Tony leads way in list of hurlers to win with Leinster

MANY SPORTS enthusiasts like to plan their schedule of attending games well in advance, although at this time of year it’s often more enticing to opt for the comfort of what the television has to offer.

For the dedicated outdoors followers though, I very much doubt if they have pencilled in the inter-provincial hurling or football games over the weekend of December 10 and 11 as must-attend events.

For the record, Leinster are due to play Connacht in both codes on the Saturday, with Munster meeting Ulster and both finals then due to take place the next day.

I haven’t seen the venues published anywhere, and given what happened last year, there’s no guarantee that the games will even go ahead.

Twelve months ago, waterlogged pitches in Salthill and Armagh meant that the inter-provincial ties were postponed, and the competition didn’t take place for the fourth time since it came into being in 1927.

Elsewhere in this issue I have reviewed Dermot Kavanagh’s new book on ‘The Story Of Interprovincial Hurling’ which serves as a timely reminder of the highlights in the history of a once-great competition which gradually fell into hard times from the late 1970s onwards.

And because of the factual detail in the publication, I was able to pull together some interesting information on Wexford involvement with the Leinster Railway Cup teams.

All line-outs in finals are listed, along with the unused substitutes who figured in title-winning years. It’s not possible to compile a definitive list of every Wexford hurler to feature, as it doesn’t name the teams in the 21 years that Leinster failed to qualify for the final between 1944 and 2013.

Likewise, there’s always a chance that someone who appeared in a semi-final but then missed the next game through injury or unavailability might be missed.

Still, from what I can gather a total of 81 Wexford players have been involved in finals with Leinster, with 67 winning medals.

The cream of the crop is Tony Doran who played in a record eleven deciders for a Slaneysider between 1968 and 1979, winning seven medals including twice as captain in 1971 and 1977.

For the younger generation who may be under the assumption that hurling always came first in the county, here’s an interesting fact: Leinster took part in all of the first 16 Railway Cup finals from 1927 to 1942, but there was no direct playing involvement whatsoever at a time when football was king in Wexford.

Joe Duggan from Ballyhogue was the first to feature when he won a hurling medal as an unused substitute in 1941. Joe Bailey of Geraldine O’Hanrahans and the great Nickey Rackard made history as the duo’s presence on the losing final team of 1943 saw Wexford represented on the field of play at last.

Rackard had a bitter-sweet relationship with the Railway Cups as he played on five sides defeated in deciders from then until 1953, along with two in football. Indeed, he featured on both defeated Leinster teams on the same day in 1950.

And when the hurlers finally bridged an eleven-year gap with success in 1954, there was disquiet as the big man from Rathnure was left on the bench.

He did add a second medal on the field in 1956 before losing his sixth final out of eight twelve months later.

After Tony Doran, the next best Wexfordman in terms of onfield appearances in the decider is the great Ned Wheeler with nine between 1953 and 1964, although he only won three medals.

The younger Doran, Colm, was successful six times out of nine, albeit as an unused substitute for his first two wins in 1972 and 1973. He played when Leinster’s sole five-in-a-row was completed in 1974 and 1975, and won further medals on the field in 1977 and 1979.

The list of those with four medals comprises Billy Rackard, Tom Neville, Phil Wilson, Dan Quigley, Pat Nolan, Mick Jacob and Teddy O’Connor, while Martin Quigley has five.

The competition has lost most of its lustre at this stage, but it still means a lot for a player to be selected for his province.