It has been a long time coming, but the Championship is almost upon us…
The opening round of the Leinster Senior hurling championship will take place at Wexford Park in just over one week’s time.
The match, which will take place on Saturday April 19th, will mark the start of Wexford’s Leinster and All-Ireland campaign for 2025. The Model County will welcome Antrim – a team managed by former Wexford manager Davy Fitzgerald – to Wexford Park.
A win against Antrim would be a perfect kick-start for the Wexford Senior hurlers, with another crucial away clash to Dublin being the following clash.
One player who is looking forward to the clash and the Championship campaign is their captain and Faythe Harriers clubman Lee Chin. Speaking in a recent interview with Off The Ball to mark the launch of the Championship, Chin said:
“We’re feeling quite good. We finished up our training camp last week. Everyone came back fairly healthy and refreshed. We’re just ready to go now,” he said.
It was a training camp where no additional injuries were added to the list. Just one star player – Conor McDonald – looks set to miss the opening round. Other than that, with Liam Ryan set to return too, Wexford have almost a full compliment to choose from, giving manager Keith Rossiter and his backroom team a good headache when selecting the team.
Despite being relegated to Division 1B, alongside Clare, some confidence was taken from their Allianz League matches. Unexpectedly, two away wins came against both Clare and Limerick, the two previous All-Ireland champions.
“It was an important to get a performance when you finish one competition going into the main one. To go down there and to get the win was very encouraging – and obviously, there was a bit of confidence taken from it so hopefully we’ll be able to bring that into Championship,” Chin said about the Limerick clash.
Over the last number of years in particular, Chin’s presence on the field has become vital. When injured, his absence felt on the field is significant. The Wexford star was also asked about the burden he carries for the Wexford Senior hurlers at times:
“When you get back into a set-up like ourselves, you’ve just got to get back in and do whatever you can for the team. It’s something that a lot of players in Wexford have – they have a lot to do with how Wexford get on every day. It’s the same with every other county. Everyone needs their Senior players and their young players going well. None other than Wexford – we need everyone performing. And we know if we can get a performance, we’ll be there or thereabouts in any game. We just need to focus on that – getting in our performances and then hopefully getting results in the end,” Chin said.
The Wexford Senior hurlers welcome Antrim to Wexford Park on Saturday April 19th. Wexford’s full list of fixtures for the Leinster Senior hurling championship can be seen here.
Jason Redmond
From Gorey, Jason is the owner of Wexford Weekly. He is also a post-primary English and History teacher.