Forde happy with new Model

MATTY FORDE admits it is now or never for this Wexford team if they are to finally reach a Leinster final.

To the average man, it may seem like this particular boat has sailed. Look at the facts. Last year, they lost an NFL final to Armagh, this year the same team consigned them to Division Two.

For Wexford, the reality is that they have promised much but delivered less and it’s a track record like that which has persuaded the bookies to make them 16-1 to win their province this year. They are a tempting 11-4 to overcome Meath, who are an unbackable 1-3 to win on Sunday.

Sift through all the evidence, however, (including the fact that Meath joined them through the trapdoor this spring) and a persuasive case begins to build for Paul Bealin’s team.

For a start, with Laois and Dublin due to meet on the other side of the draw in the last four, the path to the final is a far less treacherous one for the four sides involved in the weekend’s Leinster double-header at HQ.

“We’ve been coming the last four or five years, but the last one or two particularly,” admitted Forde. “Our performances have been getting better and we’ve been beating some of the bigger teams in the league.

“I feel now is the time to put those performances together in the championship. It only takes three games and you’re in a (Leinster) final. That’s the aim for us. That’s the carrot.”

Most of Wexford’s difficulties were confined to the earlier rounds when, after the late appointment of Paul Bealin as manager, training commenced months behind schedule.

A raft of injuries meant that, by the time the ship returned to even keel, the hole in their bows had shipped too much water.

As it is, a win on the last day would have kept them up.

A disappointing end to their league campaign, admits Forde, but hardly a disaster. “I felt our performances were starting to pick up greatly near the end of the league when we started to get a few players back from injury. We were a bit more used to playing with each other and Paul was getting used to us.

“We’re probably coming into a bit of form at the right time. Okay, it cost us in the league but if we can go on and win Leinster nobody will care whether we’re in Division One or Two.”

Forde accepts that the current lack of interest in them will be more to their liking. Favouritism never sat well on their shoulders.

Their strengths haven’t changed much, a solid backline and Forde’s talents being the key elements, but the onus for scores has lessened significantly on the Killanerin man.

At least twice in the league, Wexford finished games with eight different names on the scoresheet even if Forde remains the fulcrum, having scoring 2-35 in the league.

All but 1-10 of that came from dead balls though and the truth is that Forde hasn’t hit the heights he reached in 2003.

Injury has played it’s part in that.

“I had come back from Australia with a fairly bad back injury. It was giving me a lot of hassle, but it’s only really started to come right over the last five or six weeks. My form and my fitness has definitely improved in the light of that.”

Forde’s temperament hasn’t helped him at times either. Having been named Footballer of the Year and winning an Allstar in 2003, the corner-forward soon found himself routinely marked by two or more uncompromising defenders. He didn’t always handle such attention well.

Signs of petulance surfaced again early in the year in games against Dublin and Laois and, when the volcano finally erupted with a red card in the dismal defeat to Derry, Bealin had enough and publicly criticised his short fuse.

Other players may have bristled at that but Forde had no qualms with it. His tally of 1-7 against Armagh last month suggests he has put his problems firmly behind him.

“Paul is always talking to the players and I would talk to him a lot as well about my own game. That’s something that has definitely helped and it’s something I have to keep a lid on. I’ve talked to a few people about how to deal with it and I’m better prepared for it now.

“I think we have a very strong panel in places, probably stronger than we had in the past. We’re really looking forward to playing Meath.”