'We're going to miss the Walsh Cup' says Wexford boss Keith Rossiter as Central Council axes pre-season competitions
'There’s a cup to be won and there’s something at stake and there’s a bit of a crowd coming to it. If you’re playing practice matches, challenge matches, you don’t get the crowd and there’s nothing on the line.'
Keith Rossiter said he’s disappointed that his Wexford side won’t have the opportunity to defend the Walsh Cup next year.
The GAA’s Central Council took the decision on Saturday to suspend the pre-season competitions in 2025, meaning that the Walsh and Kehoe Cups and the Munster SHL won’t take place, along with the Dr McKenna Cup, O’Byrne Cup, McGrath Cup and FBD League in football.
The move is backed by the Gaelic Players’ Association with player welfare among the reasons behind it though Rossiter said that Wexford “got a great bounce” from winning the Walsh Cup last January and carried it into the League, in which they performed well to secure a spot in the next year’s new-look top flight.
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Rossiter admits that he can appreciate the thinking behind it and that their run in the competition meant that they played on five successive weekends, but he would prefer to see tweaks to the timing and format rather than it being scrapped.
The Wexford boss said: “I would have been planning for it again to be honest with you.
“There’s something at stake at the end of the line. It’s not the same as the League and it’s not the same as a Leinster cup, it’s not the same as an All-Ireland cup obviously, but it’s a competition.
“There’s a cup to be won and there’s something at stake and there’s a bit of a crowd coming to it. If you’re playing practice matches, challenge matches, you don’t get the crowd and there’s nothing on the line. Be it a minor cup, as such, but there’s still something at stake.
“There’s still a cup to be won and you can’t recreate that atmosphere in a challenge match. So it will be missed.
“I think the lads enjoyed playing in it and it did stand to us as a management team as well, to get the couple of run outs.”
With the All-Ireland final being played on the third weekend in July, it now means that inter-county hurling will be taken out of the shop window right up to the first weekend in February as things stand - a massive 28-week lay-off.
“Promotional-wise you’re missing out on a lot there,” said Rossiter. “I know we have the split season for the club there but for every young guy, they don’t get to see the big players on a regular basis during the summer time.
“Just for the promotion of the games, we’re probably stopped too long at the highest level really.
“People can’t wait to get out. You have your week or two at Christmas and people can’t wait to get out then and go to matches.
“Never mind about the weather, the weather is a given at that time of year, you just want to get out and see the matches, see what new players are on the scene.”
At this remove, Rossiter sees himself lining up a series of challenge games for next January, which brings its own logistical challenges.
“It will be a matter of trying to line up a couple of games because you can’t go into the League cold either.
“We’re at the top table of the League and the matches are going to come thick and heavy there and you want the lads prepared before you get into that so yeah, we’re going to miss the Walsh Cup, 100%, to be honest with you but that’s the cards we’ve been dealt.
“At that time of year, at least if you have the Leinster Council organising the Walsh Cup, you get a decent pitch. Now, all of a sudden, for a practice match, pitches are going to be hard to come by. A decent pitch is going to be hard to come by at that time of the year.
“If you’re going down the road to play one of the teams and have to find a pitch halfway, there’s not too many counties that are going to give you a pitch halfway in January.”
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