Wexford footballers starting to build up fresh confidence

FAR away from the Californian sunshine, where the Wexford hurlers are enjoying the rewards for their All Ireland triumph, the county's footballers are coping with the reality of using a secondary competition to build character and boost confidence.

Wexford's win over Wicklow in the O'Byrne Cup last Sunday was, effectively, the side's first success of the season. Due to a fixtures pile up in the county resulting from the hurlers' march to McCarthy Cup glory and also in reaching the All Ireland Under 21 hurling final, the football side suffered a fall out in the pre Christmas National Football League campaign when club commitments deprived them of a large chunk of their squad.

Indeed, on one occasion, when Wexford engaged Galway in a Division Three NFL match, manager Cyril Hughes estimates he was missing no fewer than 16 squad members because the Wexford SFC final, IFC final and JHC final were all played on the same weekend as the game. "It would be very hard for any county to absorb the loss of so many players," insisted Hughes.

So, the return to winning ways over holders Wicklow last Sunday and an encounter this Sunday with Dublin - albeit an experimental side from the capital - provide a somewhat truer indication of the state of football in Wexford than their four successive league defeats since the hurlers lifted the Holy Grail.

In fact, a measure of the squad's determination to, in some way, emulate their hurling colleagues is that 25 players were present when. training resumed on December 27th. "Wexford is unlike a lot of other counties in that a lot of footballers are equally good at hurling, and vice versa, so the lads in the football panel know the hurlers really well. They play alongside each other in their clubs and know they are not superhuman beings but players who have been rewarded for working really hard," said Hughes.

"Hopefully, the Wexford football team can benefit from the hurling team's achievement. There are a lot of really good, quality footballers in Wexford, emphasised by the way Wexford colleges have dominated the Leinster championship in recent years. We are now blending those young players with a number of more experienced players."

"But we have definite ambitions: we were only beaten by a couple of points by Mayo in a league match in Gorey last year. However, it requires hard work and a little bit of luck to take the extra step up, so it was important psychologically to beat Wicklow last Sunday," continued Hughes.

"We are using the O'Byrne Cup to try certain things out, but awe also want to be competitive. We beat Dublin in this competition last year and I am sure they won't want to lose to us for a second successive year, although it would be nice if we managed to do so. However, our main priority is to stay up in Division Three and our fate is very much in our own hands, and then we'll focus on the Leinster championship." Wexford play Westmeath in the preliminary round in the provincial campaign.

Wexford have left a vacancy at right corner forward in the side to meet Dublin at Wexford Park on Sunday. Initially, it was hoped that Noel Fitzhenry would be able to wear the number 13 jersey but his hamstring injury is still troubling him and hopes are diminishing that he will be able to play. A final decision will be taken tomorrow night. The Dublin selectors have recalled the St Sylvester's quartet of Keith Galvin, Niall Guiden, Declan Barnes and Shay Keogh (provisionally omitted from the county squad announced recently for the championship) for Sunday's match.

Meanwhile, Kildare centrefielder Killian Brennan has departed for six months' work experience in Australia and, as a result, is not only unavailable for next Sunday's O'Byrne Cup match against Carlow but will also miss the remainder of the National League where the Lilywhites are currently joint leaders of Division One with Cork. Brennan will also miss the Leinster quarter final encounter with Laois and a possible semi final clash with either Dublin or Meath and work commitments mean his earliest possible return to action would be the provincial final.

. While it appears unlikely that the Central Council will bring forward their scheduled February meeting to facilitate any possible appeals by the 20 players suspended by the GAC for playing, illegally in New York, direct dialogue between the New York Board and high ranking GAA officials could well take place next month. New York president Mike Cassidy has issued an invitation to president Jack Boothman, president elect Joe McDonagh and director general Liam Mulvihill to attend the board's banquet on February 8th.

. The Ulster Council is to use video evidence in its investigation into the incident after the provincial club final last month when Crossmaglen manager Joe Kernan; was knocked to the ground. Officials of Bellaghy and Crossmaglen have been requested to attend the meeting where the Council's own video footage of the match will be used in evidence.