Chin wary of upset in Portlaoise
SUNDAY will be a step into the unknown for Lee Chin and his Wexford team-mates, and not just because they have find a way of sidestepping a potential landmine in O’Moore Park without the energetic presence of Davy Fitzgerald on the sideline. It’s also the first time that these players have faced Laois in the Championship.
Given the small number of teams competing in hurling’s elite, it seems an odd quirk of Chin’s county career, which dates back to 2011, that he has yet to face Laois during the summer. But the two counties haven’t crossed paths since the 2005 Leinster SHC semi-final at Croke Park. To get a sense of how long ago it was, Wexford were reigning provincial champions at the time.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that the players are unfamiliar with each other. They have been at the same level of the National League for six of the last seven seasons — and most of those matches have been tight affairs where Wexford have had to work hard for the win.
Even this year, as the Slaneysiders cut a swathe through Division 1B on their way to promotion, they found Laois a tough nut to crack in Wexford Park, only winning by four points. The previous spring, they escaped O’Moore Park with a single-point win, so Chin knows nothing will come easy on Sunday.
‘When we saw Laois come out of the hat after the round robin, I realised that in all my time with Wexford so far, we have never played them in Championship. So in a way, this is a new task. We are facing a new team even if we know what they are going to bring,’ says Chin, who’s leadership and drive have been vital components of the Davy Fitzgerald revolution in the south-east.
‘I would have played (Laois) a few times in the League, and in challenge games down the years, and they are always tight games. They know us well and we know them well. Laois are always confident when they come out to play Wexford.’
All spring, the talk has been of Wexford welcoming Brian Cody and Kilkenny down to Wexford Park on June 10. However, there are no guarantees in the Championship as Chin’s former football team-mates discovered last weekend in Dr Cullen Park when Carlow upset their plans of hosting Jim Gavin’s All-Ireland champions on June 3. Events in Carlow mean the Model players will be even more on their guard, heading to Portlaoise on Sunday.
‘Look, what happened last Sunday in some ways opens your eyes that anything can happen on a Championship day.
‘We know what they are going to do, I suppose, from the start of the game and we will just have to try and counteract that and bring our own game.’
The experience of the Wexford footballers last weekend shows that one poor summer outing can undo all the good work of the spring, and Chin is determined that won’t happen the hurlers.
‘At the end of the day, Championship is everybody’s goal and we are going out there with the attitude of winning on Sunday. In all my time with Wexford, when we have played Laois in the League we have beaten them, but when it comes to the Championship, you just don’t know what is going to happen.’
Chin is unsure of the protocol as regards their manager this Sunday, but says that the backroom team, led by former Under-21 manager JJ Doyle, have stepped up in Fitzgerald’s absence.
‘We haven’t actually spoken about what our pre-match actions will be,’ Chin says. ‘I presume he will feature at some stage before we head into the ground at Portlaoise, that we will have a bit of time in his presence, whether it’s on the bus at or the pre-match meal.
‘But each of the backroom team have taken their share of the load. They are really bouncing off each other and looking on from the pitch, it looks like everyone is doing their part,’ says Chin.
‘A lot of us are very familiar with JJ and JJ knows all of us very well and is very comfortable with us. He is doing a great job at the moment and putting his stamp on it too, in certain ways. But behind it all, it is coming from Davy and he will be keeping the lads in the backroom team on their toes.’
And even though Chin and Wexford don’t know what to expect of a Championship afternoon in Portlaoise, it is difficult to envisage their season crashing down around them this Sunday, whether Davy Fitzgerald is pulling the strings or not.
WEXFORD star Lee Chin insists that Davy Fitzgerald is still making his presence felt on the Slaneysiders, despite the Clareman currently serving an eight-week suspension for his pitch incursion in the League semi-final defeat to Tipperary. Wexford meet Laois in the Leinster SHC quarter-final in Portlaoise on Sunday, and Chin explained that Fitzgerald has watched all the training sessions on videos and relayed his thoughts back to the players, through selector JJ Doyle and his backroom team, while Chin himself has had a couple of face-to-face meetings with the manager. ‘I sat down with him on a couple of occasions, met in certain places. In some ways, it is difficult but at the same time, Davy is making the most of it and doing what he can,’ Chin said. ‘Davy being Davy, he is still getting the best out of you. ‘So he is definitely still having an impact, with the contact that he has with selectors. He is feeding stuff through to them and they are feeding stuff back to him after training. And Davy would be just as hard on those guys as he would be on the players.’ «FULL STORY — PAGE 49