TWELVE MONTHS AGO as the threat of ejection from the Leinster hurling championship hovered over the Wexford camp, Lee Chin stood tall.
In a madcap high-scoring encounter with Kilkenny, Chin scored 1-10 to fire Wexford to victory.
The result was a relief, yet that familiar sense of pressure flared up again two rounds into this year’s Leinster round-robin series.
Wexford coughed up a winning advantage to draw with Dublin, before they were upset by Antrim in Belfast. Suddenly they entered the May Bank Holiday weekend in a nervous state as they hosted Galway in their third game.
Chin was holding up his end of the bargain, firing 2-11 in a man-of-the-match showing against Antrim, but personal accolades could not overshadow the disappointment at their collective struggle.
“After the Antrim game, we met the following day. I think it was necessary. It was something that we had to do. We only had a short turn around to the Galway game.
“So we had to get going straight away in terms of having to deal with what situation we were in. We didn’t want it to be another situation like last year where going into the last game and fighting for survival as well, to just not be relegated.
“We just said we’d go straight immediately, and had a good chat and just kind of got the show on the road, started putting things together.
“Coming down the road from Antrim, you would have taken being in the All-Ireland series at this stage, so we’re still grateful that we’re here.”
Their season has turned from that difficult spot. They lost to Kilkenny in the last provincial round to miss out on a Leinster final but contesting this Saturday’s quarter-final against Clare is a welcome development. Their year hinged on the display of character to take down Galway by eight points.
“I don’t think in my time I’ve beaten Galway in championship,” says Chin.
“So it was even nice to get over that milestone as well. It was a good day, and again there was for us the reward at the end of it was putting ourselves not only back in contention.”
Wexford’s inconsistencies have consumed plenty attention within their dressing-room.
“The thing that kind of hits us most is when we don’t perform, we’re able to see our numbers in terms of our tackle count, our shot selections or how many shots we got off, distance covered and things like that. The days we get bet I suppose all those numbers are below what we had set our targets on.
“There’s other days where I suppose you look at your KPIs and they mightn’t actually tell the tell the whole tale either because, let’s say against Carlow in particular, we didn’t hit our tackle count against Carlow, but we had most of the possession of the ball, so you can’t always depend on them either.
“But they are the foundation that you’re always going back to.”
Wexford emerged from a province that is largely overshadowed in the early rounds by their Munster compatriots. Chin can see the magnetism of those Munster ties but is confident about the strength of Leinster.
“I’m a fan of hurling. I can see it myself when Munster teams come up against each other. There’s obviously an appeal to them because there’s always two quality teams playing.
“But I think this year provided a lot of entertainment in Leinster with the results that came in. You’d be sitting at home watching on TV and you’d be amazed by some of the performances that have been put in.
“The games in Munster just seem to be a bit more attack-oriented. I suppose Leinster is slightly different in the sense that you could probably argue that it’s a little bit more defensive and the scoring isn’t as high. And that’s maybe because there’s more focus on defensive structures in the one-to-seven area and packing it out.
“You can see in a lot of the games in Munster that sometimes they do end up with one-on-ones in the full-back line. When that kind of happens in games, you’re going to have teams scoring highly. And I suppose the country loves it.”
He is in a good place injury wise after a hamstring problem, linked to an ongoing knee issue, sidelined him during the league.
His experienced status in the Wexford panel is something he is more conscious of, entering a new era this season under the guidance of Keith Rossiter.
“You get subtle reminders every now and again that time is passing. Time waits for nobody, that’s life, and you get out of it what you can while you’re here.
“When you’re in a position where you haven’t won much at all, every year when you come back you have that little bit more in you to try and push for something because you know that you haven’t got long left. Obviously that can be a driving factor.
“I played with Keith for two years when he was there. He was a great hurler and he’s a great man. He did great with the Wexford U20s over the last number of years. I suppose he’s a Wexford man too so when we knew he was in position for the job, we were all excited. A lot of lads would know Keith around Wexford. He also knows a lot of the young hurlers from being with the U20s, so we knew that he’d bring a great balance.”
