Meyler times it right

National Hurling League:For a man who sprang the coup of the weekend, John Meyler sounds vexed at the drift of the reaction to Wexford's defeat of Galway in Sunday's NHL quarter-final. Big surprise? Shock? Not to him, he says.

To the rest of the country it was, however, a turn-up for the books. Wexford haven't made a habit of shining in the league in recent years and it was assumed that after last year's disappointments the rebuilding process would be a lengthy one.

A satisfactory sequence of results in Division One A indicated that matters had improved, but not to the point where the team were going to come between Galway and their semi-final against Kilkenny.

"That view was mainly based on the Waterford game," says Meyler. "We started poorly, losing that by 11, but the effort and commitment were there - just the hurling wasn't yet, so we worked on that. That was all that was missing against Waterford. Once that was got right we were ready to compete.

"Another thing about it is that we hit 16 wides that day. I said afterwards if we had put them over the bar we'd have won. Since then we've consistently kept the wides down."

Meyler's appointment as manager of his native county was unexpected. He had compiled an impressive cv as a coach in Cork, where he has lived and worked as a lecturer in Cork IT, although he is from Tacumshane, near Rosslare. On the intercounty front, he took the Kerry hurlers through their only "golden era" of the last eight decades, qualifying for the NHL play-offs, winning a first championship match since 1926 and defeating Clare in their first league match as All-Ireland champions in 1995.

Yet he had had no contact with Wexford for over 20 years when he decided to make a pitch for the vacant manager's position.

"Every hurling county has 15 or 16 players, except for Kilkenny and Cork who have about 30. So it's a matter of taking the 15 in hand. I spent a month researching it and talking to people before submitting a plan. There's great ability in Wexford hurling - it's a matter of structuring and organising.

"Wexford need to win an All-Ireland every 10 years and not be looking back 30 and 40 years. Since 1999 Cork have won three and Kilkenny have won four. But they'll always be looking forward to the next one - not back at the last."

Getting it right in Wexford can have the same effect as opening a dam. Meyler is well aware that hurling arouses enthusiasm in the county. "A man said to me one evening at a challenge in Bunclody: 'If you win a few games there'll be 50,000 Wexford people behind you'. Wexford bring colour to hurling and everyone wants them there."

Going into the weekend match the team were under instructions to concentrate on the first 10 minutes in either half, where they had struggled in previous matches. Although Galway streaked into an early three-point lead, Wexford dug in and didn't allow their opponents drift away on the scoreboard.

One aspect of the team that proved effective against Galway was the redeployment of Darren Stamp to full forward. For a number of years the lack of physique in the Wexford attack has been a constant drawback.

"What we've said is that if you can't win independent ball, you can't get people to win it for you. All forwards have to fight for 50-50 ball and have to be able to compete for opposing ball. But strong guys take the sting out of the game.

"Darren Stamp has been playing for six or seven years around midfield," according to Meyler, "but we've had no full forward. The ball's been going in and coming out again. He has the ability to win ball and, even when he doesn't, to make his presence felt."

He is adamant that the league progress won't have a downside even if the team get taken to school by neighbours Kilkenny, who are after a three-in-a-row of NHL titles.

"The plan was to compete - that was the first goal. We're not getting carried away, because with Kilkenny in the long grass it's extremely hard. But I said to players: 'Look, do you want to sit on the high stool or do you want to be in Thurles? We could be drinking pints of cider talking about how good we are or we can be out there'."

Next Sunday they'll be there.