By John Harrington

Lee Chin believes he’ll have to tone down his all-consuming approach to hurling if he’s to remain physically and mentally fresh throughout Wexford’s Leinster Hurling Championship campaign.

Starting with Sunday’s showdown against Dublin, Wexford will have to play their four provincial championship matches in just 21 days.

That’s why Chin is planning to change the habit of a lifetime by zoning out from hurling occasionally during the days between games so he doesn’t burn himself out.

“I think it's going to be a very big mental game for a couple of weeks that we're on the go,” he said.

“Whatever about being physically fatigued, the last thing you want also is being mentally fatigued.

“If you're mentally fatigued you're going to feel physically fatigued. It’s definitely something I'll try to achieve throughout the heat of championship - to take a little bit of time to myself to zone out and try to reset the mind.

“Some people have different mindsets. Some people like to take the foot off the pedal a little bit coming into a game to keep themselves a little hungrier, or whatever.

“Other people then like to really drive through that and continue going as they were. I'd be like that. I like to keep going, I don't like to take my mind off it too much.

“Sometimes you can get a little bit carried away and I've identified that in myself. I might get a little bit too zoned in on what's coming.

“Instead I think sometimes taking one or two evenings off isn't the worst thing in the world to refresh the mind.”

A slightly different approach than the norm might be required in the coming weeks, but overall Chin believes that the singled-minded focus on being the best they can be is one of the strengths of this Wexford panel.

Since Davy Fitzgerald took charge as manager last year, he believes that all of the players have raised their standards and are pushing one another to continually improve.

“Guys are definitely demanding more of themselves and more of each other,” said Chin. “The standards of everything have gone up.

“There's just certain individuals that are just clued in to wanting to being on the starting XV and because of that motivation they're making sure that they're working on everything they feel they need to work on to achieve that position.

“That's just a fantastic thing to have in a group of players - that lads are really wanting to push themselves every day that they go out. They're the standards that we've raised.”

Because everyone on the panel has brought into that mindset as well as the tactical plan that Davy Fitzgerald has put in place, Chin believes confidence in the Wexford camp is at an all-time high right now.

“We go out in games now and we expect to be winning as opposed to going into games and hoping we have a good day,” said Chin.

“I think we've definitely over the last year that has put down a bit of a system within our play that we know if we stick to it then it's going to keep us within touch of any team.

“Even if you're not hurling your best on a particular day that if we can buy back into whatever system we're playing that it guarantees you're going to be in with a shout at the end of the game.”