Wexford facing day of judgement

HEARTBREAK ridge. Wexford folk know all about it: Whenever the county's hurlers trooped up to the summit of their sporting endeavours, someone was always waiting at the top to send them tumbling back down. It could be Cork one day; Kilkenny or Offaly the next. Always someone to put them in their place.

The 90s have been a period of mourning for the Wexfordmen, at least so far. No tears of joy, just salted ones of sorrow. Tomorrow is another big day for Wexford, if not quite reaching the same peaks of other, more turbulent, days that have been part and parcel of their lot in recent years.

When Ger Cush sprints out of the tunnel on to the Semple Stadium turf some time around 3.15 tomorrow for the Church and General National Hurling League quarter-final match with Offaly, he knows - more than most - that hurling aficionados will be watching closer than ever to see how this Wexford team fares.

He has heard all the jibes, of course. Losers. Yellowbellies. Chokers. The sort of name-calling that hurts, deep down. He has witnessed how hard some of the team's supporters have coped with successive defeats in big games. "Some of them," he says, "take it even harder than us. I've seen the heartache, and it isn't nice. Some people are heartbroken."

Cush, a product of the Wexford underage system that had instilled a belief in winning, rather than losing, arrived on the senior stage late in 1990, one of those eager to pick up the debris of a season when Kilkenny were well and truly their masters. That year, Wexford lost a National League Final and a Leinster Final to their traditional provincial rivals.

Worse was to follow, however, most of all in 1993. It was the year of "what might have been" for Wexford. In a hurling re-enactment of the Meath-Dublin saga of two years previously, Wexford and Cork played out a blockbuster of a NHL Final that took three episodes to decide. Hurling was the real winner. Cork collected the trophy, and Wexford went home empty-handed.

But the 1993 Leinster Final brought more agony to Wexford hurling folk, losing after a replay to Kilkenny who rubbed salt into their wounds by going on to take the McCarthy Cup. "It took us a long time to get over that," admits Cush. And even the consolation of Martin Storey and Liam Dunne collecting Allstar awards was poor enough reward.

Events that year took a lot out of us," recalls Cush, the 29-year-old milkman from Gorey who lines out at centre-half back for Wexford tomorrow. "You always think your luck will change but, for us, it never did. It was one defeat in a final after another."

"It's funny the little things you remember, wishing perhaps that Lady Luck would be on your side. My own recollection is the second replay of the 1993 League Final against Cork, with time almost up, when Jim Cashman caught a puck out and immediately put the sliothar over the bar. That ball could have gone ten yards either side of Jim, but it was always bound for his hand. Just one of those things."

Luck is something, however which has deserted Wexford teams in the '90s. Now, there is an air of defiance; a belief that they must make their own luck. And the time spent in Division Two - where Wexford's only defeat came at the hands of Limerick has probably been to their benefit.

"A number of young lads have come into the squad, which is just what we needed. When you have a settled team, players are inclined to take things for granted but everyone is battling for a place now and there is a tremendous spirit," he says.

A measure of just how hard manager Liam Griffin drove the players over the winter months is that the hotelier had them out up to four nights a week, and possibly another day at weekends. Road running was combined with weight lifting and physical work.

As Cush acknowledges, "it has been a big effort; but just what you have to do if you want to compete nowadays." Almost like being a professional without the pay.

So, are Wexford ready to take on the "big guns" again? "I think this match against Offaly will tell us a lot about our progress," says Cush. "Offaly are, I believe, the number one team in the country. They have been through the mill - just like ourselves - but they have experienced the other side, getting the confidence that only winning something can bring."

"We have worked hard so far this season, really hard. However, there is a big difference between playing in Division Two, and I mean no disrespect to other teams when I say that, but we won't know exactly what stage of development we are at until we take on the Offalys of the hurling world, he admits, candidly.

Cush has experienced the taste of glory. With his club Naomh Eanna, he has won Intermediate championship titles in hurling and football and with Wexford, he has Leinster titles at Under 14, Under 16, minor and Under 21 level. He likes being a winner. "I've known days when people would hide from you in a shop after another Wexford defeat," he smiles, ruefully.

And, still, the drive to succeed permeates through the entire county; players keen to offer the youngsters an alternative to the Cantonas and Asprillas of the world.

"It is hard to put your finger on why we haven't won a senior title in recent times," he says. "I just don't know why."

That question has occupied the minds of many Wexford men this decade. A win over Offaly tomorrow will, perhaps, enable them to forget that nagging question and instead look forward to future glory - sooner rather than later.