Wexford's embarrassing defeat to Clare won’t define their season and may serve to “focus minds”, Liam Sheedy insists.
Brian Lohan’s side left Chadwicks Wexford Park with an emphatic 6-25 to 1-18 victory on Sunday, with RTE pundit and former Kilkenny star Jackie Tyrrell describing the home side’s performance as “shambolic”.
It was a result that reminded Sheedy of the 5-17 to 1-12 League beating his Tipperary side suffered to Kilkenny back in 2009, before playing out a memorable League final with them some weeks later.
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“It was a fairly dark moment going down the tunnel at half-time and the roaring, ‘Go on, stay going lads, the bus is running!’” recalled Sheedy of that 17-point defeat.
“Within six weeks we were playing them in Thurles in what I’d consider one of the best League finals ever played. It was an incredible match. We took them to extra time. And we matched them physically. I know Seamus [Callanan] hopped off Brian Hogan.
“Some days in Leagues, you can get a day it doesn’t happen. Wexford had one of those.
“Ultimately, Darragh Egan and Brian Lohan and all the managers won’t be measured on a League game in February, it will all be measured on the group games that gets them into the top three.
“No matter what happened, the bottom line is that if you don’t have players like Rory O’Connor, Lee Chin and Matthew O’Hanlon on the pitch, they probably don’t have the back-up right now to take on those leadership roles.
“Wexford need to get their full team on the pitch. They have been dogged by injuries. But I don’t think a hiding in the League defines you. It can really focus minds.
“The Clare team that looked a shadow of themselves in Limerick. Were very, very poor. The game was pedestrian. Was over so quickly. Then to see the Clare team that took to the pitch on Sunday, there’s no doubt John Conlon and Tony Kelly and these guys coming back in were a big plus.”
Wexford boss Egan was part of Sheedy’s management team during his second stint in Tipperary and they won the All-Ireland together in 2019.
Sheedy, who will be featured on TG4’s Laochra Gael on Thursday, added: “A line that I often use, ‘Nobody remembers matches in February’. I used to say, ‘Nobody forgets matches in September’ but now you have to say, ‘Nobody forgets matches in July’ because it has moved forward.
“He won five out of five last year [in the League]. And he still had to go and beat Kilkenny in Kilkenny to get to the knock-out stage of the qualifiers. Ultimately, it was his panel that caught him against Clare.
“His number one priority will be to get into those top three seeds in Leinster. If he does, matches like Sunday’s pale into insignificance.”
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