Royals boss Barry rues missed chances

MEATH boss Eamon Barry must now surely hate the sight of a Wexford jersey.

Barry was a member of the last Meath team beaten by Wexford in the Leinster championship back in 1981. In an ironic twist, Barry was on the losing side again at Croke Park yesterday in his maiden year at Meath manager.

Although disappointed, he praised Wexford goalkeeper John Cooper and Matty Forde for their parts in orchestrating his own side’s downfall.

“Cooper was brilliant. He made three memorable saves, and but for his heroics we could have been seven or eight points in front after the opening quarter.

“Forde is a class act. He gave an amazing display. Unfortunately at the moment in Meath we don’t have players like him.”

Barry was however, critical of his own side’s performance. “We created several goalscoring chances early on but did not finish them and that upset our rhythm. We had no leaders on the field and being reduced to 14 men didn’t help our cause.

“We never got to grips with our game around midfield. In today’s game, possession is everything. We surrendered possession to Wexford and paid for it with a vengeance.”

Barry said Meath will give the qualifiers a 100% effort but he added: “We face an uphill climb from now on in, and if we play like that again we will have little chance of staying in the Championship.”

Wexford manager Paul Bealin was walking tall after his first big managerial victory: “The lads did everything I asked of them. Meath put us under the cosh early on but we held composure magnificently. John Cooper and Mattie Forde were excellent but I was delighted at our overall team performance and particularly our three debutants, Ciaran Deely, Graeme Molloy and Liam Murphy.

“They came of age and now we have great strength in depth.

“The competition for places is going to be fierce and that is something any manager will love.

“We didn’t have a good run in the league because we went through a heavy training schedule to build up for the Championship. I think that stood us in good stead.

“Although Meath had chances early on, we took control and won quite handsomely before allowing them a few scores towards the end.”