Blow for Keith Rossiter as two Wexford stalwarts ruled out for opening of Championship

The countdown is well and truly on to the opening round of the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship…

The Wexford Senior hurlers enter the game with decent form. Although they did lose out heavily to Cork in the final game of the Allianz Hurling League, the Wexford Senior hurlers and the management team will be happy that they retained Division 1A status for next year. Along with that, they also won the Walsh Cup earlier in the year, beating Galway in the final.

But bigger things are yet to come for this Wexford Senior hurling team and their opening clash against Dublin could be one of the biggest games of the season for both sides.

In recent times, there is very little between the sides when it comes to Championship, but both teams would have ear-marked this game as a must-win to spear head their championship hopes.

Speaking to the Wexford Hurling Podcast during the week, new Wexford Senior hurling manager, Keith Rossiter, provided an update on the panel.

With the good news first, Wexford fans will be delighted to hear that St Martins attacker, Rory O’Connor and Wexford’s captain, Lee Chin, have both returned to full training over the past two weeks. Along with that, Jack O’Connor, Cian Molloy, and Conor McDonald have returned from their injuries.

“Rory’s back. He’s in good health. He’s in good form and he’s on the right side of it,” he said to the delight of Wexford hurling supporters.

However, Rossiter also shared the news that stalwarts Liam Ryan and Dee O’Keeffe will not see action in the opening round, as they are still recovering from injuries.

“Dee O’ is coming on great. He had a procedure on his back which wasn’t ideal. If you seen the man last October in the championship, you’d know exactly why he had to get the procedure on the pitch. He’s back on the pitch running – and he’s way ahead of where he should be… we’ll see him during championship,” he said, but it looks like he will be out for the opening round, having not seen any action in the Allianz League.

Regarding the now-stalwart and Wexford’s consistent full-back Liam Ryan, Rossiter commented:

“Liam Ryan is unfortunately on the other side of it. It’ll probably be another few weeks for Liam. He’ll be at the wire to try get for the Championship – and back for the start of the Championship,” he noted.

It’ll be likely that Conor Foley will continue in the full-back position for the start of the Championship. With an influx of injuries, Rossiter had to give a lot of game-time to some of the younger blood and fresher faces such as Seamus Casey, Conor Hearne, Niall Murphy, Cian Byrne, Corey Byrne-Dunbar, and Eoin Ryan for example.

Rossiter said that he will have a “good headache”, questioning who “are we going to put in the 26…never mind the starting fifteen.”

The Wexford Senior hurling manager also called on supporters to get behind the Wexford hurling team as the Leinster Championship looms. Tickets for Wexford’s opening clash against Dublin are currently on sale and Wexford will need a big support at the game.