70 minute performance required if we are to progress

For 35 minutes of the game against Kilkenny a few weeks ago the Wexford team gave as good a performance as they have given in some time. They were aggressive, first to the ball, made good use of it and were clinical in attack. Davy Fitzgerald and his management team deserve huge credit for the way they were able to rise the players and steel them to produce this level of performance 7 days after the dispiriting reversal against Galway in Wexford Park. It would have been easy for players to lose focus and feel sorry for themselves but the opposite happened and that first half performance showed what we are capable of. However we could not sustain things for the hour and whether this was due to fatigue from the previous 3 games or Kilkenny upping the anti and us not being able to match them it’s hard to know. But what is clear is that Saturday in Cork will require a 70 minute plus performance and nothing less if we are to have a chance of victory.

Form

Where do we stand now a few days out from a huge quarter final clash against Clare?

Even though the first half of the game against Kilkenny was encouraging I’d have to say that our form since the Galway league quarter final has been very patchy. Dublin could and quite possibly should have beaten us in the first game but for a brilliant catch by Kevin Foley to set up an injury time equalizer and a monster score from Rory O Connor. The Offaly game was a non event, Galway dispatched us without much trouble while the Westmeath game last week was very sloppy at times while on the other hand Clare have had impressive championship victories over Waterford, Limerick and Tipperary and were scintillating for the first half of last weeks Munster final,so for me the form books are not in our favour and it is quite difficult to just switch on your form for an All Ireland quarter final.

For us our matchups will again be crucial. Clare are dangerous in an attacking sense so we must attempt to negate their scoring potential. My biggest worry for the weekend ,as I have stated before, is defensively where I still feel we are two defenders short of having a real top class rearguard. If we become stretched and Clare get enough ball in and are allowed to get their overlapping style going I fear for us, so in this sense out the field in the middle third of the pitch will be crucial in deciding the winner.

In our attack we have the potential to trouble Clare if we use the wide open spaces of Pairc Ui Chaoimh where natural movers such as Rory O Connor, David Dunne, Paul Morris and the returning Liam Og McGovern ,if introduced, can thrive if they pivot around the central players Lee Chin and Conor McDonald, move with pace and purpose and play as a unit and give the ball to the player in the best position to shoot at all times.

Rabbit out of the hat 

In the 2013 All Ireland quarter final, when Clare manager, Davy pulled a rabbit out of the hat by placing Pat Donnellan as sweeper which helped them secure victory on the road to the ultimate prize in September that year so is Saturday a day for us to spring a surprise and do something different or do we stick with the system and personnel that we have used all year? I suspect Davy will have something up his sleeve to surprise us. Could Liam Og McGovern be put in from the start to bring more movement to our forward division, open gaps in the Clare defence and give us a genuine goal threat. Davy has been robbed of the services of the talented St Anne’s man for the last two years but he seems to be starting to get back to full fitness and for Wexford on Saturday it is all or nothing so Fitzgerald may feel its time to play all the cards available to him. If McGovern is back near his best I would be very tempted to use him as when in full flight he is one of our top forwards. Let’s wait and see.

Having Davy in our dugout against his native county has to be an advantage for us. He may not show it publicly but Davy will badly want to win this game and will fire up his players more than ever. Furthermore Fitzgerald will know the Clare players inside out and he should be able to give our team a serious insight into the strengths and weaknesses of each player which is a serious asset to have going into any game. On the other hand the Clare players will be motivated to prove that they can do it without Davy and all this really does add to the spice of the occasion.

Prediction 

The prize for a win on Saturday is huge. Both teams on Saturday have a serious opportunity to get into the last four in Croke Park and if they were given this game at the start of the year to do it they would have gladly taken it. I genuinely believe that this is a 50/50 game where there is not much between both teams, remember the last 3 times Wexford and Clare have played championship the game has gone to extra time. This game could well be decided by the team that settles into their rhythm the quickest, gains a foothold in the midfield area and keeps the pressure off their respective back lines. Both teams have strengths and both have weaknesses especially defensively. Both will want to atone for second half collapses in their most recent big championship games and show that they are genuine contenders for the big prizes. I will not at all be surprised to see our team ,with some seriously talented individuals, winning on Saturday, if we can maintain the Kilkenny first half performance until the end but if I was to call it, I would go for Clare who have shown already this year that they can beat any of the top teams in Munster, have players with huge experience of winning the big prizes and have more form to fall back on in this years championship. Let’s hope I’m wrong and that the Wexford lads play above themselves and that we are the happy ones returning home to Wexford on Saturday night.