GAELIC GAMES NEWS ROUND-UPTHE AGE of Wexford football manager Jason Ryan does not make a difference anymore. He's 32, by the way, and only left the Waterford panel to take up this position last November.
Individual meetings with the players, especially senior stalwarts, won the panel over during the winter months. An unbeaten league run all the way to the Division Three title, ensured the regular Wexford football supporter began spreading the word.
Those not already on the band wagon must be convinced by Sunday's dramatic 10-point half-time turnaround to beat Meath.
A Leinster semi-final against Laois on June 22nd presents a familiar hurdle they are yet to clear. They have underperformed in previous high-profile contests in recent years, including against Laois last year.
"Our goals were set in November at a meeting when players aired their individual aims," said Ryan yesterday of his first collective encounter with the Wexford panel. "Guys like Rory Stafford and Paddy Colfer have been around long enough so they weren't just coming back for another Leinster semi-final. Even going into the Meath game we maintained those goals.
"I met all of them at the start of the year. That was a factor. The senior players wanted to know what I was going to do that was different from before."
The age issue never came up. It helped that Ryan had just guided Clongeen to a county championship after four semi-final defeats in a row. Club men like Nicky O'Sullivan, Aidan Cullen, Collie Byrne and Colfer shared that experience with the rest of the panel.
Having just got married and being on the inter-county scene for a prolonged period, Colfer was set to pack it in, "I'm glad I didn't now. Jason sort of had a talk and I knew that what he had done with the club team was unreal, and I knew that if the county players would give him the commitment that we would be a different proposition this year and we showed we are, you know."
The league is usually dismissed as a tuning-up process for the month of June and beyond but Wexford can point to its competitive nature for their decent second half showing that caught out a sleepy, understrength Meath. Sligo, Limerick and Fermanagh also began the championship with victories.
"We've been doing it all year," Colfer continues. "We went down to Limerick in the league, we were eight points down with 12 minutes to go and we pulled it out of the fire.
"At half-time we knew we had a chance because we never kicked a ball in the first half, to be honest. There are 35 or 40 players training five nights a week for the last six months and at half-time we said 'why put in that much effort just to roll over today?'."
One must wonder what went on behind the dressingroom door during the interval. "There was no shouting and roaring, everyone was calm enough. We had just let ourselves down because gradually we have built up supporters in Wexford, more people have been turning up to every game and you have to earn respect.
"It's unbelievable because this group of players are like a tight family. We've let ourselves down in the last four semi-finals, we know that, and the supporters know that. But we know we're mentally stronger and hopefully this is our year."
Colfer and Ryan both conceded Meath surely felt victory was wrapped up. In the opening 35 minutes, they utterly dominated midfield and their forwards were proving unmarkable. Despite poor performances all over the field, Ryan only tweaked it slightly, with Adrian Morrissey and Thomas Howlin making telling contributions from the bench. The others raised their game significantly, while three more impact subs made a difference.
"We put on five subs but there is another blast of players who didn't get on and they are disgusted not to be involved," said Ryan. "Then there are those who were taken off and will be disappointed. There is a lot of competition there."
Speaking to Leinster Council chairman Séamus Howlin yesterday, on an unrelated matter, the conversation inevitably steered towards his native Wexford. He recalled the force of personality that radiated from the 1996 All-Ireland hurling champions.
"That same strength of character is in this football panel," he said.
It may be a little presumptuous to make that comparison but something has clicked into gear since Ryan took over the reins.
The young manager refers you to his "excellent" management team. There are, of course, unsettled matters to be addressed but a whole article on Wexford football without a reference to the magnificent Matty Forde? Something must be happening, they just don't know what it is. Yet.
