Victory and home draw against top team the big target

WEXFORD SENIOR footballers return to the qualifier system again next Saturday as they travel to the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick for a tricky assignment. The squad has had a month now to recover from the extremely disappointing result against Carlow and will look to restore a bit of pride after their recent run of poor results.

This tie is one of the least talked about games Wexford will ever play in as all the attention is on the magnificent victory by the hurlers over Kilkenny and the memorable night in Innovate Wexford Park last week.

The last month must have been difficult for the footballers as they tried to re-motivate themselves for the rigours of the qualifiers rather than prepare to play All-Ireland champions Dublin.

They have been in similar positions before over the years and have responded well, so it will be interesting to see how they perform next Saturday.

It is the task of the management team to have them in the right frame of mind so I’m sure they will be up to the challenge. Limerick will be a hard team to beat on home soil, especially after the confidence they gained in their one-point defeat to Clare in the Munster championship.

The three-point victory we had in the league in February means nothing at this stage, except it does show that Wexford are well capable of winning.

It is no secret that this will be the last year of action in a Wexford jersey for some of our senior members of the panel.

My hope is that the team respond to recent criticism and come up with their best performance of the year and return from the Shannon with a much-needed victory.

It would be great to see them win and then get a home draw against one of the glamour teams in the next round.

It would be a more fitting way for these great servants of Wexford football to end their inter-county careers.

Last weekend was a wonderful one in the county when visitors from all over the country availed of the hospitality of all the Wexford G.A.A. clubs for the national Féile competition.

Yet again every club excelled themselves with the welcome they extended to the visiting G.A.A., brethren and even the weather obliged as the sun scorched competitors and supporters for the whole weekend.

Memories were created and friendships forged in one of the premier competitions in any sport in the country. Next weekend my own club travel to Cavan for the football version along with qualifiers Fethard, who will now aim for an amazing double after their win in the hurling last week.

Having seen the excitement the Féile has generated within our own club and witnessed the scenes around the county last weekend, I can’t wait to experience the welcome that awaits in Cavan. Best of luck to both teams and I hope they enjoy and remember the experience for all the right reasons.

Finally, I see the I.A.B.A. is at it again, making even bigger fools of themselves in front of the whole country only a few weeks before the European championships.

While they bitch and fight, a former employee of theirs from Wexford brought his American team to Honduras last week for their equivalent of our E.U. Games.

With Billy Walsh now in charge of both teams, they returned with eight medals in the ladies’ section and five medals in the men’s competition.

More importantly, they qualified six male boxers for the world championships in Germany next August, where they will be hosted by another former I.A.B.A. employee and staunch Wexford man, Eddie Bolger.

Hopefully Ireland will have qualified a number of boxers by then to make it a very interesting tournament from a Wexford point of view.