WE’VE OUR VERY OWN WORLD CUP OF HURLING

LARRY O’GORMAN COLUMN

Everyone I know and meet is excited by the prospect of the hurling summer ahead of us. And now that it is finally here on our doorstep we can rub our hands with expectation.

It’s new and it’s different and it might take a bit of getting used to for some people, but in a summer when there will be a World Cup in soccer bombarding us with lots of games – we will have our very own World Cup of sorts in hurling with no shortage of great games of our own on every week to look forward to.

When you look at soccer and rugby and how these professional sports are so heavily promoted, I think the GAA was right to try out this new format.

We need games, we need to see the top players in big matches and that’s what we have to look forward to.

I’d have loved it in my time with Wexford.

26 April 2018; In attendance at the Leinster GAA Senior Hurling Championship 2018 Launch are, from left, Eoin Murphy of Kilkenny, Chris Crummy of Dublin, Gearóid McInerney of Galway, David Dunne of Wexford, and David King of Offaly, at McKee Barracks in Cabra, Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

In know the Wexford teams that competed between 1992 and 1998 were powerful teams with some great hurlers and were capable of going up against anyone. We won our All-Ireland in 1996 and we won back to back Leinster titles in 1996 and ’97, but in those days it was one slip and you are gone and it was very frustrating to lose one game and be gone for the whole year under the straight knockout format.

It started to change in 1997 with a second chance for beaten Munster and Leinster finalists but it has really evolved since then.

That straight knockout format doesn’t promote the game as much as it can be marketed now where we see the top players in action several times a year and have plenty of big battles to savour.

The buzz is back in Wexford and it is great to see so many kids back out in Wexford colours and with hurls in hand.

I’m seeing plenty of the older guard out and about too and talking hurling and talking about going to matches again.

Of course, the form of the Wexford team of the last 18 months has helped this. Liam Dunne did great work in charge but Davy Fitzgerald has managed to move them up to a new level.

They put in a massive effort in training to secure their Division1A league status and reaching the semi-final was great – although it remains to be seen how they r4ecover from the defeat to Kilkenny.

I think Wexford are in a good place.

A few months ago it looked like we were really on top of Kilkenny but they blew us out of our own back garden and that may yet be a blessing in disguise to Davy Fitzgerald because it means it refocuses the minds and proves that Kilkenny have not gone away.

Looking at club matches, I think Dee O’Keeffe and Rory O’Connor can be huge players for Wexford this year.

I think if we get more out of Conor MacDonald it will be vital for our chances and I have great faith in Paudie Foley and Kevin Foley  to have a great championship. All of this eases the burden of expectancy on Lee Chin who doesn’t have to be the go-to man every day.

The first match of the four games against Dublin will be crucial. It’s at home and Wexford need to be on their game as Dublin have been a real thorn in our side and we haven’t beaten them since 2008.

I would be fearful of Dublin in that Pat Gilroy and Anthony Cunningham is a great management team and the fact that the Cuala boys are back with Dublin and are coming into the set up as All-Ireland champions again will help confidence.

In my own time we had a great rapport with the Offaly lads because we both saw ourselves as underdogs trying to take on the big guns in Kilkenny. Offaly, like Dublin, will be looking to take a big scalp and I’ve great respect for Kevin Martin and I fully expect Offaly to be a tough prospect for everyone.

Galway are in a nice position in that they are coming in under the radar having exited the league quietly and with no one talking about them. But the big issue for them will be not so much hurling as it will be mental to see if they still have the hunger and desire to go to the lengths they did last year to win the Liam MacCarthy.

Joe Canning and David Burke and these lads will have it, but it needs more than just one or two and Galway will need to repeat the massive effort of last year and we won’t know until they are in a battle if they are able.

Kilkenny are my favourites for Leinster because they are the form team.

You have to hand it to Brian Cody – he really is a top class manager and you could compare him to Alex Ferguson or any top manager in any sport.

Kilkenny always have good hurlers, but its the type of player that Cody is able to unearth, the caliber of person they are with the work ethic and desire that has been the key to Kilkenny’s success.

I’ve often heard stories of how, even when Kilkenny were at the peak of their power in winning All-Irelands, that Brian Cody was at minor matches and juvenile hurling matches in Kilkenny and keeping an eye on the talent emerging.

He proved in the league semi-final and final that he has a group of players who will play for him.

With the games coming so thick and fast it will be very hard to say how it unfolds. What we do know is that there will be no shortage of big hurling games and there will be no complaints about it.