Wexford football at a crossroads and stability is needed

With Alan Aherne

THE ANNOUNCEMENT last week that Seamus McEnaney won’t be staying on as Wexford football manager wasn’t unexpected, but it was a major blow nonetheless given the uncertain future for the game in the county.

Just when some stability was needed, instead the County Board has to embark on another search for a new person to take charge that has the potential to be a thankless task.

To be frank, I don’t understand the assertion in McEnaney’s resignation letter that the unsustainable travel to and from Wexford ‘is the primary reason for stepping down’.

After all, he knew the length of the journey when agreeing to take on the job last October, and it hasn’t increased any in the meantime.

And let’s be frank here, if Wexford’s championship campaign had been any way reasonable, McEnaney would be looking forward to another term and distance wouldn’t have been an obstacle.

In his letter he correctly points out that the players achieved their primary goal of gaining promotion, and that was indeed the case.

However, I’m not sure if the Monaghan man’s tenure was a success in the overall scheme of things.

It all went pear-shaped after those first five wins secured promotion, and ultimately every team is judged on its championship form.

In that context, the missed opportunity of hosting Dublin at home, and the subsequent pummelling by an over-rated Monaghan team, left a bitter taste, and Wexford football is now at a crossroads.

A half-dozen or more of the experienced players are no doubt considering their futures, and if they decide to retire they will be leaving with their heads held high after giving incredible service over the years.

The high quality of replacements required simply aren’t there in my view, and it could be a very tough sojourn in Division 3 for the next manager. Whoever is appointed will simply have to stay for more than twelve months, as a one-year reign does nothing for the game in the long run.

I wonder what the late Paddy Wickham would make of it all? That was on my mind last Sunday as I left a match in Killurin and travelled up to Davidstown for the former Co. Chairman’s funeral Mass.

I served as an officer with Paddy for many years, and we quickly bonded over a number of shared interests.

Firstly there was the Enniscorthy connection, as he knew the seed, breed and generation on my mother’s side of the family.

Secondly was our shared love of football, and then there was our passion for the history, facts and figures surrounding the G.A.A.

Many’s the night Paddy would pose me a brain-teaser at the end of some meeting or other, and I would hurry home to delve into my collection of books and programmes in a bid to come up with the answer in time for our next meeting.

A big grin would cross his face if I got it right, but he would always have another question ready and a new challenge would begin.

He was the quintessential grassroots G.A.A. man, and he was equally at home - perhaps even more so - sitting in the back row of an Enniscorthy District meeting in the I.F.A. Centre as he was representing Wexford at the very top level during his seven years as Chairman.

John Walsh’s marvellous photograph of Paddy - featured on these pages - sums him up perfectly, studiously watching a match with cigarette in hand.

And purely by chance, I came across another memorable picture last Saturday when I travelled to New Ross to buy Pat Nolan’s new book. It shows an extremely emotional Paddy about to be embraced by Liam Griffin on that day none of us will ever forget in 1996.

Paddy used to love the away trips with the county footballers back in the more innocent times when the players would make sure to enjoy themselves in and around the hotel on the Saturday night before a league game.

That was the culture of the time, and everybody was doing it. I know the players from the mid-’80s to mid-’90s were particularly fond of him, and he enjoyed the banter and craic that surrounded those overnights every bit as much as the games themselves.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.