Wexford boss Darragh Egan said he had no fears about following Davy Fitzgerald into the job.
Egan was announced as Fitzgerald’s successor last September after the Clare man served five years in the role, the high point being the 2019 Leinster Championship success.
They nearly reached that year’s All-Ireland final too, with an Egan-coached Tipperary edging them out in a dramatic semi-final, and though they didn’t build on that subsequently the transformation that the team underwent during Fitzgerald tenure was considerable.
That didn’t leave Egan wary of taking on the role, however.
He told The Hurling Podcast: “Look, it was a fresh challenge, it was a fresh challenge for me. It was a fresh challenge for the players.
“They knew there was going to be changes coming. They had a good regime with Davy, they enjoyed it.
“They got their success in 2019 with the Leinster campaign but they knew there was a bit of freshness coming into the group which was no harm so, look, it’s up to us as a coaching team.
“We’ve only nine or 10 weeks done with the group. We’re only barely chipping away with the mindset of the group for the collective goal of the group. We’re only getting to grips with that and that’s going to take a lot more time than we’ve had with it so it’s an area that we really need to work on.”
Egan has started with two wins over Limerick and Clare in the League and takes his side to face Galway in Salthill on Sunday, a game that he says Kevin Foley will be “in contention” for.
“He has had a good block of training over the last few weeks. Lee Chin is back training and working very well; he won’t see action against Galway but hopefully in the next few weeks he will see plenty of time.
“Gavin Bailey is one 100% back in training, he is going very well so he will also see a bit of pitch-time.”
However, Shaun Murphy is due to undergo surgery on his back this week.
Egan added: “Shaun had a baby recently in November and his day-to-day health is absolutely paramount at the moment.
“He doesn’t need to be thinking about any League games or Championship preparation, he needs to get that back sorted but he is still going to be a huge part of our panel and he is a top class fella.”
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