Ryan silent on future plans

Wexford boss Jason Ryan was non-committal on his future following Saturday’s one-point defeat by Tipperary in the second round of the All-Ireland SFC qualifiers.

The “devastated” Model manager has spent five seasons at the helm in the Model County but would not be drawn on the prospect of a sixth year in charge.

“I haven’t even thought about it,” said Ryan, who also revealed that Ben Brosnan and Eric Bradley were left out of his starting line-up due to injury.

Ryan explained: “It was unfortunate. Ben has trained once since the Dublin game; he tore his hamstring. That’s the risk you take – we were so far behind that we had to bring him in and hope for the best. Eric has been injured for the last two weeks and hasn’t trained at all. And we learned from the (Division 3) League final against Longford, when we played guys we hoped were okay but weren’t. We had to make a call.”

Ryan also paid tribute to Tipperary as the Premier County reversed a heavy Allianz Football League defeat at the hands of the same opposition.

Earlier this year, Wexford ran out 2-20 to 1-8 winners against Tipp at Wexford Park.

Ryan said: “Tipperary came with a well-organised plan that was well-executed. Their players, on the day, were very committed and they were worthy winners. Instead of focusing on Wexford, Tipp should be praised for their efforts. We had 17 missed scoring chances in the game – there you go.

“We didn’t take them and at the end of the day, if you don’t take your chances, you can’t expect to win the game.”

Ryan added: “I’m devastated that we’re out of the championship. It’s just absolutely devastating.

“We had enough opportunities but like the Dublin game, we didn’t take them. That’s that. But Tipp deserve great credit.”