Consistently inconsistent and predictably unpredictable

“IT worked out today, but I might fall on my arse again the next day,” laughed Larry Murphy one summer’s evening three years ago.

The Cloughbawn man had reason to be in such a jovial mood. There he was, soaking up the smell of victory. Yet, an hour earlier, Wexford’s summer was bottoming out after an opening 20 minutes in Nowlan Park against a rampant Waterford.

John Mullane was having one of his mesmerising spells while Ken McGrath had already pilfered three points. With ten minutes to go to the break, Murphy got the nod from John Conran to shed the tracksuit.

Wexford had already begun to find a narrow foothold in the game by then, but Murphy’s introduction turned the tide completely. From five points down they ran out five-point winners.

Typical Wexford. Awful one minute, amazing the next. Tip them to do well and watch them get pummelled. Fear for their lives and watch them soar.

Murhpy’s joke was wide of the mark, but not by much. Their next assignment was a seemingly routine quarter-final against Antrim. Not for Wexford. Instead, they were made stretch every sinew to nail down a three-point win.

Cork were expected to ease past them in the last four and instead we were served up one of the best hurling games in living memory before, inevitably, Wexford were beaten out the gate in the replay.

The most consistently inconsistent team in Ireland had done it again. In each of the last four seasons they have managed to string together a 70-minute display worthy of any jersey yet each year their summer ends with a hiding.

Which will it be tomorrow? Who knows? Murphy himself couldn’t begin to make a guess and this is a guy who sat out his first Leinster final involving Wexford in 13 years when they met Kilkenny last month.

“Ah sure, it was even said about me when I was playing - Roy of the Rovers one day, useless the next. Days you’d expect something from us, they were the days we’d disappoint,” he says.

If that’s the case then the omens for tomorrow’s clash with Clare are not good. Wexford supporters only ever need a glimmer of hope to travel in numbers, but the fact there was a two-hour queue waiting for tickets at Wexford Park last Wednesday still took everyone by surprise.

Why they should be so unfathomable, even to their own kin, is the million-dollar question. Any number of theories have been offered but two of the most enduring are a lack of depth and an even greater shortage of self-belief.

“I think you’ve hit the nail on the head there,” Murphy interjects. “It’s a bit of both. We probably do lack a bit of strength in depth. We’ve always worked off a core bunch of about 20 players and that lack of back-up has hurt us in the past.

“As for belief, well, we’ve always been well able to psyche ourselves up for a game where there was black and amber jerseys but I don’t know what it is about the Munster teams. Either we went into games over confident or under confident. Different players felt one or the other, I suppose.”

And yet it’s hard to escape the conclusion that we’re being a bit too hard on Wexford. Three Leinsters in ten years is not to be sneezed at when Kilkenny are looking to feed from the same trough.

“I don’t think the media has been entirely fair on Wexford the whole time. I don’t think we’ve gotten the respect we deserved down the years but maybe we’ve put a lot of that on our own backs too.

“We’re too quick to be the gallant losers. We were always seen to be as happy competing as we were winning and maybe that’s been a weakness to our approach.”

Ever since their heydays of the ‘50s and ‘60s, Wexford have held a special place in hurling hearts. Both Cork and Tipperary won more All-Irelands than them in the ‘50s yet it will forever be remembered as the Yellowbellies’ decade. It’s their flaws that fascinate most though.

“That’s given Wexford a bit of a romantic air about them,” says Murphy. “Everyone has a soft spot, a bit of a grá for Wexford. They love seeing us with our backs to the wall.

“How many times have we seen Wexford go up to Croke Park without a chance and coming away with a win. Even in the 60s. In ‘68 they were given no chance against Tipperary. They were supposed to be going up to make up the numbers and look what happened there.”

Murphy lays down the law

Murphy On Wexford v Clare:

“IT’s a game between the two most inconsistent teams. What is the real Wexford? The one that nearly beat Kilkenny in the Leinster final or the one that got hammered in the league? The same with Clare. They struggle to beat Offaly by a point and then go and beat Waterford.

“I don’t think Wexford will concede four goals like Waterford did. They have a much stronger back line but whether our smaller forwards can match the Clare backs is another thing. Clare have a lot of miles on the clock so Wexford need to hit the ground running, get four or five points ahead before Clare can squeeze the game, start dominating. It needs to be an open, wide and fast game and Wexford need to kill it early.

Murphy On Cork v Waterford:

“Waterford have big problems at the back. They have three goalkeepers and I wouldn’t say they’re happy with any of them. You’ll probably have two of the three praying they won’t be picked.

“I’d be worried that the Waterford boat has sailed. They still rely far too much on Paul Flynn, Ken McGrath and John Mullane and the likes of lads like Dan Shanahan haven’t been able to play like they did last year.

“Cork are All-Ireland champions and they’re coming into the game fresher than Waterford.

“They have a hunger about them and I think they have too much firepower for Waterford, although I don’t think there will be more than a few points in it again.”