Ground hurling was Fenlon’s forte, says Griffin

FORMER Wexford manager Liam Griffin paid tribute to retired midfielder Adrian Fenlon as the best ground hurler since the days of Jim Morrissey and Ned Wheeler in the ’50s.

Fenlon, who is heading for his 33rd birthday, has confirmed that he will not be resuming his inter-county career.

“Time has caught up with me. I’m a bit old for chasing after the likes of Tom Kenny and Jerry O’Connor,’’ he joked.

He first played for Wexford in the 1992-’93 league, although he had opted out because of study commitments in advance of the three-match epic with Cork in the final that year. However, he was brought back for the championship, making his debut in the Leinster final against Kilkenny.

Predictably, his All-Ireland medal win in 1996 was the highlight of his career. “The whole year was a bit of a roller-coaster, and, in fairness, Liam Griffin was the catalyst for our success. He introduced new structures and the players were able to concentrate on hurling. I was privileged to play with so many great players and a great management team.’’

Fenlon singled out the ’93 Leinster final defeat, and the loss to Offaly in the semi-final of 1998, as major disappointments, along with the All-Ireland semi-finals of 2001 and 2003 against Tipperary and Cork, respectively.

“Yes there were a lot of lows, but I would have to say that they were outweighed by the high-points.’’

Liam Griffin agreed that Fenlon’s intelligent play had been critical to their success ten years ago, explaining: “it was easy to underestimate his influence because he was so quick on the ball. With the players we had we needed the ball to be delivered quickly into them and Adrian was a master at this. He was a great player to execute a game-plan.