Sligo will be tough
Wednesday March 03 2010
WEXFORD'S PROMOTION prospects face a real test when they come up against Sligo in their Allianz Football League Division 3 clash at Wexford Park on Sunday next (1 p.m.).
Having lost to Louth and defeated Offaly, a victory would set the Model county up for a promotion push, but defeat could leave them facing a real relegation dogfight in their remaining games.
Wexford have been further hit by injuries. With Adrian Morrissey, David Fogarty and Graeme Molloy still out of contention, they received a further blow when cornerforward Paddy Byrne was ruled out for up to six weeks.
Byrne received a knee injury in training ten days back which has been diagnosed as a chip off the bone and medial ligament damage. He underwent an operation on the injury last week but will not be available to the team management for at least six weeks.
The Kilmore player was fitting in nicely to the attack, taking the corner-forward berth once held by Matty Forde. There is still no sign of the Kilanerin player returning to action and one fears we could have seen the last of the outstanding attacker in the purple and gold.
The pressure is now on Wexford to deliver a second consecutive league victory. They will be smarting from their O'Byrne Shield final loss to Carlow, having led by eight points at half-time, so they will be determined to get back to winning ways.
Manager Jason Ryan sees Sligo as a huge challenge. 'They have defeated Louth, and lost narrowly to Antrim. We have met them several times in recent seasons so we know exactly what to expect. It will be a huge challenge for us but, having lost one game, we can ill-afford a further loss.
'We must now set out to win all our games. A win on Sunday will put us into the promotion race while a defeat could see us facing a relegation battle. That's how competitive this division is,' Ryan said.
He added that they were disappointed to lose to Carlow as they set out to win every game. 'We had a long weekend in Kilkenny so perhaps the lads were somewhat tired. We could take a lot of positives out of the first-half. We then tried out some players and we seemed to lose our concentration. There's not much we could take out of the second-half.'
Still, Ryan is happy that many of his players are now becoming available for what is a crucial test.
'We have P.J. Banville and Shane Roche back pushing for a starting place, while Ciarán Deely is also returning to full fitness and showed well against Carlow. Both Eric Bradley and Brendan Doyle are now much fitter, so all of that gives us more options,' he added.
Ryan believes that his side have the potential and ability to win their games if they put in the hard slog. Wexford will announce their side after Thursday night's training.
- BRENDAN FURLONG
