O’Brien: I’ve laid foundations

Aidan O’Brien believes future Wexford football managers will profit from the foundations he laid down during his two-year term.

O’Brien informed county chairman Diarmuid Devereux yesterday that he was stepping down as Model County manager. He guided Wexford to two Leinster semi-finals in a row though they were defeated by Meath in 2013 and, this season, by a rampant Dublin.

They exited the championship each season at the hands of Laois in the qualifiers and there was also Allianz League Division 3 relegation during O’Brien’s spell.

However, he believes the bigger picture is the amount of rookies he brought in to a panel in transition.

“I would say whoever takes over, and the next person after that, will be in a better position to take the thing forward than I was,” said O’Brien.

“That inevitable change of personnel in an ageing panel has happened under my charge. There’s obviously still some of the more experienced players in the squad and I think it’s important they’re kept. The Graeme Molloys, Daithí Waters, Ciarán Lyngs, they’re hugely important players for Wexford and the young players need them to lead the way. But I think we have probably done Wexford some service in that we haven’t continued to just mine the same group of players for whatever was left in them.

“This summer, we gave nine guys their championship debuts. We have moved the thing forward. We’ve opened up new opportunities and new possibilities for the future of Wexford football.”

Wexford were beaten by 16 points by Dublin in the provincial semi-finals though Meath lost by the same margin in the final. Just last weekend, Dublin beat Monaghan by 17. “We were actually in a better position at half-time against Dublin than either of those teams,” noted O’Brien.

He said it would have been a “huge advantage” if he’d had exclusive access to talented dual players like Lee Chin who chose to focus fully on hurling this year.

“If we had access to all the young GAA talent in Wexford, exclusively to football, that would be a huge advantage,” he said. “You’re talking about players like Lee Chin, Liam Óg McGovern, Matthew O’Hanlon,

Diarmuid O’Keeffe. Unfortunately we didn’t but that’s how things go in a dual county.

“Different counties take different views on these things. Some codes hold sway in certain counties and, if truth be told, hurling holds sway in Wexford. A good young dual player is more likely to opt for hurling more than football.

“Because no matter how bad things get, say two or three years ago, the Wexford hurlers were still going to be in the top eight or 10 teams in Ireland. As it was this year, they were much higher and had some success. In football, you’re really competing with 30 other counties and nobody has a particular advantage.”