Nothing GUBU in Wexford's revival

REMEMBER Mr Haughey? After such an exhilarating weekend's hurling, at the end of which the prospect of Galway winning an All-Ireland has suddenly become the least exciting permutation possible at season's end, I have found much to inspire me with the Great Leader's example.

His example, normally invoked by late-night drinkers - "No, no, no, I'll go in my own good time," - today extends to the useful sphere of being from as many counties as possible Mayo, Derry, Dublin, however many it was. Indeed, even within Dublin it is said he managed the not inconsiderable feat of being from both Parnells and St Vincent's.

This versatile provenance - much beloved of Scrap Saturday - has always appealed and also has had its uses. Once, the mere fact that I had written a feature article on the Aughawillan club, in Leitrim - a subject obviously so extraordinary that it was believed the author had to have some sort of agenda - convinced some that I had actually played for them.

I never discouraged this theory, although one hard look at my fearful countenance and drooping tummy would indicate that watching from a respectful distance was as near as I'd got to the Willies. To keep in step with changing fashions, however, I've decided to disseminate another untruth step forward, Man of Wexford.

It was said about the county's great achievement at the weekend that everyone had a soft spot for them because so many either took holidays there or passed through en route to holidays. In my own case, it's far more authentic than that. Gradually my in-laws - although from Dublin - have colonised Curracloe, and consequently I, spend a fair bit of time there.

Knocking around Wexford town, I have (admittedly not often, but occasionally) wondered how this power in the world of hurling slipped into such decline over the last generation, and in sporting terms, to use county manager Liam Griffin's description, become "a suburb of Blackburn".

The people of Wexford can be depressive about their hurling team a publican in Enniscorthy, when asked last week what the mood was, replied: "Resignation - Tipp or Limerick would beat either of them." In Simon's Place - my own pitstop in Wexford town - should the matter be raised, locals are never too interested in horse racing or opera (pictures of whose practitioners adorn the walls) that they can't talk down the hurlers' prospects.

And yet, despite all this gloom, they turn out in significant numbers every year. Sunday's attendance was around 10,000 greater than last year's final between Offaly and Kilkenny. Morose introspection doesn't inhibit cheery public displays.

On the morning of the match, displaying Mr Haughey's sense of timing (1989 general election), I was heading out of Wexford in the opposite direction to Croke Park. A shop opposite a cash-dispensing ATM (get them early in the morning before they're working properly) boasted, in a piece of window art, something to the effect that Wexford are Offally (sic) good".

A pang of emotion pierced me. Poor Wexford. Even their ventures into Wildean defiance are beset by simple but avoidable errors.

Inspired by Mr Haughey's wit (remember that one about the Russians being the only ones who knew what was going on in Ml6), I was formulating an epigram about travelling from a county with little chance of an All-Ireland, through two with none in order to see ultimately one with a great chance.

Unfortunately I was bringing some of Mr Haughey's judgment (that challenge to the leadership of politics' Gael of Gaels, Jack Lynch) to this formulation, and now it simply joins the ash-heap of so many other predictions.

It has been said about Limerick that they exhibit much of the stern virtues and good luck, which characterised Clare last year. In the aftermath of the weekend, Wexford look the more, likely inheritors of Clare's mantle (not necessarily in terms of their All-Ireland chances).

Like Clare, Wexford had an encouraging league campaign cut off in unpromising circumstances. In the wake of that defeat, there were many who doubted that the team had the necessary equipment to win a major title.

Griffin, however, was content. Just as Ger Loughnane and his selectors were able to turn the league final defeat by Kilkenny to their advantage, Wexford's manager insisted that the defeat by Galway had taught his side a great deal.

As Clare scraped past a non-vintage traditional, power, Cork, last year, Wexford similarly disposed of a poor Kilkenny. Again the point was made they had beaten the county rather than a specific team.

IN the provincial final, Clare faced a Limerick team with one good performance under their belt and a missionary zeal to put right the anguish of having lost the previous year's All-Ireland final. On Sunday, ditto Wexford and Offaly (inasmuch as Offaly - Cavaliers to Limerick's Roundheads - experience such intense emotions as zeal and anguish).

Griffin's role in all this has been as visionary as Loughnane's. He identified the weaknesses in the game within the county and set about rectifying them. Dismissing the past (Wexford had lost nearly as many provincial finals in 18 years as Clare had done in 63), he drummed into his players that they were no different to any other inter-county hurlers if they trained hard and played well, they would win. Nothing genetically wrong with them, no hard luck sensitivities.

The predictable players have been roll-called in the last two days. It's not simply that George O'Connor has been around so long that he just missed the 1977 triumph which entitles him to commendation it's that he and Billy Byrne have subordinated their egos to the good of the team. Available to train hard but sit on the bench, just so that their experience could benefit their younger teammates, their contribution has been rightly singled out by Griffin.

Captain Martin Storey has played away for years, performing individual miracles that were - through no fault of his - still inadequate to meet the insatiable collective need. Anyone with heart and soul would have wished his forbearance and Spartan sense of duty to his county to be rewarded. Now it has been.

Finally, the GAA in Wexford merits mention. During the days when the hurling reforms were being processed at congress and central council, Wexford were to the fore. Despite a slight crisis of self-esteem amongst some within the county ("We don't want anything through the back door etc, etc ), the county held the line and made vital contributions to the debate.

They have been progressive and inquiring about the state of hurling in Wexford. Their efforts have also been rewarded - unexpectedly quickly. They now have the greatest marketing tool any county board could want a top-class, successful county team.

Or, as Mr Haughey might say: "A young, vibrant, well-educated team, half of whom are under the age of 25."