A real game of two haves

Football in Wexford: After today the opinion polls will count for nothing, with any shift in power already in place. But it seems revolution is still in the air in Wexford, with hurling in the county in danger of being ousted by football.

No more than once in a lifetime does a county face such a turning point. Tomorrow in Croke Park, the Wexford hurlers play Kilkenny in the Leinster semi-final. They're not expected to win, but defeat won't bring the normal twinge of sorrow associated with the escape of another provincial title. In two weeks the Wexford footballers play Westmeath at the same stage of their Leinster championship.

Yet should the footballers end up going further in the championship than the hurlers, it will represent a step back in time as much as a step forward. Wexford won their first All-Ireland football title in 1893 and then won four in succession from 1915 to 1918. They won their first hurling title in 1910 and didn't win another until 1955. Only after that did the popularity shift in the direction of hurling.

For now that popularity appears to be holding firm. Just about. So former hurling manager Tony Dempsey discovered in recent days, on a campaign trail of a different sort. As a Fianna Fáil TD, Dempsey has crossed the towns and villages of Wexford in the countdown to the local elections, and naturally some of the conversations turned towards hurling, and football.

"To be honest most of the talk is still about hurling out there on the hustings," says Dempsey. "Just the other day I was in Kilmore and all the youngsters wanted to talk about was hurling. So hurling is still never far from the forefront."

Having also spent time as the county football manager, Dempsey can speak with authority on the changing positions of both codes. Wexford beating Kildare in the Leinster football quarter-final last Sunday came as little surprise. And he smiles at the reminder that Páidí Ó Sé, who now manages Westmeath, spoke of playing a county with a strong football tradition in the Leinster semi-final, following his own team's surprise win over Dublin.

"Well there has been a long, long tradition of football in Wexford, something that people tend to forget. And nowhere does tradition mean more than in the GAA. I know when Páidí talked about playing a county with a strong football tradition he was partly trying to boost Wexford, trying to lull them into some false sense of security.

"But he was very much aware, too, that Wexford share the record of four All-Ireland football titles in a row with Kerry. And I suppose talk like that does take some of the pressure off the hurlers."

Wexford's football fortunes may have waned in more recent years, but it was far from dead. At schools level, in fact, the county was still feared around the country, with Good Counsel of New Ross winning the All-Ireland title in 1999 after winning two Leinster titles in the years previous. And before that, St Peter's of Wexford won the Leinster football title in 1992.

On that St Peter's football team was current county hurler Darragh Ryan. The former All Star and captain has also played football at all grades for both the county and his club St Anne's, but his drift towards hurling reflects the taste of his generation.

"Hurling would probably have been my number one choice all along," says Ryan. "That's what the family were more involved with, and they'd always followed football more than hurling. So it was always my intention to focus on hurling.

"Having said that I suppose it was the same as any other county. You'd always be inclined to go for the game that is more popular."

Ryan helped St Anne's to county football and hurling medals in 2000, but after that decided to concentrate solely on hurling. While enjoying football, he admits the physical demands took a greater toll on his body. He was also aware that the football talent in Wexford was there.

"I wasn't surprised in the least bit when Wexford beat Kildare last Sunday. And I don't think don't it was anything of a major shock to the people of Wexford. The footballers have, in fact, shown quite good form over the last few seasons despite the poor championship record, and I felt they were due a win at that level some time soon."

As for taking some of the pressure off the hurlers, or even providing a welcome distraction, Ryan quickly rejects the theory: "No, no, not at all. We've been focused on what we have to do all along, playing the All-Ireland champions. Nothing that the footballers have done has changed that."

If this is the summer that starts the shift in popularity back towards football then it will be felt throughout the county. Unlike Limerick, Offaly or Galway and the more successful dual counties of recent years, hurling and football are evenly dusted around Wexford, with only a select few areas claiming a genuine hold over the other. There are strongholds such as Rathnure and Cloughbawn for hurling and Rosslare and Gusserane for football, but no one area can be deemed exclusive to one or the other.

This brings pressures of a different sort for a county of 116,000 people, and raises the question whether the population is there to allow both games to thrive. Dempsey has long claimed the dual player is a thing of the past, and feels the current situation highlights the need for more careful and strategic planning.

"It's not beyond the powers of practicality to encourage football in the schools where football has traditionally been the stronger game. You play hurling as well, but you promote one at the slight expense of the other. And you do vice versa with hurling in the hurling schools.

"But I also think it's a bit unrealistic to expect hurling or football to thrive exclusively on the work of Central Council or the Provincial Council. Strong clubs should be providing their own coaches in the same way strong rugby clubs do. I feel the answer to the survival of both hurling and football in Wexford is to lay down a proper plan, and that it entails having full-time coaches in the major towns."

The day when a young player of all-round talent in Wexford drifts towards football rather than hurling, because his head says there lies the path to the success, might soon be on the horizon. It's something Dempsey feels he's already caught a glimpse of.

"The division we have now arises mostly from aspirations and beliefs. I know in marketing there is a saying that perception is as good as reality. We have a perception in Wexford that we might win an All-Ireland in hurling. We don't have that in football.

"But if the Wexford footballers beat Westmeath, and I'm pretty confident that they might, then I don't think they'll fear anyone in the Leinster final. I mean they've taken Meath in the league, and Laois certainly aren't beyond them either.

"If that happens, then I think we'll see a huge psychological shift towards football. And that's when hurling could be threatened. But right now I have no doubt the potential in Wexford hurling is still very real, and very much alive. I know the bookies have to favour Kilkenny tomorrow, and they are a magnificent team, but hurling still feeds on the unexpected happening."

There is one Wexford figure who has experienced more than most the grip that hurling still holds over football in the county. Séamus Keevans was for 12 years a senior footballer with the county just as hurling began to thrive, later became manager, and 11 years on, now manages the Wexford junior football team, and also works with various underage teams in the county.

"I always felt there was just as good a football talent in the county," says Keevans, who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the highs and lows of Wexford football. "But maybe it suffered from lack of attention. There were a lot of years there when Wexford footballers fell just short of making a breakthrough. I remember in 1977 we had a very talented bunch that beatOffaly in the quarter-final. But Offaly built on that and a few years later were All-Ireland champions.

"Part of that was because we always seemed to be a player or two short. And to be honest I've seen how most players would have felt it was easier to make progress in the hurling, because you don't have the same amount of contenders, and that with football you'd probably win nothing."

There is ample evidence of the high drop-off rate in Wexford football. Corner back Niall Murphy is the only member of the successful Good Counsel team of 1999 on the current county senior team. There's also been precious little shift from hurling to football, Nicky Lambert being one of the view pioneers, only for a broken leg sustained in the Kildare match to end his season.

"I don't think there will ever be a total shift back," adds Keevans. "But I could see Wexford football benefiting a lot more if the senior team keeps improving. They'll get more support and that might bring in the extra few players that football still needs.

"And when you're so long out of the limelight, the does mean a lot to the people who play football, and who work in football in Wexford. But I know it's only a quarter-final that we've won, and we do have to advance further for it to really matter."

Like reaching the Leinster football final. Perhaps sharing provincial silverware with the hurlers for the first time since 1918. Inevitably, though, one of them would probably have to snap out of it after that.