Wexford GAA

Wexford Senior Football Championship: Two clubs have eleven titles each.

Seán O'Kennedy, captain of Wexford, All-Ireland Senior Football Champions 1916

Wexford had one of the greatest football teams in the history of the GAA in the 1910s, winning six consecutive Leinster titles and the first team to win four All-Ireland titles in a row.[6] The team was trained by 1900 star James 'the Bull' Roche, who had fought for the World heavyweight boxing championship. The team featured Fr Ned Wheeler, Aidan Doyle and the O'Kennedy brothers, Gus and Sean. The latter was the team captain. The feat of six Leinster titles in a row was only equalled in 1931 when Kildare won the sixth in a sequence that began in 1926.[7]

Wexford's last major football success was winning the Leinster title in 1945. From then on, hurling took precedence in Wexford and as a consequence the Wexford footballers suffered, with the team descending into obscurity for many years. More recently, Wexford have had a strong team. The team reached the Division 1 League final of 2005 under the management of Pat Roe but were beaten by a strong Armagh team that day.

In April 2008, in Jason Ryan's first year as manager of the team, Wexford beat Fermanagh to win the Division 3 League final. This proved to be the first success of what would be a historic year for Wexford football, as they reached their first Leinster final in over 50 years. Along the way they stunned Meath by coming from ten points down to win their quarter-final in Carlow, and then beat Laois comprehensively in the semi-final. This was Wexford's 5th consecutive appearance in the provincial semi-final, but their first victory. In the final they were comprehensively beaten by a strong Dublin team, 3–23 to 0–09.

However, Wexford recovered from their humiliation and came through the back door, beating Down by seven points in a shock result to reach the last eight and a match-up with Armagh. From here, they produced one of the shocks of the championship, winning by 1–14 to 0–12 to reach their first All Ireland semi-final since 1945. They were beaten by 6 points by Tyrone, having been within two points of the eventual champions in the closing stages.

Wexford again reached the Leinster final in the 2011 Leinster Championship. Wexford had an easier run to the final than in 2008, facing Offaly, Westmeath and Carlow. In the final they faced Dublin again, but ran them much closer. A poor performance from Dublin's star player Bernard Brogan helped Wexford stay in touch with Dublin throughout the match, but a bizarre own goal meant they ultimately lost by 2–12 to 1–12, to the team that went on to win the All-Ireland.[8][9] Wexford entered Round 4 of the qualifiers where they faced Limerick, but they were beaten by a single point, on a score of 1–18 to 1–17.

Wexford Senior Hurling Championship

Hurling is one of the most prominent sports in Wexford. This is in evidence in several one-sided results over the years: Kildare were beaten by 14–15 to 1–1 in an 1897 Croke Cup match. The Antrim team were beaten by 12–17 to 2–3 in a 1954 All-Ireland semi-final. Nicky Rackard, who scored 7–7 at that day, was Wexford's greatest hurler. He starred in two clashes with Cork in 1954 and 1956. Wexford lost the first after having a goal disallowed, but won the second with the combination of an Art Foley save and Nicky Rackard goal in the closing minutes.

In the 1970s, the distinctive red-haired Tony Doran was the star as Kilkenny and Wexford played ten Leinster finals in succession. In 1984 they claimed that the final whistle was blown prematurely when they were beaten by a single point in the Leinster final.

In 1996 Wexford, led by Liam Griffin and captained by Martin Storey, brought the Liam MacCarthy Cup back to Slaneyside for the first time since 1968; they were waiting 28 years. Cork, Kilkenny and Tipperary have dominated the honours in recent years.

Davy Fitzgerald took over as manager of the team for 2017, and made progress by reaching the Leinster Final for the first time in nine years. In the final they played Galway. Fitzgerald was appointed after the departure of Liam Dunne, who also played a huge part in their recent success.[10]

Wexford's most recent hurling success was in the Leinster Final of 2019 when they defeated Kilkenny. In the Leinster semi-final, a draw in Wexford Park between Wexford and Kilkenny made it a rematch for the final. However, hurling in Wexford has been on the slide since 1996, their last All-Ireland success, and the Leinster title in 2004 simply papered over the cracks.[11]