Select committee unite in diversity

SPRING was frosty for the Wexford hurlers this year. A poor run of performances in the national league was accompanied by unrest among the performers.

Established players withdrew abruptly, well-known stars were dropped - and many pundits feared for Wexford in the championship.

Now they’re Leinster champions and 70 minutes away from a September booking in Croke Park.

The three selectors who can take the credit are John Conran, Martin Quigley and Dickie Murphy.

They appear to be a disparate bunch, with Conran’s intensity contrasting with the genial Murphy and Martin Quigley’s thoughtful demeanour on the sideline, but the mixture works well.

Conran was able to pick his own selectors: “I was delighted they came on board. We’re very much a team, it’s certainly not a one-man show.”

Martin Quigley agrees: “We have our arguments but we get on well. We’ve different views but there’s no harm so long as you can reach a consensus, so long as no one’s being too dogmatic.”

That co-operative element is stressed by Conran, who says that while the trio have become better friends for spending so much time together, it’s not all plain sailing.

“We have rows, there’s a fair mix of personalities.”

Dickie Murphy’s personality is one GAA fans are familiar with: well- known for refereeing with a smile on his face, he acknowledges that that approach also applies in working with Conran and Quigley - “I suppose I bring a bit of lightness to the set-up” - but he also has an impressive pedigree as a selector, operating in that capacity when the Yellowbellies last won a Leinster minor title in 1985. Still, his experience with the whistle is an obvious benefit for Wexford.

“What I hope I bring to the team is discipline,” says Murphy. “You’ve got to cut down on frees. We know well we can’t afford to give frees to Joe Deane and Ben O’Connor.

“When I referee in practice matches, I referee to inter-county championship level and the lads have to get used to not conceding frees.”

Generally the trio approach games as a unit: “We take the game overall,” says Conran. “I’d have been a back while Martin played in the forwards, as did Dickie, but if any of us has anything to contribute about any area of the field they chip in.”

Understandably, the selectors would prefer to look forward to tomorrow’s semi-final rather than dwelling on the unrest in the camp earlier this year.

“What happened wasn’t nearly as bad as people were saying,” says Conran, “I’ve not seen the squad as united as they are now. We’d done poorly in the league and when you don’t win that brings its own pressures. The trouble was blown out of proportion but if you lose games the gun’s going to be aimed at you anyway.”

Quigley echoes Conran’s view.

“I’ve been around a long time and seen that kind of stuff before, it’s water off a duck’s back.”

Murphy, ever positive, prefers to focus on the team’s progress. “We were written off before the championship started. We didn’t have a very good league campaign but we played Cork in a challenge in Ardmore and then focused on the championship. Hopefully this team is there for the future - we want them to compete at the highest level.”

The trio admire the commitment of their charges, and that admiration reflects the differences in personalities. Conran says players have to practically sell their souls to the game in terms of fitness and lifestyle demands.

“In my time players didn’t have that discipline, while nowadays they treat themselves like professional athletes. Without doubt the commitment is 10 times what it was in my time.”

Quigley acknowledges while a huge effort was made by the hurlers of every era, like Conran, he accepts today’s teams must be far more aware of diet and rest: “Lifestyle has become as important as match preparation.”

However, he also points out the demands created by expectation.

“Look at the numbers going to the games. When I was playing in the 1970s against Kilkenny in Leinster finals you might have 25,000 at the game. Now it’s more like 50,000. That excitement and expectation generates its own momentum, which demands players put in more effort.”

That effort isn’t always rewarded, and Conran concedes that telling a player he hasn’t made the starting 15 is the hardest part of the job.

“The 30 lads we have are committed to being part of a squad rather than a team. Still, it’s difficult to tell someone he’s not playing.”

Conran’s view of the panel as a squad rather than a team is complemented by Martin Quigley’s opinion of the five substitute rule as a boon to management and panels alike.

“Being able to use five subs instead of three is great; it gives selectors more scope to bring on fresh legs, but it’s also an incentive to the panellists. They know they can be brought on and guys like Larry Murphy know they have a fighting chance of getting on the field.”

That kind of empathy with players has served the selectors well, but for one of them that feeling extends beyond the participants.

Murphy, loyal to the brotherhood, says every referee goes out to do his best but acknowledges that his new posting has attracted comment.

“You’d hear a bit of slagging but most teams just accept that I’ve a job to do. A lot of them might even be delighted that I’m not refereeing.”

Murphy hasn’t handled a Cork game in some time, so Wexford can’t draw on his experience of refereeing the Rebels’ recent encounters.

“Cork have good backroom staff and a fair team, and we know we’ve a huge task ahead of us on Sunday.”

The Wexford backroom team has overcome obstacles in the past, however, and not just the team unrest.

John Conran laughs when asked about having a referee in the dugout.

“We used to fall out regularly when Dickie was refereeing - I used to call him every name under the sun. I don’t know how he’s still talking to me. And if he heard the things I said behind his back then he surely wouldn’t be talking to me!”