Egan rubbishes notion that Leinster lacks edge

The Tipperary Darragh Egan native holding the reins in Wexford has said it is “rubbish” to claim Leinster lacks a cut-throat edge.

RUBBISH: The Tipperary Darragh Egan native holding the reins in Wexford has said it is “rubbish” to claim Leinster lacks a cut-throat edge. Pic: ©INPHO/Ken Sutton

The GAA calendar is utterly predictable for the arguments and debates it throws up at certain points of the year.

January centres on the continued existence of the pre-season competitions and the playing load weighing down on inter-county lads still in college.

The latter tends to rollover into February before the usefulness of the hurling league takes over. Conversation then moves from the league’s worth to its scheduling, and why oh why can’t we have a few more weeks separating it from championship. Ditto on the football side too.

Although the GAAGO paywall has sought to encroach on its turf this past fortnight, late April, early May is usually reserved for comparisons between the Munster and Leinster round-robin. The jeopardy attached to one but absent from the other.

We hardly need to point out which is which.

Darragh Egan has weighed in. The Tipperary native holding the reins in Wexford has said it is “rubbish” to claim Leinster lacks a cut-throat edge.

“It's rubbish talk. You bring in Clare or Tipp to play against Antrim last weekend, or to play Dublin in Croke Park this weekend, I guarantee you they'd be doing their homework as well,” Egan began.

“The Munster games are fire and brimstone, and it is absolutely hundred mile an hour stuff. The intensity levels haven't been as high in Leinster yet, but I guarantee you by the time the Leinster championship is done, teams will be tired coming out of it as well.” 

With Wexford sitting fourth in Leinster after two rounds, Egan insisted that every fixture is essentially knockout from here on in. First on that list is a trip to the capital this Saturday.

“With the Galway-Kilkenny draw, we have to win our last three games to qualify and that's the reality, so every day is knockout now. I'd say Munster isn't much different either.

“Our target is a Leinster final, so we need three wins. If we don't get a result in Croker this weekend, we're going to be under pressure even if we win our last two games against Westmeath and Kilkenny.”

Defeat to Galway on the opening weekend had them on the backfoot from the first whistle. Rory O’Connor’s deep-lying presence at Pearse Stadium reignited criticism of Wexford's sometimes sparsely populated attack.

It's criticism that bemuses Egan.

“We played with five forwards for most of the game against Antrim, Cathal Dunbar was in and out a bit.

“We were conscious in Salthill that we were a bit understocked at the back and we were going to struggle. We’ll have a particular set-up for Dublin, and it’ll be to counteract them as well as to attack ourselves.

“The six forwards thing, no team in Ireland is playing six forwards at the moment. Wexford seem to be getting the rap for it but that’s fine too. The way you set up is all to do with how the opposition are set up as well. There’s no such thing as six-two-six anymore.” Having got Lee Chin back on the field for the win over Antrim last Saturday, Egan is hopeful of getting another key figure, Damien Reck, back in a starting jersey for the Dublin fixture.

Despite returning against Antrim, the manager said Chin is still not fully right from the shoulder injury which sidelined him for the Galway game.

“He came through the Antrim game okay and will be fine for Dublin, but credit to the man, he is playing through the pain barrier.”