Wexford wary of Antrim

THERE is absolutely no fear of Wexford taking Ulster champions Antrim for granted in their Guinness All-Ireland hurling quarter-final in Croke Park next Sunday.

“You have only to go back to last year to see how much of a soft touch they were supposed to be then. They nearly caught Tipp,” comments experienced defender Liam Dunne. “We were not given much chance of beating Waterford. Now we will be ‘blown up’ in the papers. It will be interesting to see how we handle that and the loss of Darragh Ryan and Adrian Fenlon.

“Our backs were to the wall after the Leinster final, but we knew it was going to be a battle last week-end.

The extra week we had after losing to Kilkenny made a big difference. When we went training on the following Thursday and again on the Saturday no one had that much interest in it. But you could see the bite back into it on the Monday.”

Dunne credits the younger players, club-mates Rory and Michael Jacob and Chris ‘Hopper’ McGrath with playing a big part in their win at the week-end.

For him, the feeling at the final whistle was ‘marvellous’.

“I know Waterford were devastated, but we have been down that road a good few times. I’ve had a tough time over the last few years, but the wins have been great for the team.

“Even though Kilkenny gave us a bit of a drubbing, it was nice to come back to Nowlan Park again and win there. I don’t think people realise how good Kilkenny are. There has been a lot of talk about Munster hurling and Leinster hurling, but Kilkenny are the team to beat.”

*Wexford played Antrim in the All-Ireland semi-final of 1954, beating them 12-17 to 2-3, on a day when Nicky Rackard set a championship record by scoring 7-7.