"We didn't bottle it today and we won't"

FOR Wexford's manager Liam Griffin, it's all worked out so far. He has spent 18 months stressing that there's no reason for Wexford to lose matches, apart from not being good enough. Yesterday they were good enough and they won. No last minute fumbles, no sudden surges of queasiness when the finishing line came into sight.

"We didn't bottle it today and we won't," said Griffin in the dressing room afterwards. "Give those young men a chance. Be fair. They came back at us but I still felt if we could move players around, we had a chance. We had a few spots coming up a bit weak on us, and in fairness when we moved them, everything worked much better."

He had particular praise for veteran full forward Billy Byrne who came on as a substitute and bagged the critical score on the hour.

"Billy came on and got the goal. We felt Billy would win a high one maybe and get a goal which he did. Don't forget Billy has killed himself for us all the whole winter, killed himself and he went out today and got the goal for us that won the match.

"Never mind his age or anything else - we re looking for Roy Keane all over the world and they can't find him, and we get this man to come in and stand up for us seven nights a week and still he comes back."

Not getting the message, one journalist enquired: "On that, what age is he?"

"I don't know," Griffin stonewalled, before being asked whether the League quarter final defeat of Offaly had been a boost. "We'll celebrate tonight and think of Dublin," said Griffin. "We've no interest in Offaly."

Did Kilkenny's comeback worry him? "I never get worried, I didn't have time. We were going to have to be men and fight and I thought that was great, and I was so proud of our lads. Because that's the thing that's been said about us, we've always `choked' so be fair to us, we didn't this time and we've laid that bogey."

Was he concerned about the wides' total in the first half? "Look, let me tell you something. Any team that wins anything, no one ever talks about their wides. It's people like us when they're trying to find a reason and that hangs on us like a great big millstone."

Captain Martin Storey was quietly satisfied. "It's more relief than anything for me personally because I've never been on a winning team in the championship against Kilkenny in 11 years. I missed the 88 match, we've bet them in the League a couple of times but never in championship. This time, we had players very well prepared, we had done a very heavy winter's training programme.

So what was the difference between now and three years ago when the team was just pulled back on the brink of winning? "In 93 we were the most unlucky team in the country. We lost finals in League and Leinster. We didn't have the rub of the green and you need it to win championship and League finals. Today we had a bit of luck.

"We were hurling and believing in it. I was three or four inches wide just into the second half. It should have been goal but we got the goal, Billy came in and got it. But I was very worried when they came back to nine points to eight."

Since 1993, Storey has been troubled with a hernia problem and underwent surgery - by former Meath football star Gerry McEntee - within the last 12 months. "That was the first time in two years I've been able to run without being sore," said the Wexford captain.

In Kilkenny's neck of the complex, manager Nicky Brennan was downbeat.

"No excuses. Forget who we were missing, injured, sick, anything. Wexford deserved to win. Hopefully the younger lads will learn and the older lads will stick with it. I've nothing more to say. I'm delighted for Wexford. The only thing I hope is that they don't think they've an All Ireland won. There's a long, long way to go yet."

He had a special word for John Power, who entered the match at half time, having had to cry off with flu. "You should have seen him this morning. In bed he should have been, not playing. He's been on antibiotics for the last few days."

Despite rumours that Adrian Ronan had been asked to play in goal and at wing forward yesterday morning, he never appeared during the match. "He failed a fitness test on Friday night," said Brennan. "DJ (Carey) kinda came through but he wasn't fit. We were worried we'd have meself and Richie (Power, a selector) lining out.