WEXFORD BOSS DARRAGH Egan has hailed the addition of former Ireland and Leinster rugby player Gordon D’Arcy to the county’s hurling setup.
D’Arcy has joined Wexford as a member of the backroom team, which also features Billy Walsh, the current USA boxing coach that formerly served in that role with Ireland.
Tipperary native Egan is in his first year as Wexford manager and saw his team at the weekend qualify for the Walsh Cup final next Saturday against Dublin in Croke Park.
The 35-year-old is pleased to be able to lean on experienced sporting figures like Walsh and D’Arcy.
“It’s vital for me number one, I was talking to Billy today again before the match and he’s just a huge support for me and for the players, that they will be working with him as the year progresses,” said Egan, when speaking to South-East Radio after Saturday’s game with Kilkenny.
“Gordon is with us on all match days, he has been absolutely brilliant with us. Very, very good for me. We have that conversation when I’m driving down on a Tuesday evening, we get a good 40 minutes or an hour conversation, just based on the previous weekend and stuff that we can work on.”
Egan outlined what D’Arcy has to offer their setup.
“Look that man has been in dressing-rooms (in) some of the biggest days in Irish rugby and Lions rugby and so on, and he’s a good Wexford man. He really loves his hurling. He’s some brilliant kind of ideas for us and brilliant kind of match day tips and tricks for me. He’s imparting that information to us at the moment, so it’s great.
“Even pre-match and so on, Gordon would be keeping an eye on how warm-ups are going and things like that, some of the bits of information that he gives to me then, it’s real quirky stuff. It wouldn’t be run-of-the-mill GAA thinking but he’s looking at how the players are focused, what’s their application like in the warm-up.
“Even in-game it’s not hurling information he’s giving, he’s giving body language information, he’s giving how the substitutes are preparing, are they watching, are they ready for the game, are they focused?
“He’s a great asset around the place and I think he’s working very well with the backroom, so hopefully he works very well for us throughout the year.”
- This article was first published on The42 today at 4.10pm
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The Welsh medical team alone are accountable imo. Never mind the fact the a concussion on top of a concussion is a dangerous game to play with someone’s life…..
Had a major impact on the game. If Gatland can get instructions to the team from his box, surely one of them should have been to get North off the pitch. Passed the buck to medics. Bad night for Gatland.
The long term consequences of repeated knocks and concessions in rugby are yet to be realised. North should have been taken off immediately. Conor Murray looked a little dazed during the Oz match and was hauled off by the Irish staff. I’m confident in our setup.
The buck stops with Gatland, he should have pulled him off after the 1st incident,but we all know Gatland only cares about 1 thing,WINNING. At all costs. North’s bravery could seriously damage his health.
Don’t think there’s anything brave about what North did. Plain stupid if you ask me
Players in the heat of battle will always need to be protected from themselves. The lad can’t be blamed, only the medical staff charged with his welfare
“Go in there corner forward and run it off”
All joking aside, if he is cleared to play next week, serious questions need to be asked. You would wonder if Dr. Jamie Roberts has an opinion on the matter!
You don’t have to be a Chicken to know what an egg looks like..
HASHTAG HeWasGrand CLOSE HASHTAG loving the twitting
Slow motion always looks on the telly but surely the qualified medical staff who actually examined him should be given the benefit of doubt..George Hook is a crazy old man not a doctor and was several hundred miles away from the incident, this is just another soap box for twitter celebrities to jump on
Both his and Halfpenny’s looked really bad in real time and I was amazed they played on. Do the IRB need threaten to introduce small helmets for the teams get the message?
Hey Fergus ,slow motion and George hook had nothing to do with anything, any one with eyes in the head will have seen that north was limp when falling in second incident,now you tell me why that was, because from what I know it was an indication of something very wrong.
I’m just uncomfortable with arm chair pundits questioning trained medical professionals, I’m not saying he wasn’t concussed but I like most people commenting here are not only not doctors but even if I was I was not pitch side so what would I know? So now we question referees, coaches, players and doctors after games?
Fergus ,these coaches ,medics etc are obviously watching the same tv pictures as us so if one of them doc or whatever see this especially after the first incident,surely they know something is wrong??
Even if he was ok, which I cant imagine he was, unions have to be seen to be doing the right thing. North was knocked unconscious ffs.