Wexford begin to clear away the cobwebs

YOU couldn't say it's sudden, but the National Hurling League will be fully with us this coming weekend. It will be the first of a two year experiment with the calendar year, and among the early winners are All Ireland champions Wexford, whose hectic socialising in the wake of last September's famous, victory was unencumbered by the need to play league matches.

There have been other complications. The out size personality of manager Liam Griffin has moved aside, leaving one of his lieutenants, Rory Kinsella, in charge.

Now, with the All Ireland fading into the past, the long haul towards a summer date with Offaly (or Laois or Meath) is well under way. And taking its toll, according to Hurler of the Year Larry O'Gorman.

"We found the last couple of weeks tough," he says, "because they had to be after the break. There was a feeling that we'd be in trouble if we didn't get stuck in. So we did. We're training fairly hard, two or three nights a week, trying to get back into the organisation we had last year.

"The programme is more or less the same. Liam Griffin's approach was a little different, but as he would say himself `96 is history and Liam Griffin is history. He told us to forget it. It's hard, but there's no point living on memories.

He says the impact of Griffin's stepping down for family reasons was lessened by the growing realisation that it was inevitable. Celebration was followed by the holiday to California, and as last year's hurling and Griffin's departure slipped into the distance, life went on and picked up once more.

"I think most of us knew something was happening in relation to Liam's intentions. Because of the amount of time he was spending at it, I felt he probably had only one more bullet and that he was going to take a hell of a shot.

"The players in general have never really spoken about Liam going, and now we're concentrating on training for the season ahead. To everyone involved, he's been a big loss. But you lose things and still have to go on.

"Liam was very hard to keep quiet and Rory's a bit different. We're doing weights training at the moment, and the selectors are all involved, going around encouraging the players on an individual basis.

"It's always said that achieving something for a second time is the hardest thing to do. We don't know, because we haven't been in this position before. But we're really looking forward to the season. We're capable of achieving again, but we must concentrate on getting a couple of wins under our belt which would help us a lot in the run up to the championship."

Wexford have been spared any demoralisation that might have followed on from a pre Christmas sequence of drink addled defeat which can afflict new champions.

"It's helped us a lot the way the league is laid out. There was a fair bit of celebration after the All Ireland, which takes it out of players. Wexford mightn't be playing before the championship if the league had stayed as it was, but this year will help us prepare. It might lead to injuries, but you can get injured in training.

The knowledge that a return to hard labour was necessary if they were to be capable of defending their hard won title has helped motivate the panel, and the sheer exuberance of being champions has mitigated the strain.

"The lads are so tired they can hardly talk to each other," says O'Gorman, "but the nights are enjoyable. Winning last year has helped so much. We're shoving the big wheel together and there's 26 or 27 training every night, and it looks to me as if we still have the hunger.

"I'd say we're finding the weights harder than last year because of all the celebrating, and we have to coach up with the training schedule.

Physical training remains in the same hands as last year, those of Sean Collier, a boxer and kick boxer, whose rigorous ministrations include odd bouts with the unlikeliest of people.

"Tom Dempsey got in for a spar with him," says O'Gorman, "and landed one on his chin, then turned around to bow to the rest of us. When he turned back, he got hit himself and went down. He was looking at butterflies for a while."

O'Gorman is currently coping with more conventionally sustained injury, but hopes to make the cut for Sunday's opening clash with league holders Galway. "At the moment I've done a bit of damage to my knee, tendons under my knee cap, so I haven't done much long distance training. But I hurled in Enniscorthy on Saturday (training match) and felt good. I'd like to get back straight away.