Tag Archives: Liam Dunne

WEXFORD senior manager Liam Dunne believes Wexford have a good chance of winning the county’s first U-21 All-Ireland since 1965. “Clare play a running game but a lot of our guys were involved with the seniors, who played against a Clare team that play a similar style to the U-21s. If Wexford can be with Clare by half-time in this game, I’ll give them every chance of winning it; they won’t falter, they won’t die. Clare could open them up in the first 20 minutes but if they can hold that off, I think they’ve a great opportunity,” Dunne says. He masterminded an unexpected victory over the Banner this summer, something almost no one outside the Wexford camp saw coming. Eight of the senior panel are involved again on Saturday and while he is adamant that Wexford do have a real shot, he is under no illusions about the strength of the Clare threat. “They’ve (Wexford) beaten Offaly, Kilkenny, Dublin …

NOT a feat they’ll be boasting about but the 2013 All-Ireland champions broke new ground in the frenzied cauldron that was Wexford Park last Saturday evening. Since the back door and subsequent All-Ireland qualifier system was introduced in 1997 no reigning All-Ireland championship has exited at the earliest possible opportunity. Defeats to Cork and now Wexford, leaves Clare as the first holders of the Liam McCarthy Cup to fall at this juncture in their title defence. Clare didn’t hand back their All-Ireland title because the players weren’t prepared to give their last ounce. They were met with a fresher, fully committed Wexford team who should really have won the drawn game in Ennis, well before extra-time. Lets be honest here, if Wexford had lost, particularly the replay, Liam Dunne would have searching questions to answer. Their deployment of their two extra men, an advantage they hand for 30 minutes, was almost impossible to fathom. Rarely did they seek to stretch …

WEXFORD manager Liam Dunne went home from Ennis  content that his gear bag contained a particular jersey. A combative half-back in his own day, Dunne headed for Ennis last Saturday intent on winning and heading home with Brendan Bugler’s jersey. He half succeeded on the first count and followed that up by getting his hands on the Whitegate man’s number five jersey. “I asked him for his jersey. I got to him last year but he was after swapping his jersey. He’s a man that I have admired for a long, long time. I think he’s a great bit of stuff and a great hurler. He gave me his jersey and I’m delighted going home with that,” Dunne revealed. He feels Wexford will benefit from the game. “To score 2-25 apiece, would any team deserve to lose a game? Clare are not All-Ireland champions for nothing and they proved it today. We put them under pressure in the first half …

Former Wexford hurling manager, Liam Griffin returns to Clare this weekend to see the All-Ireland championship qualifier at Cusack Park but he will also spend some time in Newmarket-on-Fergus, recalling old times. The Rosslare man has many happy memories of his time with the Newmarket club in the early 1960s, with whom he won two U-21 titles and a couple of Clare senior championships. In fact, he is proud to say that, in his time with the Blues he “never played on a losing team”. “We were unbeaten in all our games. We had a really good team that included the likes of Trixie Twomey, Mick Considine, the O’Learys, Gus Lohan, Liam Danagher and Pudden Cullinan,” he recalled ahead of Saturday’s meeting of Clare and Wexford. “Wexford are going into the lions’ den. They have a young team for the most part, with a few experienced players. Wexford are up against it having to travel to Clare and this game …