Masterson: Model football at low ebb and the only way is up
ANTHONY MASTERSON attended a ‘This Is Your Life’ tribute for Wexford football legend Matty Forde last month and it got him thinking about whether someone could ever replicate his staggering scoring tallies in the modern game.
Forde famously bagged 4-5 against Galway in a league game – he also kicked 0-9 from play in a Leinster SFC tie in Croke Park – in a glittering Model career but Masterson feels such feats won’t be replicated given the unsavoury tactics employed.
“Never, never. Matty said it to me that he wouldn’t even enjoy playing inter-county now. He wouldn’t look forward to playing it, because he just wouldn’t get the space. He’d have been relying on maybe moving around the arc looking to kick points,” Masterson said.
“It would have suited him that way, but he would have never scored 4-5 because he would’ve had three lads on him basically. But people back then would have said Galway were naïve to leave him one-on-one on the edge of the square.
“There’s nobody going to score nine points in Croke Park, and that’s in one of the biggest pitches. Imagine what it’s like in the tighter county grounds? Now if you are a hard worker you are nearly more valuable than a skilful forward.
“So hopefully we can change and get it back in. Tyrone left the shackles off in the All-Ireland final, it was enjoyable game to watch but Tyrone people probably weren’t happy or some people probably weren’t happy because it was open.”
As Wexford ladies football boss, Masterson relishes the open football on show at every level within the ladies game, a far cry from the men’s game where defensive systems are in vogue with many of the top teams.
“Pat Roe, the former Wexford manager, was speaking (at Matty Forde’s tribute night) and his body language, he was like a broken man, because he loves football and he just can’t bear to nearly watch it at the minute,” the 36-year-old said.
It pains the former Wexford goalkeeper – who works as a football development officer in the county – to watch Paul McLoughlin’s senior side struggle in Division 4 with defeats to Leitrim (by 13 points) and London in their opening three games.
Masterson admits that the 2008 side which reached the All-Ireland SFC semi-final was “probably a freak” occurrence given that some of the best footballers in the county – the likes of Lee Chin, Aidan Nolan and Simon Donohoe – are plying their trade solely with the hurlers .
“For the county that we are, we should be competing at a higher level than Division 4 and not getting beaten by 13 points by Leitrim. We’re at a low ebb so the only way is up. We didn’t expect we’d be down that far in a few years,” he said.
“But hurling is on a big plus at the moment and there’s ten lads on the hurling squad that would be brilliant footballers so everyone has to remember that.
“Wexford don’t always play with a ‘B’ team but most of the hurlers are excellent footballers. Some of the best club footballers are not he hurling panel so you’re really working off that.
“We were lucky the time we were playing. We were going well and we were in Croke Park more often than the hurlers would have been so lads were mad to play football for Wexford. Unfortunately, at the moment, it’s not like that so my job is to try and turn it around and build from the bottom up.”