Wexford will need O’Connor firing to ruffle feathers
A PENNY for the thoughts of Davy Fitzgerald might have been a more worthwhile investment than usual on Wednesday night. The Wexford senior manager looked less than thrilled after watching the county’s Under 21s lose the Leinster final in the most heartbreaking of circumstances; an 81stminute goal with the last puc of extra-time securing Galway’s first Leinster title at their first attempt. A dramatic climax to an emotional roller coaster of a game that had seen Wexford force a draw with a goal of their own in the dying seconds. Rory O’Connor, Fitzgerald’s ace marksman, had bagged seven points (five from play), but he looked emotionally shattered as he was handed the man of the match award. It was energy-sapping stuff in the dead summer heat of Portlaoise – always more so for the vanquished, of course. The last thing Fitzgerald would have wanted just three days before an AllIreland quarter-final playoff. Wexford are already third last in the betting for Liam MacCarthy – a whopping 25/1 with Paddy Power ahead of today’s clash with 1000/1 shots Westmeath in Cusack Park. That price would be half that had Wexford not coughed up a nine-point second-half lead to Kilkenny in Nowlan Park. That has led them to where they stand today. Fitzgerald spoke in the aftermath of that Kilkenny game about how his team ‘need to perform for 70 minutes’, describing their first-half performance that day as ‘Wexford’s best for 15 years’. Were they to produce that sort of form again, they could live with just about anyone. They’ve already beaten Galway in the League. However, their reliance on O’Connor for scores has been a feature, and probably now a concern as the young St Martin’s dual star still faces an Under 21 AllIreland semifinal against Cork in four weeks’ time. O’Connor has been the Model County’s go-to man this year with 70 points in his last seven games in League and Championship. Only Kilkenny’s TJ Reid, Tipperary’s Jason Forde and Galway’s Joe Canning have a higher average of points per game in the Championship so far this season. They will need him at his best were they to go on and ruffle some feathers this summer. Wexford, should they get back on the horse again today as expected (they’re 50/1 on to beat Westmeath), are likely to put up a big score along the way, after which they should in from their current 25s. But it will be their next big test (most likely against Clare) when we find out what they’re really made of. And whether being so reliant on the best young hurler in the country really is a plus or a minus at this time of the season.