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| Irish: | Loch Garman |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s): | The Model County The Slaneysiders The Yellowbellies |
| Province: | Leinster |
| Dominant sport: | Dual county |
| Ground(s): | Wexford Park,Wexford |
| County colours: | Purple Gold |
| County teams | |
| NFL: | Division 4 |
| NHL: | Division 1B |
| Football Championship: | Sam Maguire Cup |
| Hurling Championship: | Liam MacCarthy Cup |
| Ladies' Gaelic football: | Brendan Martin Cup |
| Camogie: | O'Duffy Cup |
TheWexford County Board of theGaelic Athletic Association (GAA) (Irish:Cumann Luthchleas Gael Coiste Chontae Loch Garman) orWexford GAA is one of the 32county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible forGaelic games inCounty Wexford. The county board is also responsible for the Wexford county teams.
Wexford is one of the few counties to have won the All-Ireland Senior Championship in both football and hurling.
Thecounty hurling team last won theAll-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship in 1996.
Thecounty football team has won fiveAll-Ireland Senior Football Championships, with the most recent win achieved in 1918.
Hurling has been played in Wexford from medieval times. Evidence of this can be found in the hurling ballads of the 15th and 16th centuries.[1] The nickname "Yellowbellies" is said to have been given to the county's hurlers bySir Caesar Colclough ofTintern in south Wexford, following a 17th-century game between a team of hurlers under his patronage and a team ofhurlers fromCornwall, nearGlynn in County Wexford.[2] Others have said thatKing George III shouted "come on the yellow bellies" at an exhibition match near London, in which the Wexford hurlers were wearing yellow ribbons. Apparently, the real reason they are called the 'yellow-bellies' is because one D Coffey declared it back in 1982.[3]
Clubs contest theWexford Senior Football Championship. As of 2020, three clubs have eleven titles each.
No club has won a national or provincial title at senior level, but Rathgarogue-Cushinstown became the first Wexford football club side to reach an All Ireland Football Final in 2020 as they reached the junior All Ireland Football Final.
Wexford had one of the greatest football teams in the history of the GAA in the 1910s, winning six consecutiveLeinster Senior Football Championship (SFC) titles; it was also the first team to win four consecutiveAll-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) titles.[4] 1900 star James 'the Bull' Roche, who had fought for theWorld heavyweight boxing championship, trained that team, which featured Fr Ned Wheeler, Aidan Doyle and the O'Kennedy brothers, Gus andSeán, as players. The latter was the teamcaptain. The feat of six consecutive Leinster SFC titles was only equalled in 1931, whenKildare won the sixth in a sequence that had begun in 1926.[5]
Wexford's last major football success was winning the Leinster SFC title in 1945. From then on, the game ofhurling took precedence in Wexford and as a consequence the fate of the Wexford footballers was to descend into obscurity for many decades.
Clubs contest theWexford Senior Hurling Championship. TheRathnure club has the most titles.
Buffers Alley won the1988–89 All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship.
Hurling is one of the most prominent sports in Wexford. This is in evidence in several one-sided results over the years:Kildare were beaten by 14–15 to 1–1 in an 1897 Croke Cup match. TheAntrim team were beaten by 12–17 to 2–3 in a 1954 All-Ireland semi-final.Nicky Rackard, who scored 7–7 at that day, was Wexford's greatest hurler.[citation needed] He starred in two clashes withCork in 1954 and 1956. Wexford lost the first after having a goal disallowed, but won the second with the combination of anArt Foley save and Nicky Rackard goal inthe closing minutes.
In the 1970s, the distinctive red-hairedTony Doran was the star asKilkenny and Wexford played ten Leinster SHC finals in succession. In 1984 Wexford claimed that the final whistle had been blown prematurely during a single point defeat in the Leinster SHC final.
In 1996 Wexford, led by Liam Griffin andcaptained byMartin Storey, brought theLiam MacCarthy Cup back to Slaneyside for the first time since 1968; ending a wait of 28 years. Cork, Kilkenny andTipperary have dominated the honours in recent years.
Davy Fitzgerald took over as manager of the team for 2017, and made progress by reaching the Leinster SHC final for the first time in nine years. In the final Wexford playedGalway. Fitzgerald was appointed after the departure of Liam Dunne, who also played a huge part[clarification needed] in their recent success.[6]
Wexford's most recent hurling success was in the Leinster SHC final of2019, with a defeat of Kilkenny. In the Leinster SHC semi-final, a draw in Wexford Park between Wexford and Kilkenny made it a rematch for the final. However, hurling in Wexford has been on the slide since 1996, the county's last All-Ireland SHC success, and the Leinster SHC title in 2004 simply papered over the cracks.[7]
Under Camogie's National Development Plan 2010–2015, "Our Game, Our Passion",[8] five new camogie clubs were to be established in the county by 2015.[9]Buffers Alley (5) andRathnure (1995) have won theAll Ireland Senior Club Championship.
After winning promotion from intermediate in the late 1950s, Wexford won a firstAll-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship in 1968, and won further All Ireland SCC titles in1969,1975,2007,2010,2011 and2012. The county contested the firstNational Camogie League final in1977, won the second edition of that competition in1978, and returned to win it on three consecutive occasions:2009,2010 and2011.
Among the All-Ireland SCC winning captains for Wexford wereMary Leacy (2007 All-Ireland SCC-winning captain),Gretta Quigley (1975 All-Ireland SCC-winning captain) andMary Walsh (1968 All-Ireland SCC-winning captain).
Two Wexford players,Margaret O'Leary andMary Sinnott, were included on the team of the century.[citation needed] Other notable players includeKatie Fitzhenry,Katrina Parrock,[10][11] nine-time All StarKate Kelly, six-time All StarCatherine O'Loughlin and goalkeeperMags Darcy
Wexford has the following achievements in camogie.
Wexford has the following achievements in ladies' football.
