Cats’ display versus Galway gave rest of the country belief – Chin

IT’S Mullingar on Saturday for Lee Chin and Wexford where they’ll take on Westmeath in a preliminary All-Ireland quarterfinal. But it’s not where they had planned on being.

The chance is gone now but Wexford were very much geared towards going through the front door.

And for long periods in their final round-robin match against Kilkenny it looked like they’d be in a provincial final.

However, four weeks on the go eventually took their toll and Chin and Wexford were reined in and sent to the back door.

“All credit to Kilkenny they were nine points down at one stage in the second half and notoriously Kilkenny just never give up, Chin said at the launch of the Sure GAA Stats Quiz.

“It’s something we are trying to instil in ourselves that we never give up no matter how far ahead or behind we are in games.

“The four weeks in a row were very demanding but I think in that Kilkenny game we were well prepared.

“In the first half we were very good, mentally we were all there and were working really hard and put together nice plays. But the second half we got mentally fatigued.

“I don’t know if it has anything to do with the way Kilkenny came out and the way they were ready for the second half.

“Or was it a combination of both with the four weeks in a row that eventually we ended up falling behind and they got a serious run.”

Wexford took some time off before ramping up preparations for the All-Ireland series but Chin admits he was heartened to see the Cats bring All-Ireland champions Galway to a replay in the Leinster final.

“I just felt that with a Leinster final in Croke Park, Kilkenny have been there on so many occasions, that it would definitely be tight.

“I didn’t expect a draw...I expected Galway to maybe come out with a two or three-point win. It was probably good for the rest of Ireland to see that as well, as opposed to Galway coming out with another nine or 10-point win over Kilkenny.”

And he insists that Wexford can still have a big say in the championship.

“I definitely believe in the players, in the management. I think that’s something that every team that’s still in the championship has.

“You want to go on and win Liam MacCarthy. It’s not you look at other teams and think ‘we can compete with them.’ You look at your own strengths and your own values and you say ‘what can we bring to the thing?’

“It was good to see that Galway, they weren’t really tested until then. It was good to see that the game was so tight.”