Fundamental change needed to get Wexford back to the top after latest defeat

Champions just four years ago, Wexford are staring down the barrel of a summer without Leinster Championship hurling in 2024.

The Yellowbellies' disastrous collapse against Westmeath on Sunday leaves them facing potential relegation into the Joe McDonagh Cup, with old foes Kilkenny in line to send their neighbours into the second tier.

It was a game that Wexford should have been able to finish out. 17 up at one stage, the gap was 16 at the break, and it was still 10 late on, but two late goals completed a memorable resurrection for the Lake County.

It means that if the Slaneysiders ship another defeat on Sunday, coupled with an Antrim victory over Westmeath, then they will slip through the trap door.

While progress into the All-Ireland series is still possible for Joe McDonagh Cup teams, and Laois, as McDonagh champions, did defeat Dublin in the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final in 2019, it would be a massive blow to a county which has always considered itself one of the elite in terms of the small ball game.

Speaking on the RTÉ GAA Podcast, Shane McGrath said that a lack of proper structures in the south-east has led to inevitable decline.

"It's a long time since they won minors, U20s, their school teams being competitive," he pointed out.

"It's not just now at senior level. This is all the steps of the ladder, the whole way down. There needs to be a massive meeting, a committee set up, whatever it needs to be.

"They do good work in the schools, and they do great stuff on social media about it, but are the right things being done with development squads and the minor teams?

"The other side of it is, is the talent just not there at the moment? Even if you look at where Limerick are at now, it took a long time - six or seven