No excuses from Rossiter as Wexford lose unbeaten record with poor showing against Cork

The Leinster outfit ended their league campaign with an off-form display.

Sun, 17 Mar, 2024 - 13:16

Eoghan Cormican

Keith Rossiter didn’t care much for the removal of Wexford’s unbeaten tag. There was a silver lining, he argued, in their unbeaten start to 2024 not stretching from seven to eight games on Saturday.

“To a certain extent it's probably no harm that it's gone, to be honest. It's nice to get focusing on the Championship now and for everyone not to be talking about it for the next five weeks either,” said the Wexford boss.

But surely concerning is how that unbeaten tag was lost. The home outfit were so inexplicably abject from the off. Even outside of their dreadful shooting, which included 13 wides, only three outfield scorers, and a measly 1-5 total from play, their decision-making and first touch were terrible.

This was a jarring note in which to sign off on a spring where Wexford’s youngsters had stepped so promisingly forward to compensate for a lengthy absentee list of experienced campaigners.

“There wasn't the same kick out of us like there was last weekend (against Waterford) when there was something at stake,” Rossiter continued.

“I think Cork had a bit more to fight for today than us. Look, I'm not going to make excuses. That could be one of them but I'm not going to make it.

“I just wasn't happy with the way we were. We didn't come to the table at all. Cork came out of the traps early and we just didn't match them at all. We couldn't get a handle on them. We couldn't get near them. We played some good ball, but they probably outfoxed us in many aspects of the play in the first half.

“I suppose the frustrating thing for me is that we came out in the first half and Cork racked up 1-1 or 1-2 and we had three easy wides. Kevin Foley had two balls by himself and mis-hit both of them, one after the other. On other days, like against Waterford, we were getting those scores. I suppose we just didn't have the conviction today.”

The sole positive from Saturday was Conor McDonald and Liam Óg McGovern getting their first match minutes of 2024. The injury list remains busy, though.

“Liam Ryan, Rory O'Connor, Conor Devitt, Lee Chin, you'd be hoping to see a lot of them (come championship). Jack O'Connor, as well, shouldn't be too far off. We have a busy five weeks. Hopefully the injury ward will lessen as we go.”