We were the better team, but that win eluded us at death

DESPITE A history of threatening behaviour from co-columnist Billy Dodd who feels my knowledge is very limited when it comes to big ball matters, I must give heartfelt congratulations to my old Alma Mater, St. Peter’s College, on their wonderful victory in last Friday’s Leinster Senior football final.

This is an incredible achievement for the Summerhill men, particularly given the fact that they are competing in both codes at the very highest level.

Well done to Brian Malone, Chris Murphy and all the backroom team who have put so much work into this hugely talented young group of players, and here’s hoping for the double over the next few weeks when their hurlers will make a bold and realistic bid for that title.

Despite the weather a huge crowd again showed up in New Ross for Wexford’s Walsh Cup joust with the old enemy. I wouldn’t attempt to over-analyse the game as it is very early in the season, but despite the conditions it was a keenly-fought and reasonably enjoyable encounter.

My main regret leaving O’Kennedy Park was that we didn’t secure the result given the fact that we were the better team, with opportunities to close out the game presenting themselves right up to Brian Gavin’s last toot of the whistle.

Whilst I appreciate that a number of Kilkenny regulars were not on show (as were some of Wexford’s), a win would have been a welcome boost even if only to put a dent in our recent record against the Cats.

We have played Brian Cody’s men 17 times across the three competitions since the dramatic Mick Jacob-inspired 2004 win and have only come out on top once, in the 2013 Walsh Cup semi which was against a second string black and amber side.

Winning and losing can become a habit and I remember back to a year we are fed up mentioning and listening about when one of the strategies used when trying to break our psychological issues was to get wins over the big two in Leinster no matter how inconsequential the match.

Davy Fitz has created a spirit and strength amongst his squad which ensured that we were not coming out second best in the physical stakes, and there is a definite pattern of short passing in defence with the shooting option not to be employed until there is a great degree of certainty of outcome.

Given the conditions the players executed the plan as well as can be expected, with Matthew O’Hanlon (my man of the match) revelling in the employment of a sweeper at his back.

The centre of our defence seems to be secured even at this early stage of the season, with Liam Ryan giving a masterclass display at full-back. I’m a little traditional in that I would like to see more direct ball served to our full-forward line which can be a difficult place to perform when outnumbered by backs.

It’s only a small thing but I would like to see players take a little more chance on shooting and pulling the trigger earlier, but again I am not going to argue with the gameplan at this early stage.

In fairness to everybody, the excitement created by Davy is there to see and progress is I feel being made already.

Brian Gavin unusually implied that there was one minute left at one stage, and while the teams were level he went on to play a couple more than that. He was like a man that wasn’t looking forward to extra-time, but in fairness he refereed it well despite the generous allowance for steps on both sides.

We had the golden opportunity of a major at the end and were denied by a brilliant Richie Reid save. Overall our strikers just need a little more composure when in the scoring zone but this can be worked on. In summation, a one-point loss to kilkenny is not the end of the world. The goodwill and support is there and the work is most definitely being put in by our adopted manager and the players. The summer can’t come quickly enough. Up Wexford.