Ryan has Wexford cooking again

GAELIC FOOTBALL:JASON RYAN has come through some testing challenges in his four years as Wexford manager, and Sunday's Leinster semi-final against Carlow isn't exactly the easiest of them. Wexford start as sizable favourites, and anything less than a convincing victory in Croke Park would be seen as a step back for Ryan after two very notable steps forward.

They’ve already racked up 3-40 in their two Leinster championship victories so far, over Offaly and Westmeath, and appear to have regained the style and vigour that saw them reach the All-Ireland semi-final in 2008, in what was Ryan’s debut season as Wexford manager.

All things considered they look well-poised to make another Leinster final, having progressed as recently as 2008 under Ryan.

Carlow may have upset the odds by beating Louth in their quarter-final, but that marked their first championship victory since 2006, and they haven’t reached a Leinster final since 1944.

In fact it’s been 53 years since they even contested a Leinster semi-final, and although Ryan won’t be underestimating them, it’s difficult to see how Carlow will handle Wexford’s considerable scoring threat.

The challenge facing Ryan at the start of the season was how to reignite the competitive edge of his team, which appeared to have gone a little blunt since his sensational debut season in 2008.

Although they twice lost out to eventual All-Ireland champions (Tyrone, in the 2008 All-Ireland semi-final, and to Cork in last year’s third round qualifier), by the end of last season they appeared to be a team in decline, or at least in need of some freshening up. So that’s exactly what Ryan went about doing.

“Jason would try to freshen things up every year,” says selector Diarmuid O’Hanlon, who along with Ger Foxe has been with Ryan since his appointment in November 2007.

“Both Jason and I would come from a sports science background, and the whole concept of training does change from year to year, and it’s about trying to find what works for the players, to keep the training fresh, and keep progressing as much as possible.

“But we’ve definitely no complacency about Carlow. They’ve always been a difficult team for Wexford to beat. But we’re happy with our own preparations.

“Apart from the disappointment of the last few games of the league, where we missed out on promotion to Division Two on points difference, for a second year in a row, it’s been quite a good season. We just hit a bad spell at a bad time, but we’re showing our true form at the moment, and hopefully that will continue. League form is not long forgotten after a good run in the championship.”

Ryan also expanded his backroom team at the start of the season to include former star forward John Hegarty: “John is there in a coaching capacity,” explains O’Hanlon, “and Mick Casey is still very much involved in the training as well, so there’s a core group of six or seven at training every night, and it’s very much a team effort as far as the preparation goes.”

Still, 2011 didn’t get off to the most auspicious start when Wexford lost to DIT in the O’Byrne Cup – then lost heavily to Dublin in the Shield – and former All Star forward Matty Forde announced his retirement, after 11 years with the county, mainly due to a chronic back injury.

If Ryan needed any further convincing of the need to blood new talent this was it, and the fruits of his search are already ripening. Step up 23-year-old Ben Brosnan.

“From the outside it does appear as if Ben appeared from nowhere,” says O’Hanlon, “but he’s been involved with us for the last three or four years. He came on against Cork in the qualifiers last year, with the game almost over, and still kicked a super score, from 50 metres out. So he’s been very much on our radar, although he only really come of age in the last eight to 12 months.

“There has been some good development work done in Wexford in the last few years, and there is plenty of talent coming up along. I think Sunday is a particularly important game, because there’s a huge game on the horizon if we can get over this hurdle. But nobody involved is complacent or looking for anything less than a great performance on Sunday.”

There are older and more experienced managers in the game than Jason Ryan, but the 35-year-old Waterford native continues to prove it’s not all about what you know, but what you’re willing to learn. By utilising Colm Morris as a sort of roaming forward, and leaving Redmond Barry and Ciarán Lyng as a two-man full-forward line, Wexford’s 3-40 from two games has set the pace in Leinster, and looks set to continue on Sunday.

Jason Ryan/Wexford Championship Record

2008:Beat Meath 2-15 to 2-14; beat Laois 0-18 to 0-12; lost to Dublin 3-23 to 0-9; beat Down 2-13 to 0-12; beat Armagh 1-14 to 0-12; lost to Tyrone 0-23 to 1-14.

2009:Lost to Kildare 2-12 to 0-11; beat Offaly 2-11 to 0-16; lost to Roscommon 0-11 to 0-8 (after extra-time, and replay).

2010:Lost to Dublin 2-16 to 0-15 (after extra time); beat London 4-22 to 0-9; beat Galway 1-11 to 0-13; lost to Cork 0-12 to 0-5.

2011:Beat Offaly 2-16 to 0-8; beat Westmeath 1-24 to 0-15.

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Played:16; Won 9; Drew 1; Lost 6.