Five talking points as Kilkenny cruise past Wexford in Allianz League

It has gone from bad to worse for the Wexford Senior hurling team…

With three games now played in the top-tier of the Allianz Hurling League, Wexford sit on bottom of the pack, having not gained any points from the previous three games – against Cork, Tipperary and Kilkenny respectively.

Here, we look at some of the main talking points from the Wexford vs Kilkenny game which was held on Saturday evening under the lights at Wexford Park in front of a crowd of 4,561 attendees. The full time score read: Wexford 0-15 Kilkenny 2-17

Slow start:

Notwithstanding the fact that Wexford were without many of their key men, not many would have been expecting Wexford to start so slow. Wexford scored four points in the opening 38 minutes. Remarkably, Wexford’s only scores came from frees. Two points came from Cian Byrne, while Wexford’s goalkeeper Mark Fanning hit the other two points from long-distanced placed balls. Wexford found themselves in an uphill battle from the start, with Kilkenny’s defence proving solid and Wexford’s attack being non-existent for the first half. Kilkenny were leading by 0-06 to 0-01 on the 22nd minute mark, before Mossy Keoghan buried the ball past Wexford’s keeper Mark Fanning. Six minutes later, another goal by the Kilkenny sharp-shooter shocked the Wexford crowd. Wexford went in at the break trailing by 2-10 to 0-04 points – and it could have been a lot worse.

Injury woes:

Just as you may have thought it couldn’t get any worse on the injury front, another three Wexford players hobbled off with injuries in yesterday evening’s game. The first, Rory O’Connor, on the 22nd minute mark was taken off by Keith Rossiter. Cillian Byrne, a brother of Cian Byrne, came in to replace him. While Rory wasn’t in the game up until this point, he is no doubt one of Wexford’s best hurlers and in a weakened side, Wexford needed him in the attack. Rossiter and his management team suffered another blow when Shelmaliers clubman, Simon Donohoe, appeared to walk off injured. Donohoe was replaced by Naomh Eanna’s Cian Molloy. Later, Richie Lawlor went down with an injury, but it didn’t look to be serious.

Wexford’s Lee Chin and Kevin Foley in attendance at the Wexford vs Kilkenny match

However, it’s not good for Wexford – who already have a significant number of people on the injury list. They include Conor McDonald, Liam Ryan, Kevin Foley, Shane Reck, Jack O’Connor. Added to the trio of retirements (Matt O’Hanlon, Dee O’Keeffe, and Liam Og McGovern) and the only recently returned Lee Chin, it doesn’t paint a pretty picture for the rest of the Allianz League campaign.

Never say die:

While one could argue that Wexford left it too late, one of the major positives from the game is that they didn’t throw in the towel. The simple fact behind yesterday evening’s game was that Kilkenny played a relatively experienced side against an inexperienced Wexford side – and they outclassed Wexford, especially in the defence. Realistically, it wasn’t looking good for Wexford and their fanbase oat half-time. It could have been a huge hammering in front of the home support – but it wasn’t. Wexford’s young guns kept battling hard; they showed fight and a desire to continue working for the Purple and Gold. Although the first-half and the result was incredibly disappointing, one thing is for sure: you can’t fault their work-rate and effort in the second half.

To Ennis, we go:

One positive aspect leading into the next game is the fact that Wexford will have a break of two weeks before their next clash. A negative aspect is the fact that it’s away to the All-Ireland champions, Clare. Despite that, the added time could give way for the likes of Lee Chin, Jack O’Connor, Rory O’Connor, Kevin Foley, Shane Reck and some of the other aforementioned players to return to the playing field. The break is coming at a perfect time for Wexford really. Unfortunately, however, Wexford will be facing another stiff test when they travel to Clare in two week’s time and the Banner County will be all guns blazing, looking to put in a good performance in front of their home crowd after losing out to Galway by 2-21 to 0-20 at the weekend. Wexford will take on Clare on Feb 23rd at Cusack Park, Ennis at 1:45pm, while you can view Wexford’s other remaining fixtures here.

It’s only the League, lads:

One of the talking points is the fact that it’s just the League. And being honest, I agree. At the start of the campaign, after hearing of Wexford’s injury list and with the three lads retiring, I knew this was going to be a difficult task in hurling’s top-tier with no easy games. With Wexford missing their whole spine of their team, expectations should be somewhat lowered. Wexford are still finding their best team and the best players; they’re making do with what they have at the moment, and while the results and performances may not be up to par, it’s still beneficial for younger squad members to receive game time and to be given an opportunity to perform. As long as Wexford have their main men back by championship, that’s all that matters. In saying that, with a difficult Leinster Championship campaign facing the Model County again, it’s important that we start to rack up a bit of momentum too. Being relegated, without winning any League games, wouldn’t be good preparation.