Leinster GAA Hurling Senior Championship – Round 1

Antrim v Wexford

Venue: Chadwicks Wexford Park

Date: Saturday 19 April – Throw in: 2pm

Referee: Colm Lyons (Cork)

Brendan McTaggart looks ahead to Antrim’s Leinster championship opener as Antrim travel to Wexford.

Almost six weeks have passed since the end of a National Hurling league that saw Antrim maintain their Division One status for the 2026 season.  Wins against Westmeath and Laois came either side of a draw away to Carlow in a game that saw the Saffrons come back from the brink.

Since then, the Saffrons attention have been firmly set upon the Leinster Championship.  It’s a tough schedule that will see them play five matches in as many weeks with trips to Galway and Offaly preceding home games against Kilkenny and Dublin.  Before all that however, Antrim have a trip to the ‘Sunny South East’ and a match against Wexford.

Thought will immediately go back to that historical meeting 12 months ago against the Slaneysiders where Antrim recorded a first championship win against Wexford.  That match finishing 2-22 to 2-20.  This is one that certainly whet’s the appetite – an early Easter feast, if you will.

The Antrim squad have recently been on a training camp to Portugal and when we spoke with Davy Fitzgerald, he lauded his squad for their efforts not only on the training pitch but to also put something like this together: “Yeah we had four days in Portugal which was the equivalent of eight sessions or two weeks in that space of time.

“It’s hugely beneficial to not only get that training done and games but to get away from any outside noise – both good and bad.

“You’re in a different environment and a different country but it’s our space and our area.  This is already a close group of lads but being in that environment and this setting, it builds bonds or reinforces them.

“I’m immensely proud of the lads.  They’ve put in a serious amount of work to ensure the likes of that would happen.  I know they’ve done it for the last number of years, these lads seen that the County Board have been brilliant for the lads and wanted to do this themselves.”

After a league campaign that saw the Saffrons improve as the season progressed, Fitzgerald wasn’t looking to paper over any cracks.  Consistency is still the buzz word within the camp and the Clare native said they are working relentlessly to bring that to this squad: “We beat teams (in the league) that we’d have been expected to beat and drew against Carlow in a game that I thought we were the better side.  There’s an inconsistency there and by that I mean being competitive, that’s something that we’re trying to sort out.

“I’ve been working on in-house games mostly.  Working on ways to improve the areas we’ve identified that need improving.

“The lads are open to the ideas we’re bringing.  I’m a firm believer in dealing with these things head on and we’ve had discussions as a group to try and address this.  Are we there yet?  No, I don’t think so but I definitely believe we’re going in the right direction.

“We’re in a position to do things that can change that and we’re trying.  The lads are doing incredible work and working really hard.  I’ve massive respect for these lads for the efforts they are putting in to turn this around.”

Saturday is a huge game and with the bookies making Antrim as big as 10/1 and the Handicap betting sitting at -9 for Evs, wouldn’t you just love for another massive moment for this squad and team against the ‘Yella Bellies’ but as Fitzgerald said, while some may look at that as a negative, he’s looking to turn that into a positive and instill a fire within his players: “We’re odds on to be relegated in Leinster or so I’ve been told by friends who have been to the bookies.  I’ve been telling the lads that they have to go out and tare into these teams and see where we are.”

After that game in Corrigan last year, Wexford recovered to defeat Galway, Carlow and ran Kilkenny to a point in the last game, adding to their draw against Dublin on the opening day.  They finished third and advanced to the preliminary quarter finals on a better head to head against Galway and just one point ahead of Antrim.

In the 2025 league, Wexford played in Division 1A and while they were relegated to 1B, they recorded victories against Clare and Limerick.  It shows that the Slaneysiders are a side who have the capabilities to go deep in the championship though many would see them as outsiders.

They are, off course, a side that Davy Fitzgerald will know very well.  He was in charge of the county’s senior team from 2016 to 2021 in a tenure that saw him win the county’s first Leinster championship for 15 years (2019) before losing narrowly to eventual All-Ireland winners Tipperary in the semi-final that year.  Fitzy said that he has fond memories of his time in charge in the south-east: “I have a huge amount of respect for Wexford.  I had five great years there and they are a great, passionate people.  From what I’ve been told, they are hurt from getting beat by Antrim last year and looking to atone for that on Saturday, want to teach us a lesson.

“It’s important to relish a challenge like this and I’ve told the lads that.”