All momentum is now lost, leaving Banty with big task

STRANGE AS it may seem, but in hindsight I believe the timing of Wexford’s promotion to Division 3 of the Allianz Football League couldn’t have been much worse as far as maintaining momentum was concerned.

First and foremost, let me add that escaping from the basement will be a tremendous fillip in the long run, and there will be plenty to look forward to next year despite the long journeys involved.

Indeed, the nearest potential away fixture will be in Offaly, with Westmeath, Longford, Sligo, Derry, Fermanagh and Armagh also included in the group.

That’s a long way into the future at this stage though, so let’s return to the present and I’ll try to expand on my original point.

Just to re-cap, Wexford secured promotion after the fifth of their seven Division 4 games, maintaining an impressive unbeaten record with a home victory against London.

Everything was just perfect up to that juncture because, not alone were Banty’s boys winning, they were doing so with strong finishes as in all cases the outcome still hung in the balance entering the last quarter.

It meant that the players were getting searching tests of their credentials in every tie. Nothing was easy, and it was necessary to dig deep in order to pick up those welcome victories.

It was the perfect way to build momentum, but that has been gradually eroded to the point where Wexford must effectively re-build from scratch after shipping three heavy defeats in as many weeks.

I can understand in one sense why Banty decided to treat those last two group games against Westmeath and Carlow as a write-off, viewing them as no more than glorified challenges and giving all of his fringe players a run.

Now, I’m sure he didn’t envisage losing both by double digit figures either, but even allowing for that, those outcomes would have been quickly forgotten if the return of the established players had yielded success on Saturday.

However, the fact that Westmeath strolled home by 13 points after a virtual no-show from Wexford was a major setback, and there’s no point in dressing it up any other way.

Momentum in sport is a precious thing, and I believe when you have it you should do all in your power not to lose it. Furthermore, in my view the lower the team is in terms of overall rankings, the more important it becomes.

Chances of lifting silverware don’t happen too often for Wexford footballers. Indeed, I was reminded of that in conversations last week with P.J. Banville and David Murphy, both of whom were involved in just one such success thus far in their long careers, the latter now a mentor rather than a player of course: the Division 3 league final win over Fermanagh after extra-time in Parnell Park in 2008.

Croke Park hasn’t been a happy hunting ground and, while realistically we were never going to win those Leinster finals we reached against the Dubs in 2008 and 2011, the Tommy Murphy Cup loss to Tipperary in 2005 and the Division 3 league final defeat to Longford in 2012 were definitely ones that got away.

Therefore, it was a bitter disappointment to lose in the manner we did. Perhaps Banty would still treat those last two group games in the exact same way if he could travel back in time; either way, he now faces the biggest test of his first term as manager thus far in trying to steer the ship back on course for a clash with a fired-up Carlow.

By the way, I was delighted to see that common sense prevailed midweek when the 14 All-County Hurling League games scheduled for Saturday were moved to different days.

However, it should never have happened in the first place. What on earth were the C.C.C. thinking when they fixed 25 of our 49 clubs to play games at times that would have rendered it impossible for any players and mentors to attend Croke Park if they so wished?

The argument that the Wexford crowd wasn’t going to be big one way or the other completely misses the point. It was a national final, and fixing club games in this manner created an issue that was completely unnecessary and could have been so easily avoided.

There’s no clash with the hurlers’ game in Kilkenny next Sunday and rightly so; that’s the way it should always be, for both codes.