Lack of progress frustrates as team seems stuck in rut
ASTRONG feeling of déja vu weighed me down as I made the short uphill journey from Páirc Uí Chaoimh to my car on the Boreenmanna Road, directly outside Páirc Uí Rinn, after Saturday’s disappointing capitulation to Clare.
I had traversed those same forlorn steps last July after we had exited at the same stage of the championship at the hands of Waterford, and the similarities were evident.
Weather-wise it was the same type of balmy day, and unfortunately the happenings on the field hadn’t altered that much either.
I had another look at that 2017 loss on Friday night and was reminded that Jack O’Connor’s last-gasp goal left us a mere four points in arrears when in reality it was a game we never looked like winning.
And it wasn’t a great deal different this time around as that Conor McDonald major near the end made matters interesting for a few brief minutes.
If truth be told though, Clare had been looking like winners from a very early stage in proceedings, and I think the seven-point margin they enjoyed at the end was an accurate reflection of their dominance.
As the dust begins to settle after another galling defeat on the big stage, we have to ask ourselves some searching questions.
First and foremost, have we regressed since last year, or are we simply stuck in a rut and incapable of going forward? Is a quarter-final place the limit of our abilities?
Wins in the league are nice when they happen, and there’s no denying that Davy Fitzgerald’s best achievements have arrived in the secondary competition.
Those early victories over Limerick and Galway last year paved the way for Division 1 hurling which is the only place to be, and maintaining that status for 2019 was absolutely essential.
When it comes to measuring success, 2017 was undoubtedly better than 2018, given that we beat Kilkenny in both league and championship last year and contested a provincial final.
Taking an overview of this season, the dismissal of Galway in the league quarter-final was the stand-out achievement, coming after good early wins against Waterford, Cork and Clare respectively.
Losing three times to Kilkenny, twice in the league and once in the championship, must be taken in the context of the Cats also departing at the quarter-final stage to confirm they are no longer the force of old. Where that does leave Wexford?
I believe followers of the team continue to fall into the trap of thinking that league wins are the portent of brighter things to come.
We get over-excited about victories that, let’s face it, would mean next to nothing to the big guns. It’s an understandable trait though, because when a county is starved of success its fans tend to latch on to any sign of possible improvement.
Championship is the only currency in hurling, always has been and always will be. We have now lost all five of our quarter-final appearances since John Meyler and his team overcame Tipperary by two points in 2007.
More worrying is the fact that, apart from 2008 when Waterford pipped us by a point in the current Cork manager’s last game in charge, the other four losses have been comprehensive.
Limerick beat us by 24 points in 2014, while Waterford had ten to spare in 2016 before last year’s success as outlined above.
Therefore, when it comes to the games that really matter, we have been well off the pace for the guts of ten years.
We haven’t put two big championship wins against serious contenders back-to-back since the dismissals of titleholders Clare and Waterford in 2014, and that took such a toll that we were jaded by the time the quarter-final arrived and Limerick did as they pleased.
It gives me no pleasure to say it, but it looks like we’re not nearly as good as some observers seem to think. I heard some people putting Saturday’s loss down to the fact that we’re not as advanced in our development as Clare.
That’s a weak argument in my view, because the exact same was trotted out twelve months ago. Has anything changed or improved since then? The answer, sadly, appears to be a resounding ‘no’.