liam or Jimmy Barry [Murphy] is going to have an early summer. Hopefully it’s Jimmy Barry!”

There is not a hint of arrogance from him. Just a well honed inner belief.

McDonald doesn’t particularly want to linger on his first experience of a rampant Kilkenny – but we do. We do because it silenced any whispers about a changing of the guard, about their demise now that Shefflin, JJ and Tommy Walsh are no more. It showed that Wexford’s brilliant teenage talent might not necessarily make it to the top of the senior pile.

Driving forward

McDonald refuses to believe such inference.

“Well, I suppose after a defeat like what happened against Kilkenny, it is about getting everyone together, making sure everyone is on the right track, driving forward.

“Nobody wants us to go up to Nowlan Park and get beaten like that. And nobody wants to be left out of the loop, going forward. It is just basically everyone is in the same boat, going forward and getting ready for Cork.”

There’s that word again. Cork. We can’t let Kilkenny go. Not until we know what went wrong. “Well, I think a lot of things went wrong. Lot of things went wrong but they were easily identified and easily fixed by doing the right thing, so hopefully we can put it right against Cork.”

But against Kilkenny, if we could just linger there for one or two more questions, Wexford fundamentals were poor, they struggled with dropping ball and that famed championship intensity.

“You haven’t got a second when you are playing against Kilkenny. You know it is not going to be your day, when you are dropping a ball when you have a bit of space.

“The simple things didn’t go right for us and once the simple things don’t go right, you know the more complex things aren’t going to fall into place.”

Is that because it’s more claustrophobic playing a senior Kilkenny team in summer than anything else he has come across?

“It could have happened playing any team, once we didn’t perform, that could happen playing any team.”

Going mad

But it happened against Kilkenny. “In my eyes anyway it doesn’t mean the year is over or we’re not meeting our potential. It was only this time last year we were actually hitting our potential, this weekend coming last year when we played Clare in Cusack Park.

“Everyone was going mad about this Wexford team and the summer isn’t over yet, it’s only really starting with the nitty-gritty and knockout hurling. I think knockout is where we play best and hopefully we’ll put it right on Saturday.”

More Kilkenny questions followed. Jack Guiney’s exclusion gets mentioned. As was that wonder goal against the Offaly under-21s a few days after the Kilkenny defeat. And second season syndrome.

“Analysing the Kilkenny game kind of restored belief in everything that we have done and that the fundamentals that weren’t right can be fixed. They are the easiest things to fix.

“Sometimes getting back on the horse is the easiest thing to do. Just throw the shackles off and give it a go.”

Against Cork, another of hurling’s blue blood.