Renowned Wexford hurling coach Willie Cleary is thinking positive heading into this Saturday’s clash…
Wexford will come up against Clare in Saturday’s Round 2 qualifier game. The game will take place at O’Moore Park, Laois, with throw-in at 2pm.
The Yellowbellies put in a disappointing performance against Galway last time out in the Leinster semi-final. If they’re hoping to continue their 2020 championship campaign, they’ll need to improve.
Despite their recent Championship loss to Galway, former Wexford coach Willie Cleary is still hopeful that the Yellowbellies can walk away with the win. He makes some valid points and highlights that there’s a real opportunity here for Wexford:
”Tony Kelly in their two games has taken 15 or 16 of their shots. The nearest to him has taken 6 in two games. They’ve conceded 3-17 against Laois, 36 points against Limerick, we have to go for them.”
“We scored 3-20 against Tipperary , we had 2-18 after 50 minutes when Chin scored that goal. We open up and we get our game flowing — and if we hit 2-25 or 3-22, we’ll win this game.”
“The weather can play into that as well. Scoring 18 or 19 points, I can’t see that winning many championship games moving forward. You might sneak a few. But, we’re well capable of putting up a 2-24. Clare are conceding massive scores. David McInerney got a red card; he’s going to be suspended. They’re missing John Conlan, Peter Duggan and Colm Galvin. That’s four of their best five players from two years ago.”
“From a Wexford point of view, we need to go up there. We need to be hurting from the Galway game and the comments — but go for it. Really put your marker on the championship and say look lads, we’re here now and we actually want to make an impression on the Championship,” Cleary said, speaking to The Hurling Podcast.
Cleary believes that there’s a “massive amount of improvement in Wexford” and he doesn’t “see that improvement in the Clare players.”
Interestingly, Cleary also pinpointed a weakness in the Clare defence — and he believes that Wexford should attack that weakness:
“They’ve a half-back line; Stephen O’Halloran, Seadna Morey and Aidan McCarthy. For me, I’d be going after that. I’d be putting Jack 10, Rory or Lee 11, and the other one the opposite and really going after them — and finding our form again, getting our players on the ball.”
“If we lose on Saturday, we have gone out on a whimper,” Cleary said to The Hurling Podcast.
Here’s hoping that Wexford will emerge victorious on Saturday and that come Saturday evening, we’ll be looking forward to an All-Ireland Quarter-final.
To listen to Willie Cleary’s full conversation on the podcast, click the ‘Listen in Browser’ button below:
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