Rate us after the final, says Model boss

Up until last Sunday’s All-Ireland final classic, Wexford’s hurling renaissance was among the main talking points of championship 2014.

JJ Doyle defines a “good summer” by “winning something”, enquiring as to how many All-Ireland titles Wexford annexed this year. Talk about the county’s renaissance, he says, when September glory is achieved.

Doyle, a three-time All-Ireland winning camogie manager, measures progress in silverware, not moral victories and hard luck stories. In Wexford, the latter has too often been the case.

Take Conor McDonald as a prime example of Wexford attitude. Doyle has fielded questions on the talented full-forward all summer long. ‘This lad is the real deal, isn’t he?’ and such and such.

Henry Shefflin is the real deal, quips the county’s U21 boss.

“Too many guys after one good year are put on this pedestal as great hurlers,” insists Doyle.

“I think we’ve had too many moral victories in Wexford. We beat Clare, we beat Waterford but then we were poor against Limerick that day in the senior. A lot of people are saying Wexford had a good summer but listen, for me, a good summer is winning something. Moral victories are no good to us. Just beating Galway and just getting to an U21 final is no good to us. If you get to a final, it’s all about winning. There’s no sentiment.

“A lot of people are saying now that we’ve got there that whatever happens it’ll be a good year. Listen, it hasn’t been a good year in our camp unless we win the All-Ireland. If we lose on Saturday, we’ll be as gutted as when we got beaten by Antrim last year.”

That shock defeat to the Saffrons represented a major setback for Doyle’s charges. The squad, to their credit, stomached the loss, and the barrage of criticism that followed suit.

“If you’re being told often enough that you’ll hammer a team, it gets under a team. We came out that day and Antrim hit us. There’s a belief this year and I suppose the belief came from winning the Leinster final last year, winning the Leinster final again this year. You’re going into the games now with an expectation to win rather than hoping to win. It’s a subtle change in mind-set but a very important one. So we’re going in and everyone has us as underdogs but it doesn’t matter to us. It has no impact on us how we prepare. We went to Nowlan Park and Kilkenny were favourites, we went to Parnell Park and Dublin were favourites, we came to Thurles and Galway were favourites. It’s about going out and just doing what we do to the best of our ability.”

Three-in-a-row chasing Clare stand in the county’s path of just a second Cross of Cashel, an outfit that has been described as the greatest U21 team of all time.

“A lot of people look at this Clare team and say they’re phenomenal. People say they’re the best Clare team of all time. The Tipperary game is the only close game they have had this year. They beat a good Limerick team. They comprehensively beat a Cork team that had pretty comprehensively beaten a good Waterford team. Their form line is sensational. You look at the Antrim game and people say they didn’t get much competition against Antrim, but sure listen, we couldn’t beat Antrim last year. They went out and did a job.

“Clare have the pedigree. They have the players. The have last year’s Hurler of the Year. They have All Stars, they have some fabulous, fabulous players.

“I look at my team, however, and there is a few decent hurlers on that team too.”