Silverware sought, but is quality there to make it happen?

HAVING BID farewell to 2020, a year that carried so many memories for the wrong reasons, already it appears as if we could be in for another interrupted year, with 2021 not having the most promising of beginnings.

Already collective training for inter-county teams has been put back, which no doubt will lead to a later start-up of the Allianz Hurling and Football Leagues.

While the GAA had pencilled in a two-week blank to allow for any hiccups, this now could lead to a later start and finishing time for the championship, the consequence of which could push the club season start-up beyond the planned month of July.

Casting all of this aside, it’s still going to be a challenging year for Wexford. The county had a dismal championship in all grades of hurling and football, while for the Senior hurlers it will be a case of restoring their lost reputations following the two disastrous championship outings of 2020.

As for the Senior footballers, the survival of the game is very much dependent on promotion from Division 4, and at least a single provincial championship victory, along with making an impact in the Tier 2 Tailteann Cup.

It’s quite astonishing that we expect so much of our adult inter-county sides, when the supply lines have been practically empty through lack of success.

In under-age football, such has been the dramatic decline that we are no longer even able to compete with the weaker counties.

That’s a perfect example why the struggle continues at a higher level, despite the huge expenditure on coaching.

There are many questions for the Senior hurlers to answer. Their championship defeats to Galway and Clare raised questions as to whether the county is equipped to maintain a long stay among the game’s elite.

This Wexford team is backboned by the three-in-a-row Leinster Under-21 hurling side, and while the county had a provincial Minor success in 2019, they failed dismally to Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final. And then the defence of their title was a token gesture as evident in their defeat to Kilkenny.

The question now being asked is, are we equipped to win silverware in 2021, not just in Senior hurling but any grade of hurling and football?

Wexford always like to strike early, with Davy Fitzgerald placing a particular emphasis on a high fitness level for the league to take him smoothly into the championship.

Now many of his best-laid plans will come in for scrutiny. A late pre-season, to be followed by quickfire league and championship campaigns, will severely test the depth of his squad.

Football manager Shane Roche also has such a challenge to surmount, with the only mitigating factor contributing to his plans being that his team will be playing in a reduced league set-up.

For Wexford hurlers there is only one path towards silverware. Wexford will need to strike early, and enjoy a promising and energetic league campaign, just to demonstrate that they have put their 2020 championship woes behind them, and they are ready to mount a sustained challenge.

It would be disastrous for Wexford should they fail to create an impression on the inter-county scene this year. A repeat of last year would leave the county struggling to regain a once-proud status, so the work must begin immediately.

The inter-county scene is built around success. Wexford even saw their loyal hurling supporters depart the scene through those long, weary, unsuccessful months of the more recent past, only restored with the help of Davy Fitzgerald’s reputation and his ability to steer the county back competing among the elite, with a huge degree of success.

What must be of real concern is the decline of under-age. No All-Ireland Minor hurling title since 1968, a last provincial Minor football success in 1969, just a single provincial Under-21 football title.

While we did have the three-in-a-row Under-21 hurling provincial successes, the last Leinster Senior football title was in 1945, with the last All-Ireland Senior hurling success in 1996.

I believe the lifting of a trophy will prove the catalyst for brighter days ahead. But have we the quality and strength in depth to attain this?