Inconsistency Jacob’s lather

MICHAEL JACOB’S stunning injury-time goal against Kilkenny in last year’s Leinster SHC semi-final brought the young Wexford forward the kind of fame his father Mick enjoyed throughout an incredible hurling career.

While the strike will always remain a special memory for him - and for Wexford fans - he is much more concerned about the new season and about Sunday’s provincial semi-final against Laois.

“We don’t want to be living in the past. You have to look forward,” he says.

Jacob has been to the forefront among Wexford’s new breed of hurlers, a group which also includes younger brother Rory. The bulk of the squad are all under 25 and are pacy, skilful and eager to learn.

The big challenge is to establish themselves at the highest level and to match the experience, and exploits, of the recently retired Larry Murphy and Larry O’Gorman.

Critics claim this new bunch lacks the physique of their inter-county colleagues. Jacob disagrees.

“We would not be as big as say, Kilkenny, Clare or Waterford. It’s a case of our backs being such big men that the forwards look small beside them. If you look at the Cork attack and take out their big men, Joe Deane, Ben O’Connor and Kieran Murphy are no smaller or bigger than we are.’’

Wexford began the League campaign brightly but failed to maintain that early momentum, and suffered a humiliating 30-point loss to Kilkenny in one of their final outings.

“We just didn’t perform. We conceded two early goals and the heads dropped. It was embarrassing, we were so bad,” Jacob cringes.

“Kilkenny put a major emphasis on the League every year, but we had been missing key players like Darragh Ryan and Adrian Fenlon. At the moment there are a lot of young players in the panel, but they need time to bed in.

“Wexford people should accept that, they should be prepared to give them time to develop.’’

And he believes they are developing tactically in an effort to best utilise their speed up front.

“There’s not much point in dropping in high balls.

“We would not be the most dominant team in that regard, but it’s something we have been working on.’’

Jacob believes that Wexford might be better off facing Kilkenny Sunday, rather than a semi-final which most people expect them to win.

“We probably find it easier to play Kilkenny than most other teams because there’s always a special incentive there to try to beat them. Form goes out the window most times when we meet. It looks like they are on a mission this year to get back to winning the Liam McCarthy. You could see how they annihilated Clare in the League final.’’

But Kilkenny will have to wait for another day. Laois, who produced a stern test in the NHL last year, provide the Model men with their first Leinster title defence at Croke Park on Sunday.

“Our entire focus is on Laois. Kilkenny and Offaly can take care of themselves. But we need to work on our consistency. We are too unpredictable. We have one good day and two bad days. Kilkenny are much more consistent.

“That is what we need to be.”