FULL WORKING MODEL
Suspended Davy will still have Wexford at 100 percent capacity
JJ DOYLE says Davy Fitzgerald will have Wexford “100 percent” ready for Sunday’s Championship opener. Doyle could be wearing the banisteoir bib for the Leinster quarter-final with Laois in place of Fitzgerald, who is banned from the sideline until June 12. Much is made of the Davy effect, with John Mullane revealing he took energy from Fitzgerald’s passionate antics on the touchline. But Model County selector Doyle believes players who need the extra motivation of Fitzgerald roaring them on from the touchline “might be in the wrong place”. Asked if he’d be taking over Fitzgerald’s matchday role, Doyle (inset) smiled: “If I got a euro for every time I’ve been asked that in the last couple of weeks .... “There’ll be someone on the line, whether we’ll be with Davy as selectors or whether we’ll be on the line to kind of put the plans in – whatever we do, it’ll be 100 percent planned out prior to it anyway.” Fitzgerald’s eight-week ban will only end hours after a potential Leinster semi-final with Kilkenny. But Doyle believes the Wexford players won’t be a weaker force without their manager on the line. The 42-yearold said: “People have been asking, ‘will it have an effect on the players?’. I don’t think so. Some players are like that and some would probably think, ‘Jesus, it is great to have someone on the line not shouting at me’. “It’s always different for different players. “Some things motivate one player and annoy another. “They just want to look after themselves and get themselves right both mentally and physically. When they go on the field of play they’ll know what’s expected of them. “If a guy at inter-county level needs extra motivation to represent the county, he might be in the wrong place.” Resurgent Wexford are expected to brush aside Laois, who came through the round robin series. But Doyle warned: “Wexford are just not in a position where they can take any team for granted. “People can talk about the Kilkenny game but if I was in that position, I’d be using it as a motivation to say, ‘Listen, Wexford aren’t paying any attention to us, they’re showing us complete disrespect, they’re looking to the Kilkenny game’. “Now if that’s what they want to think, let them think it, but our sole focus is the beginning of the Leinster Championship.”