Diarmuid Lyng is hoping Wexford keep themselves grounded heading into Sunday’s All-Ireland hurling semi-final against Tipperary.
Speaking on OTB AM on Friday morning, Lyng feels Wexford have all the momentum heading into the game.
Although he hopes the players do not get carried away with themselves - giving Mayo as an example of what can happen if they did.
“We’re definitely coming into it riding a wave.
“I hope it’s not a Mayo wave, where we get a little too carried away with ourselves but I don’t get that sense,” the former Wexford captain said.
Lyng admits that for once there is a quiet confidence that Wexford can claim victory against Tipperary and reach the county’s first All-Ireland final since 1996.
“We’re much more confident than we ever would be before against Tipperary.
“We are confident based on the performances we’re eeking out and we’re getting out of ourselves much more so than where Tipperary are at, at this moment,” Lyng admitted.
Lyng doesn’t want to write Tipperary off completely, however.
With their tradition as one of the premier counties in the game, he feels Tipperary will always have a chance even if they are inconsistent currently.
“We’re performing just about at our best, maybe even above it and we’re getting that performance every day.
“Looking at it from that point of view, I think we’re in good shape but part of me thinks, ‘who do you think you are? The arrogance of that.’
"So on hard facts of what’s going on at the moment I think we’re in the driving seat,” Lyng predicted.
Wexford have been able to take the intensity of their game to the next level under Davy Fitzgerald, according to Lyng.
He explains it helps them to bridge the gap between them and teams like Kilkenny.
“It’s taken a long time to get this intensity.
“I could never figure out looking at Kilkenny, Tipperary, Galway how they could play with this intensity and we’d be training hard but you’d come out against them and be like, ‘we’re not on the same planet as these guys in terms of intensity,’” Lyng said.
Although Lyng gives the edge to Wexford, he hopes that The Yellowbellies will avoid the fate of previous Davy Fitzgerald teams - burning out at the business end of the championship.
“This has been a factor in Davy’s management career before where there’s a huge energy output for a certain period of time and then you go off a cliff,” he said.
Lyng hopes that the break Wexford have had since winning the Leinster final will help avoid any burn out.
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