Jackie Tyrrell called Wexford's second half display against Westmeath on Sunday "spineless". Westmeath came back from 17 points down at one stage in the first half to win by two and put Wexford is serious danger of being relegated from the Leinster Hurling Championship to the Joe McDonagh Cup.
"It's spiralling out of control," Tyrrell told The Sunday Game.
"If you think, when you think they played Clare in an All-Ireland quarter-final last year, how close they were.
"[Liam Sheedy and Tipperary] stopped them from getting to an All-Ireland in 2019, and now they’re facing down the barrel of potentially going down to Joe McDonagh. It’s actually scary.
"For Darragh Egan, sending his troops back out after half-time, 2-15 to 0-05 [up], the players... No leadership. I would say spineless in lots of ways.
"They totally gave up, didn’t bring the fight at all, and any bit of resistance Westmeath put up, they never came back.
"I actually don’t know where Wexford go from here but it’s so concerning for a proud hurling county.
21 May 2023; Niall Mitchell of Westmeath catches the ball before scoring his side's fourth goal during the Leinster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Round 4 match between Wexford and Westmeath at Chadwicks Wexford Park in Wexford. Photo by Daire Brennan/Sportsfile
"We always focus on the second tier, the Joe McDonagh teams but there is a concern that maybe Waterford and Wexford are slipping, and slipping at an alarming rate when you look at the lack of underage success. I know the Wexford U20s have a good team coming but they need to get them through really quickly.
"What was concerning for me against Dublin, Liam Ryan, you could actually see that he injured and they left him on for 55 minutes. Lee Chin isn't right. What's that saying to the panel of subs that they have injured players playing?"
No leadership, spineless... @MrJackieTee and Liam Sheedy don't hold back when talking about Wexford players.
But greater concern is lack of underage success and depth of talent at senior level.#sundaygame
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Wexford play Kilkenny at home in their final game of the round robin this weekend.
"It was just basic errors," Liam Sheedy said about Wexford's performance on Sunday.
"They look like a group with no confidence, no leadership and it’s coming through in their play.
"I know they're at home to Kilkenny. I know they got a massive result [against Kilkenny] in Nowlan Park last year but they look miles away where from they were last year. It’s really concerning for them.
"At the moment there’s three teams that can find themselves in the Joe McDonagh next year and Wexford are absolutely one of them."
See Also: John Mullane Questions Gulf Between Leinster And Munster Hurling Championships
