Lee Chin speaks about Wexford losing their Leinster crown, the manner of the loss to Galway, and Davy Fitzgerald saying they put up the white flag.
BY SHANE STAPLETON
Lee Chin says Davy Fitzgerald was speaking on behalf of the players when the Wexford boss claimed they “put up the white flag” against Galway.
The Tribe won the Leinster SHC semi-final at a canter on Saturday night at Croke Park, coming away with 13 points to spare in Shane O’Neill’s maiden outing as an inter-county manager.
It announced Galway as a serious contender for the season, and conversely posed huge questions of outgoing Leinster champions, Wexford.
“We put up the white flag and we just saw the game out,” Davy Fitz said after the game. “That is very disappointing.
“There’s no point hiding when you have a performance like that, you man up and say it as it is.”
Chin spoke exclusively to OurGame about the performance, during which it seemed clear he did not disagree with his manager’s words.
“No, I don’t and none of us do,” says the Faythe Harriers clubman. “We are all aware of what he said in his post-match interview and he spoke on behalf of us all.
“He was very accurate. It was humiliating for a side like ourselves that expect more of ourselves.
“We can deal with being beaten, but to not work hard enough and fight enough is the real sucker-blow.
“I can’t put my finger on anything we tactically did wrong,” Chin adds. “We didn’t fight hard enough, we weren’t getting into breaks with intent, and we weren’t winning 50-50 battles.”
Wexford will get a second bite of the cherry in the qualifiers and, along with Tipperary, are in the second round awaiting the winners from Dublin v Cork and Clare v Laois.
During Fitzgerald’s three previous seasons in charge, the team built up a level of consistency in performance, and Chin hopes their no-show against Galway is an outlier.
“It’s been something since Davy came, that level of consistency,” he explains.
“Regardless of whether we’re being beaten or not, we go to the end and on Saturday we didn’t.
“We were all hurting after the game and Davy expressed it after the game.
“We’ve talked it out since, and we had a session last night [Monday] and a couple of honest words and the main thing was to gather our thoughts and get things right for the next day out.”
Click play on the video at the top of the page to see the full interview, where Chin talks about the season ahead, playing club under Derek McGrath, and more.
Lee Chin is hitting the campaign trail this week as part of NOW TV’s Hurl vs Hurley campaign which will see the nation vote on what is the definitive term for a hurler’s most prized possession. . The result of the poll will be revealed to the public on November 12th. To have your say visit HurlvHurley.com where you can cast your vote right now.
