Guiney: New level required to beat Banner

Coming into this year’s Championship, those of a Wexford persuasion took huge encouragement from the near misses of 2013. Over 70 minutes in two separate games, they’d drawn with Dublin and Clare, the eventual Leinster and All-Ireland champions.

The thing is, Wexford had the chance to rectify last year’s eventual replay defeat to Dublin in the recent Leinster semi-finals and couldn’t take it.

Fittingly, they’ll now play Clare in the qualifiers this weekend and, should they also fail to redeem themselves there, then the glass of 2013 will look decidedly half empty.