Minor drought, major problems

WHEN Seamus Murphy finally got his chance to manage the Wexford hurlers he was prepared to commit himself totally for two years — no more, no less.

Given the county’s record in the All-Ireland championship, he could be in charge for the second last time in Croke Park tomorrow, when the Model County meet Kilkenny in the Leinster final.

Players and management know very well they are given very little chance of succeeding, but longer-term Murphy is deeply worried about the well-being of the game in the county.

Almost uniquely on Leinster hurling final Sunday, Wexford share the limelight with their senior footballers. And, while the progress of the football team is welcomed by the hurling fraternity, it serves to focus attention on the divided loyalties of the playing population.

At this stage, county officers are probably fed up of being lectured to by people like Liam Griffin, who inspired the 1996 All-Ireland success. He has consistently argued for a better competitive structure for the game at under-age level and Murphy is at one with him in bemoaning the lack of minor success at provincial and All-Ireland level.

Arguing that the development of football has been commensurate with a corresponding decline in hurling standards, he suggests that All-Ireland successes in senior, U21 and minor in the 60’s induced a false sense of well-being. Hurling was neglected and the effects are there for all to see today.

In minor hurling, the county’s last Leinster title was won in 1985 (and at All-Ireland level in 1968). And, while some people might have regarded the defeat by to Carlow in the first round as a new low, Carlow are seen as more than worthy contestants of tomorrow’s final after beating Offaly last time out.

“Carlow are after making massive strides,’’ says Murphy. “A lot of people have been doing good work for last seven or eight years, but in saying that, the standard has dropped in Wexford and Offaly.

“It’s a big worry in Wexford — no Leinster title for 21 years. Not alone that, some of the years our teams suffered heavy beatings. We pinched a few U21’s here and there and maybe Wexford people were happy with these successes. But, the fact is that you need your minor teams winning national titles to ensure that players are coming through.’ “We can all point to where we’re not doing well. Remedying it is another thing,’’ he concedes.

And of course there is the football issue.

“With the exception of Rathnure, Oulart-the-Ballagh, Buffers Alley and Cloghbawn, all teams are nearly 50-50. They’re not able to make up their mind as to where they’re going and what they are doing. With the same personnel on both teams it’s almost impossible and it’s creating a fixtures problem. We have our football team doing reasonably well and hurlers are still involved, but when clubs are ‘dual,’ you are going to have games every second week.

“The dual clubs here are not fond of change. I would be impressed by the system Kilkenny have and the hurling people would like a system like that in Wexford. But, it would be impossible because the clubs wouldn’t go with it. You have two groups of six in Kilkenny which gives teams five matches.

“To have five matches played in this county, it could be Christmas!’’

He remembers back to his youth, when as a 14 year-old growing up in Rathnure, had no hurling in the summer months.

“I believe hurling let itself down back in the 60’s. In fairness, the lads in football saw an opening and they organised a competition called the Jim Byrne Cup, for minor and U17.

They got it going back then and has been going strong ever since.

“Wexford have produced some very good minor and U21 football teams in the last ten years and that has been where the basis of their senior team has come from. They have made great strides, but it has knocked hurling on the head because it has taken over a good bit.

“I believe that the hurling people stopped working in the late 60’s and 70’s. We had a famous ten years in the 60’s. People sat back, thinking the game was ‘flying.’ ”

Leaving Kilkenny on June 11 after that uninspiring win over Offaly, Wexford supporters would have been anything but complacent.

“You have to be honest, from a Wexford point of view you would have to be disappointed with the score. We got double that against Kilkenny last year but it still didn’t win us the match. It would be a serious worry. It has to improve if we are to have any hope.

“People will ask if winning is too much to ask for. What I would say is that when we sat down last November — and the same the previous year — and set our goals, we didn’t talk anything short of going up and winning a Leinster title. We can’t turn our back on it now.”