Slaneysiders will stay grounded, insists Doyle

Leinster finalists last year, Wexford have kept the ball rolling with their rise to Division 2 next year.

But Aindreas Doyle doesn’t expect they’ll be earning plaudits any time soon.

The wing-back is ruled out of this evening’s Division 3 final against Longford having picked up a grade two hamstring tear in a club game.

However, he was integral to Wexford’s successful promotion push, coming after two seasons when they narrowly missed out.

“It’s not an issue for us,” says Doyle. “We’re happy enough coming in under the radar. The more teams take us for granted, the better.

“Four years ago, we reached an All-Ireland semi-final and there wasn’t a lot of credit out there for us. So we don’t expect there to be much of it going around when we reach a Division 3 final.”

Doyle believes Division 2 is a truer reflection of where Wexford are at the moment.

But he also sees a resemblance between Longford’s season and Wexford’s 2008 achievements.

“The teams that are going to be in Division 2 next year, a lot of those teams we have beaten over the last three or four years so it’s division we feel we should be playing in.

“Longford are thinking the same. Where they are is similar to how we came of age in 2008 when we started to put results together. You can’t underestimate where they might get to this year.”

Wexford did enjoy praise for their positive style of football on their way to reach last year’s Leinster final. They posed a number of difficulties too for would-be All-Ireland champions Dublin before Pat Gilroy’s side came through.

Doyle says it’s too simplistic to suggest Wexford will apply the same game-plan as last year but he agrees the team’s ethos is to play an attractive brand. “You have to apply many different tactics because you come up against so many different types of opposition. You’d like to have a consistent game-plan all the same. We like to go forward as much as we can and we’ll continue to do that.”