WAS it a modern-day aberration, or instead restoring the traditional championship relationship between Galway and Wexford hurlers? We will know a little bit more after the events at Pearse Stadium on Saturday (3:15pm).

Up to the Leinster quarter-final in 2010, Galway had never beaten Wexford in championship hurling, losing all their previous seven encounters bar the 1976 drawn All-Ireland semi-final, with the Slaneysiders winning the replay.

But since the Tribesmen moved east in 2009, the teams’ fortunes against each other underwent a dramatic shift in supremacy, with Wexford failing to beat Galway – the closest they came was two draws – in their next seven championship clashes.

All that changed, however, 12 months ago when Wexford pulled-off an eight-point win in the round-robin series – a result which contributed to Galway failing to come out of the province and hastening the departure of Henry Shefflin as team manager.

The memory of that success is bound to give Wexford a psychological lift to their preparations for Saturday’s showdown where defeat for either team would leave them under serious pressure to make the All-Ireland series.

Wexford began their campaign at home to Antrim – a team they were shocked by at Corrigan Park in 2024. Despite a poor start and losing John O’Connor to a red card, Keith Rossiter’s team came through convincingly on a 2-24 to 0-19 scoreline.

Their next day out was that controversial encounter against Dublin at Parnell Park. Wexford were leading by three points in the second-half when a penalty struck by Sean Currie was erroneously judged to have crossed the line.

It proved a game changer and though as hard as Wexford tried, they ended up falling to a 3-26 to 4-19 defeat. Their camp was understandably fuming afterwards, and you’d imagine their frustrations over that incident will have them highly motivated for their trip to Salthill.

Furthermore, O’Connor – who has caused Galway problems under puck-outs in the past – is available again, while key players, Liam Ryan and Conor McDonald, have returned to fitness after being sidelined up to now.

With Lee Chin still a driving force on the forty, and quality players in the likes of Damien Reck and Rory O’Connor, Wexford will present a formidable challenge on Saturday, especially given that they have little margin for error after the Dublin loss.

Pictured: The suspended Daithí Burke, pictured in action against Wexford’s Liam Óg McGovern in the 2023 Leinster Hurling Championship, will be a big loss when Galway host the Slaneysiders in Salthill on Saturday.