Diarmuid O'Keefe insists that Wexford aren’t settling for a Leinster title as they set their sights on All-Ireland glory.
Having bridged a 15-year gap to their last Bob O’Keeffe Cup success, emulating the men of 1996 is next on the agenda for the St Anne’s man, who hit 0-2 in the 1-23 to 0-23 victory over Kilkenny on Sunday.
Wexford return to action in the All-Ireland semi-final, their first appearance at that stage of the Championship since 2007, on the weekend of July 27/28 when their opposition will be one from Dublin, Laois or Tipperary.
O’Keeffe said: “It’s been 2004 since Bob O’Keeffe has been in Wexford so we’ll enjoy this. Then we’ll get back at it again.
“The year’s not over though, we’re not happy to just finish up here, I don’t think there’s any player in that dressing room who has got to hurl in the month of August so that’s massive, they’re all looking forward to it.”
Much of the reaction to Sunday’s game surrounds the achievement of Wexford boss Davy Fitzgerald, who became the first manager in hurling to complete the clean sweep of the four major trophies of Leinster, Munster, League and All-Ireland titles.
O’Keeffe was part of a delegation of Wexford players that travelled to his home in Sixmilebridge after last year’s Championship exit to plead with him to stay on for at least another season.
“There was a lot said that day that we went down there. One of the things was that we knew Davy was a winner all his managerial career and we wanted to be the same.
“It was just about trying to go the extra mile to get to a day like today. Look, this group of players, we believe in our ability, we know what we’re capable of, but we also know that if we don’t work hard and bring all those things he’s asking for, we’re going nowhere.”
He continued: “Matt (O’Hanlon) said something exceptionally accurate in the speech - he said that he (Fitzgerald) would do anything for us, he would die for us, and believe it or not, we would do the same for him.
“There’s a bond there between this group of players that we haven’t had with any other manager and look it’s great, he brings a lot to it, energy passion, but he’s organised and communication is top notch. We couldn’t fault him in any way.
“We do absolutely hold him in the highest regard. Can I say that there’s one thing?
“No, a manager of his calibre - there can’t be just one thing, he brings so many different elements.”
O’Keeffe was also warm in his praise of Fitzgerald’s predecessor Liam Dunne, who oversaw a stirring qualifier victory against his Clare side back in 2014 when they were reigning All-Ireland champions.
“We started many moons ago, a lot of the lads started with Liam Dunne back in 2012 and in fairness to Liam, he brought us a hell of a long way in the five years that we had him.
“He completely changed the culture that was in the Wexford dressing room. Davy has obviously brought it on another step again but between the two lads they’ve done trojan work, delighted for them as well.”
Like Fitzgerald, O’Keeffe admitted that he didn’t watch Mark Fanning’s 64th minute penalty which proved decisive to the outcome on Sunday.
“I’ll tell you what, I turned around and looked into the ground. Mark in fairness to him has a serious stroke, I presume he connected with it.
“Whether it went in or didn’t go in, we had another job to do from the puck-out, but thankfully, yeah, it went in.”
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