ONLINE VIEW
Nothing separates the optimists from the pessimists quicker than an inter-county team from Co. Wicklow. Prior to throw-in against Laois on Saturday, the majority had written off Johnny Magee’s men but they were in contention right until the dying moments in their first championship outing of the season. Their efforts were noted and appreciated by most fans. Aine Byrne: “Hard luck lads. That score wasn’t a fair reflection on the match”. Eugene Jordan: “Good effort Wicklow” Brian Fanning: “Brilliant performance. Referee was a joke”. Jim O’Brien: “Same every year effort was great but we should be a lot better than Laois” Seamas Doyle: “Can’t blame the players…at least the want to play for our county”
Some fans offered advice on what they felt were obvious flaws in the Wicklow plan which, if amended, would make a world of difference.
Peter Porter: “Match was on Newstalk and they were full of credit for Wicklow. They said if we had a free taker we’d be only down two points or so going into the last few minutes..”
Sean Gregan: “Good solid effort…Pity though, game was in the balance – we handed them 1-1 from mistakes from kick out inside 30m + five missed frees from the 21…essentially a nine point turnaround…we need to cut out these constant shortcomings to push on a bit”
David Miley: “Laois full forward line scored 2-10 between them. Wicklow full forward line scored four points. Conor McGrayno sitting in the stand which would have made a huge difference for Wicklow, hopefully Wicklow management team bring him back for the next match. Well played by Wicklow though”.
Tony Hagan: “Seven points did not reflect the game. If Wicklow had a free kick taker Laois were there to be taken. The Dubs won’t worry too much”.
Finally, expert GAA photographer Dave Barrett made a startling point.
Dave Barrett: “Wicklow only had one player (Dean Healy) of the 39 Rathnew and St. Patrick’s players who played in the 2015 Wicklow SFC final…”