Wexford were sensational on Saturday when they beat Kilkenny.
They conceded an early goal and then proceeded to dominate the game before conceding a further two goals but still came out as victors by two points.
The undoubted man of the match was Lee Chin after a commanding performance for The Yellowbellies as he netted 0-6 on the day and he spoke on The GAA Hour about the defeat of Kilkenny.
Long have Wexford been journeymen in hurling having not made a real splash in Championship hurling since last reaching the Leinster Final nine years ago and many assume that a big part was down to the belief of the players.
And then Davy Fitzgerald was appointed as manager, it seemed like a match made in heaven especially after gaining promotion from Division 1B to 1A.
The ‘Davy effect’ was instantaneous according to Chin with the manager instilling a newfound confidence in his squad from the get go.
“When Davy first met us in a meeting, just a meeting with ourselves in a hotel he built us up so much and he started using words like All-Stars,” said Chin
“Well I suppose he started using words like ‘We’re as good as any team out there,’ or ‘you’s can be as good as any team out there and I see where there’s the potential in this,’
“And in fairness in that night alone with Davy being who he is, it did actually have us believing in ourselves and even after walking out of that meeting I came out feeling two foot taller.”
As time went on the belief grew within the county according to Chin and although that belief was instantaneous, confidence gradually grew.
“That’s the way Davy is I suppose and that’s the kind of impact he can have on players but then again there are some elements along the lines there is some element along the line there where you say ‘fine this is going good this is going well’ but it takes winning games, it takes grafting those hard wins. I suppose that mental toughness of being behind in a game like we were against Galway at the start of the league.
“I think the Limerick and Galway games, they really set up our platform to perform at the start of the year bar obviously the league quarter-final but it was really them Limerick and Galway games that we were facing down to in our first two games in the national league.
“When we first got over both of them and I suppose even before them the belief even came from the likes of training but even beating Dublin in Wexford in the Walsh Cup, little things like that was actually getting us over the line more and furthering our belief and then when it came to the national league beating Limerick and Galway in our first two games I suppose we knew we had promotion in our own hands at that stage and we just had to keep our heads screwed on and get the next three wins and we did that and then look it obviously playing Kilkenny in a national league quarter final that was massive step for us and once we got over there we obviously believed that we could keep pushing on further.
