DAVID POWER has charged his Wexford footballers with going the distance for the first time under his tenure on Saturday evening when they look to revive their championship ambitions against Down at Innovate Wexford Park in round-one of the All-Ireland Qualifiers (6.30p.m.).

And the Wexford manager simply isn’t tolerating any sentimental ‘hard-luck’ expressions following the manner of Wexford’s recent Leinster championship exit to Westmeath as he demands that his men ‘man-up’ and ensure their involvement in the championship into the month of July.

“We have to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and quoting stuff like ‘body-blows’,” he insists when reminded of the unfortunate couple of handling errors which contributed towards Wexford allowing a 0-14 to 0-12 lead slip against Westmeath before eventually succumbing by a hefty 1-21 to 0-15.

“Those sort of setbacks are part of the game of football, and it is about how you react to when those setbacks happen. I suppose Kevin O’Grady was a bit unlucky with a goal chance after Westmeath had hit us, and had Kevin got that goal it could have shifted the momentum back in our favour.

“But for some reason we just stopped playing after Westmeath had gained those breakthroughs.”

With Wexford having lacked a strong finish to games with the exception of the closing-round National League win away to Tipperary, the manager reckons their inability so far to deliver a 70-minute performance comes down to a matter of mental discipline.

“I definitely don’t think that it is a fitness issue; I think it is more of a mental issue, and when you have so many young players as we do, that can happen, because they are still only learning the ropes,” David reasons.

However, those young players, including a clutch of senior football championship debutantes, demonstrated plenty of class against Westmeath.

“The young lads are showing great promise, and every young fellah that played against Westmeath can be very proud. Those players are going to make huge progress in terms of Strength & Conditioning over the next 12 months as well as in terms of their football skills.

“The outcome against Westmeath was very disappointing,” the manager adds before identifying a silver-lining when noting: “But it was the first time we played for 61 minutes. So we have yet to play for 70 minutes, and if we are going to beat Down, we are going to have to play for the duration. That is the big thing I am asking from our players on Saturday.”

While Down have gained promotion to Division 1 of the League, they suffered against Roscommon in the Division 2 final (1-17 to 0-15) before exiting the Ulster championship to Derry (0-12 to 0-11).

The Mourne Men’s championship record hasn’t been startling of recent, as while they lost the Ulster final of 2012 to Donegal, they subsequently beat Tipperary in that year’s Qualifiers before exiting to Mayo. Meanwhile, in 2013 they suffered an Ulster semi-final defeat to Donegal and lost to Derry in their first Qualifier. Then, last year, Down went out in their opening Ulster game to Tyrone (3-11 to 0-12), and while recovering against Leitrim (4-18 to 0-9), they went out heavily to Kildare in the Qualifiers (1-18 to 0-11).

“Down are on a downward curve after getting well beaten by Roscommon in the League final and then by a poor and negative Derry team in Ulster,” the Wexford boss maintains.

And with Wexford having actually recently taken on Down in a challenge game played over three quarters (with Wexford winning the first two quarters), he suggests: “So we should have nothing to fear on Saturday. While challenge matches are far different from championship, the lads definitely know from that game that they can compete with Down.

“The big thing now is for our lads to play for the whole 70 minutes.”

Wexford look set to be without defensive ace Michael Furlong, who was forced off early in the Westmeath game with a knee injury which he sustained during the pre-match warm-up. Meanwhile, Adrian Flynn has been nursing a swollen knee, but while he did not train in the past week, he is expected to be okay. In addition, Graeme Molloy and James Breen have progressed their recoveries, and Breen is expected to again be involved with the county Junior footballers in Thursday’s Leinster final at home to Meath.