Davy Fitzgerald is set to stay on as Wexford's senior hurling manager for 2021 after asking his players to "finish what we've started".
The former Clare goalkeeper saw his team surrender their Leinster crown this season and they were dumped out of the qualifiers by Clare last weekend - but Fitzgerald has informed his panel that he intends to see out the third of the three year term he was handed after his first two in charge of the Models.
Wexford reached the All-Ireland semi-finals in 2019 where they were narrowly beaten by eventual champions Tipperary and it's believed that Fitzgerald retains the faith of their county board and his players.
"If he's the guy that the players want, and they seem to want him going by what was said in the dressing room afterwards, the message seemed to be 'we want him for another year'," former Tipperary star Shane McGrath said of Fitzgerald remaining in charge on this evening's Off The Ball.
"Even a couple of years ago, a group of them got into a car and drove up to Davy's house in Clare and asked him to come back. I suppose when the leaders of your group are doing that, they obviously have massive respect for him and they feel he's the guy who will get them to the next level.
"If he goes back, and it will be for a fifth year, success will really have to be getting to an All-Ireland final, whether they win it win it or not is another thing.
"At the end of next year, if they haven't at least got to an All-Ireland final, winning it would be just unbelievable, if he does win one then he's going down as one of the great managers to have won it with two different teams.
Wexford's season came to a halt on Saturday afternoon with a seven-point loss to Fitzgerald's native Clare in Portlaoise. It came two weeks after the Models had been outplayed by Galway in the Leinster semi-finals and McGrath says it was a very flat showing from the men in purple and gold.
"It really did fall apart for them the other day, in the second quarter Clare scored eight points without reply. The Wexford backs actually scored more than the Wexford forwards from play.
"Shaun Murphy, Paudie Foley and Kevin Foley scored six-points between them and the forwards got only five-points from play. As a forward unit, it did not happen for them.
"They obviously really missed Lee Chin's leadership but I think David McInerney (who was suspended for Clare) was equally as big a loss, if not a bigger loss for Clare."
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