By Jim O'Sullivan, Irish Examiner
FORMER Down boss Pete McGrath doesn't believe Wexford will be a push-over for Armagh when the counties meet in the All-Ireland quarter-final in Croke Park next Saturday.
However, while impressed by the progress which the Leinster side has made under new manager Jason Ryan, he feels that they are still lacking a bit of quality.
“The one thing they have is strength and a very high degree of teamwork. What they need to do is maybe to just have a little bit more idea what's happening when they get into the final third of the field, because at times they are a wee bit lop-sided,' he explained.
“They can kick the ball under pressure when there is no need to. I felt beforehand that in terms of physical strength, teamwork and endeavour any team that plays them would meet a very stiff challenge. But I think what might let down Wexford is maybe a lack of potency in their forward line.”
Matty Forde, meanwhile, is looking on the positive side, believing that their game on Saturday will stand to them, whereas Armagh have been inactive for a few weeks. And, he feels that there is more in the Wexford team. “It's great to be in the quarter-final. We had a few things to address from the Dublin game and few wrongs to put right. I think we did that.
“We knew after the final we weren't as bad a team as we showed. At the end of the day that was the first game we lost all year. We were talked up before the game as the only unbeaten team in the country and after it the way the press were going on it felt like we were in the bottom six teams.
“Nobody gave us a hope against Down. We were 2/1 with a lot of the bookies. But we knew after the last day that we are not that bad a team and I think we proved it on Saturday.”
Towering midfielder Brendan Doyle, who won the man-of-the-match award, insisted that Wexford had fancied their chances going into the game, basing their confidence on the fact of having beaten Down in the League earlier in the year.
“And we all know there is much more in this team. In the Leinster final no one really performed on the day. We were looking forward to coming back. We were glad to get the opportunity so soon.”
Looking at the game from a Down perspective, Pete McGrath agrees that the team is still heavily reliant on star forward Benny Coulter. “Obviously, Wexford did their homework in the way that they double-marked him and he wasn't a major threat.
“As well as that, there would have been question marks over the Down defence. There have been for a number of years. The fact that they conceded two goals in the first half showed that there would still be pretty blatant weaknesses in there in terms of where they might want to be.
“Wexford should have won the match by an awful lot more. I think as far as Down are concerned their forwards physically haven't got enough power. In one-to-one situations they weren't able to break tackles and weren't able to win their own ball in 50-50 situations. That problem came home to roost in a very major way.''
