GAELIC GAMES NEWS ROUND-UP:IT TAKES fair honesty to admit football has become a drag and you're close to quitting. Especially when you're Wexford's first and only football All Star. For Matty Forde it was a case of being honest with himself as much as anyone else, and in the end that helped regenerate his love for the game.

There was a moment in last summer's championship when Forde was visibly shattered with football. Having lost a fourth successive Leinster semi-final, Wexford went into the qualifiers against Fermanagh and lost by four points. Forde was replaced before the end and hardly disguised his disgust as he was called off the field in Clones.

A week later he was playing for his club, Kilanerin, when he twisted his right knee. This necessitated an operation where 80 per cent of the knee cartilage was removed. Later on, Wexford were struggling to find a replacement manager for Paul Bealin. If Forde wanted an excuse to walk away he didn't need to look very far.

"With football you have to be 100 per cent committed," he says. "You're training five nights a week, and unless there is some enjoyment in that you won't do it. But we'd a poor league campaign last year, and missed out on promotion. Then we lost the Leinster semi-final, the fourth in a row.

"I did think maybe I was losing my edge. Then at the end of last summer, after we lost to Fermanagh in the qualifiers, I tore the cartilage in my right knee. It took me a good while to come from that, and during that time I did half consider packing it in with Wexford. It had got to the stage where I wasn't enjoying it. And if you're not enjoying it then you've no business being at it."

The turning point, he says, was the appointment of Jason Ryan as new Wexford manager, even though Forde never suspected it. At just 31, and with no intercounty experience, Ryan appeared a sort of last resort. In fact he turned out to be an inspired choice.

"I know Wexford found it hard to get a manager at first. And we'd only maybe half a dozen training sessions before Christmas. That was a bit worrying. But things have really worked out, even better than we would have thought at the start of the year.

"So Jason's appointment has been a big plus. I didn't know much about him, but I remember the first session he met us all individually. Now I know for a fact there were three or four other senior players, high-profile players like myself, also seriously considering their future. But to a man, Jason got us all back.

"The fact that he's still only 31 has been well documented - and maybe his lack of experience. But he's more than made up for that in other ways. You'd think he's been around managing teams all his life. But the biggest thing is his enthusiasm for the game. It's unbelievable, really.

"And his attitude towards the players has been very impressive. He talks with each player every night, and everyone feels part of the panel. And I think that shows in the way we're playing."

So, against expectations, Wexford swept through the league as the only unbeaten team across the four divisions, culminating in winning the Division Three title. Now, as Forde admits, comes the real test, and Sunday's Leinster championship quarter-final against Meath in Dr Cullen Park, Carlow, will prove the true measure of Wexford's progress under Ryan.

"Sure, that unbeaten run won't count for anything if we don't win on Sunday. But we have to be happy with our preparation. And five or six years ago, Wexford would have been maybe 90 per cent beaten before they even went on to the pitch against Meath.

"There has been a shift in attitude now. We've beaten Meath the last four times we played them, in league and championship . . . We do feel we can beat them."

Two years ago they beat Meath by six points, Forde scoring 0-12: "Our team performance was excellent that day. Meath have come on a lot since then. Made the All-Ireland semi-final last year. So we're under no illusion about the task facing us on Sunday."

Although Meath are set to start without four first-choice players through suspension, unless the DRA decide otherwise, it's still a game they're fancied to win. Yet with Forde back to his old self and Wexford confidence possibly as high as ever there is every reason to believe this one could go either way. Wexford supporters won't travel without hope.

"I remember 10 years ago, my first championship match against Westmeath, down in New Ross, hardly anyone in the county even knew we were playing. Now there is a good profile. There is a genuine interest in Wexford football now.

"I know some people are saying time is running out for this team. To be honest, I don't think it is. Our under-21s were beaten in a Leinster final this year. Our minors are a game away from a Leinster final. This year, we've been winning games as well, and in that sense I'm enjoying it as much as ever. Getting over the semi-final is the big hurdle. If we can make a Leinster final that would definitely be progress."