Wexford hurlers off to Boston on glamour trip
DESPITE failing to annex any championship silverware this season, Wexford’s Senior hurlers are off to Boston in November.
Wexford are one of six hurling teams that will take in Sydney and Boston in what could be termed end-of-season but well deserved glamour trips for the players and team managements.
Wexford will be joined on the plane by All-Ireland champions, Limerick, Munster champions, Cork and beaten Munster finalists, Clare, for the Super 11s, while beaten All-Ireland finalists Galway and National League winners Kilkenny will travel to Sydney on November 11.
The Wexford party will depart for Boston on Friday, November 16, and will play in Fenway Park on the Sunday, before returning home on Tuesday, November 20.
The All-Ireland champions miss out on the glamour trip to Australia. Galway and Kilkenny will play for the Wild Geese Trophy as part of the Sydney Irish Festival.
Galway are travelling as 2017 All-Ireland champions, and Kilkenny as Allianz League Champions.
Limerick are not being snubbed as the decision to send the league champions to play the 2017 All-Ireland champions was taken late last year.
It was done to facilitate promotion of the game over an extended period and also to give players a chance to organise their holidays.
Wexford will be taking the trip seriously and will look upon the games as the beginning of their preparation for the 2019 league campaign, with the team management likely to hand game time to the extended squad for the Walsh Cup.
Wexford’s Senior footballers are also on the move.
Having had a disappointing season, team manager Paul McLoughlin is anxious for his squad to re-focus in an effort to rebuild the team and football in the county, with their main priority being an immediate return to Division 3.
Meanwhile, the team management and squad have earmarked an early return to preparations, beginning with a five-day trip to Munich next month, where they will regroup and launch their 2019 campaign.
In what was the 100th anniversary of the four-in-a-row All-Ireland winning team, Wexford football disappointed, with just a single victory for the season, their final league outing against a depleted Armagh outfit.
Now the management are beginning to set out their stall for the new season, and there is real speculation that both Colm Kehoe and Michael Regan will return to the football fold, having spent a season with the Senior hurlers. Both would bring real experience and extra strength in depth to the squad.
There will be an opportunity to support the ‘big ball’ code in the county when a Wexford Footballers Golf Classic takes place in Rosslare Golf Club on Friday, September 29.
This will be a 4-person team event, with a fee of €200 per team of four, with meal and prizes included.
This is an opportunity to give football in the county an early lift-off and hopefully lead to a successful league campaign and promotion back to Division 3. It would be heartening to see a full timesheet for the day.
A number of crucial games in the Tom Doyle Supplies Senior Football Championship will take place this weekend.
Group A has been decided with Kilanerin, St. Martin’s, Castletown and St. Anne’s already through to the quarter-final with a final round game still to play.
Fethard are out of the title race, while Sarsfields are awaiting their relegation play-off game.
Shelmaliers, reigning champions Starlights, and Glynn-Barntown have qualified for the quarter-finals from Group B.
Three teams, St. James’, Taghmon-Camross and Gusserane O’Rahilly, remain in contention on two points apiece with the eventual results from their final round games deciding the fourth quarter-final spot from this group.
Incidentally, in that final series of games, Gusserane will meet Taghmon-Camross in Horeswood, while St. James’ take on Starlights in Bree, with both games this Friday evening.