Wounded Liam Dunne doesn’t regret Jack Guiney call

“We were fierce unlucky, weren’t we?” Only Liam Dunne could open with a line like that after a 24-point haunting.

But that’s where the joking ended. Almost. More of that anon. He knew the defeat was no laughing matter.

“We’re very disappointed. We came up here to win the game and we’re going home with our tails between our legs again. No team will put you to the sword better than Kilkenny and they did it today.

“We expected a lot of ourselves. We felt we prepared very well but obviously some things weren’t right.

“We had no answer to them and conceded three goals in the first half. We kept tipping away in the first half, scoring points, but we needed goals as well and we didn’t get them.”

Inevitably, the question of Jack Guiney’s removal from the panel came up. Dunne rued his absence if not his decision.

“Look, you want your best players all the time. The player in question has potential to be one of the best players in Ireland, let alone in Wexford. You have to treat everyone the same.

“You’ve 33 guys in a panel that are rowing the one way with you. Sometimes you have to make decisions and tough calls.

“I’m just hoping that the short-term pain with that player will be long-term gain with Wexford.”

Indications are Guiney won’t return for the qualifier on Saturday week.

“Well, the door would be open for Martin Storey after that game today to be honest with you,” grinned Dunne wryly.

“That’s for another day. We’ll take our beating, we got hurled out the door today.”

Dunne knows it’s a steep road they face ahead of the qualifier. “It’s a big hole here today in Nowlan Park, I can tell you that. We’re back out on July 4 and I’m sure any of the other teams will hope that they draw Wexford. We just have to dust ourselves down now and get on with it.”