Waterford GAA Discussion Thread 2011-2012

robopaddy

Lads looking at how poor Clare were today where do you think that leaves us?

Mountainlad

robopaddy wrote: »

Lads looking at how poor Clare were today where do you think that leaves us?

Wouldn't think it's relevant.

One thing sticks out at me and that's goals. Against us Clare created maybe 2 goal chances. One of the Honan took his point, the other a bad handpass to him went over his head. The two goals they got had an air of fortune but they took the chance.

Today though, they had four chances (excluding a few potshots that were never going in). One chance were Conor McGrath fluffed his pickup was similar to the Honan one in that you don't know whether he'd have scored or not. But Honan and Collins missed great chances in the first half, and McGrath in the second half. If even one of those goes in it changes the course of the game.

Cork's confidence just rose and rose, similar to Limerick 2 weeks ago. Wouldn't compare results on paper, every game is different.

The bottom line is that should we beat Westmeath next weekend then we would be a round further in the championship than Clare, with them having it all to do in the next round.

Ando's Saggy Bottom

robopaddy wrote: »

Lads looking at how poor Clare were today where do you think that leaves us?

Clare are no great shakes and if our forwards hadn't hit 4-5 easy wides after half time we'd have beaten them well. Id be confident of beating them if we got them later in the Summer.

Mr Tibbs

Ando's Saggy Bottom wrote: »

Clare are no great shakes and if our forwards hadn't hit 4-5 easy wides after half time we'd have beaten them well. Id be confident of beating them if we got them later in the Summer.

Clare were poor today but I wonder how would we have done against Cork, who I thought showed some of their old class in the second half.

Keanes Road

robopaddy wrote: »

Lads looking at how poor Clare were today where do you think that leaves us?

It shows that its all on any given day. Clare, like we did against them, killed themselves with wides and missed opportunities today. When you don't put a team away at this level it gets very hard to win a game. Clare today were a mirror image of us 3 weeks ago. A team got a run on them and heads went down, as the other sides confidence soared. It's hard to break that kind of momentum.

Funnily enough I remember when Dave was in charge of us and teams got a head of steam up, we always had 1or2players going down with spurious knock. Maybe I am being overly cynical but I always thought this was part of a game plan to break the play down. Having said that, I didn't notice Clare using any such tactic today.

Back to Waterford,
We really need to start scoring goals. We missed some chances yesterday. That has to be sorted out and fast. We should be winning next week and I would like to see us get in for a few goals in the process. We won't be going much further if we can't rattle the net.

seananigans

Is anyone else happy we're out of the Munster Championship ? in the years we go in from a semi and won the way through meant we could only could get 4 games (3 in advance of an AISHF ).

As it is 2 games gone ,form improving , a soft draw coming means we should have 3 Games before a more serious challenge , and possibly with a favourable draw 4 games .

did wonders for Tipp in '10 to have the oppurtunity and the extra games, I hope our guys are the same .

Okay, it ended badly ,but last time we went out in the first round against Clare, we battled our way into the final , who's to say the team won't continue to grow

Ando's Saggy Bottom

People will say I'm mad but if we avoid Tipp in the qualifiers we could get to another All Ireland.

I tell you this championship is opening up. Would you fear a Quarter Final vs loser of Cork and Limerick and a semi agin the winner? I think we are well capable of beating either of them.

Keanes Road

seananigans wrote: »

Is anyone else happy we're out of the Munster Championship ? in the years we go in from a semi and won the way through meant we could only could get 4 games (3 in advance of an AISHF ).

As it is 2 games gone ,form improving , a soft draw coming means we should have 3 Games before a more serious challenge , and possibly with a favourable draw 4 games .

did wonders for Tipp in '10 to have the oppurtunity and the extra games, I hope our guys are the same .

Okay, it ended badly ,but last time we went out in the first round against Clare, we battled our way into the final , who's to say the team won't continue to grow

Yesterday was a great day in the development of this team. In a must win game and playing against a strong wind away from home they dug deep and won it. This after Offaly had grabbed the game at the start of the second half and levelled. Fair enough they would give you a headache with the amount of chances they squander, especially after what we saw happen against Clare, but they kept creating. Maybe a trip on the road away from the spotlight is what a few of them need to find their feet at this level. The number of wides we are putting up needs to be addressed, but the wind must have played a big factor in some of the very poor misses we saw yesterday.

Mountainlad

Ando's Saggy Bottom wrote: »

People will say I'm mad but if we avoid Tipp in the qualifiers we could get to another All Ireland.

I tell you this championship is opening up. Would you fear a Quarter Final vs loser of Cork and Limerick and a semi agin the winner? I think we are well capable of beating either of them.

Probably but the thing is you need three massive games to do so. It's that consistnecy that Im not sure whether we could produce. We could beat anyone, with the probably exception of Kilkenny. But beating them all back to back is something that will be hard to achieve considering as Keanes Road mentions our lack of goals. Should have had a few yesterday again. You wouldn't continue to edge out games if you can't raise a few green flags.

It's not impossible though, and I guess a win next week and one after would give the team a lot of confidence coming into a quarter final.

seananigans

Mountainlad wrote: »

Probably but the thing is you need three massive games to do so. It's that consistnecy that Im not sure whether we could produce. We could beat anyone, with the probably exception of Kilkenny. But beating them all back to back is something that will be hard to achieve considering as Keanes Road mentions our lack of goals. Should have had a few yesterday again. You wouldn't continue to edge out games if you can't raise a few green flags.

It's not impossible though, and I guess a win next week and one after would give the team a lot of confidence coming into a quarter final.

KK are looking vulnerable ,offaly leading for 30 mins , drawing to dublin ? losing and drawing with galway last year . the time they are a changing


in '07 they won their games by an average of 14 points, no matter who they played (cork were only off a AI and still lost by nearly a score of points)

year on year the gap is getting smaller, last year it was broken , and this year with cody in bits,and the facade of the conveyor belt falling apart (without shefflin they are a very tempting target) there is not time like the present.

statistically all things must end, and the longer they go on for, the closer to the end it is, ,we're looking like a period of the early 90's wecford and offaly are rready to step up ,dublin are an unknown quantity , limerick is in the fray ,and cork can be a superpower in 2-3 years.

out of interest,does anyone know the longest gap KK went without winning the big one ?

deisedude

Against Westmeath they need to play someone else full forward. Seamus Prendergast has a very poor goal return and he didn't look fit at all yesterday

seananigans

deisedude wrote: »

Against Westmeath they need to play someone else full forward. Seamus Prendergast has a very poor goal return and he didn't look fit at all yesterday

everyone has an off day , who knows why ,but he'll be in better form ,with a 1-2 of him and babyshan,they can do great things

surely the westmeath game is the last time to try things , probably moreso than in the league.

hopefully they can explore their options and make sure the squad is fully explored,because the game after that we might get Dublin with 2 clashes with KK behind em,or even KK themselves

Keanes Road

deisedude wrote: »

Against Westmeath they need to play someone else full forward. Seamus Prendergast has a very poor goal return and he didn't look fit at all yesterday

He was unlucky for a penalty or two and had he not been fouled he should have scored. Was it Seamus who set up Moran for his run through the middle and shot at goal?

Deise_2012

ManFromCheese wrote: »

he has won 2 Fitzgibbon cups in the position and has a couple of fitz all stars at full back, he played there with the county u21s for 2 years, played there when they got to munster final a few years back. think that's enough of an indication don't you? Lawlor is a converted full back, he hadn't played there with the county at underage and he plays centre forward for his club.

Ah in fairness give lawlor a break, he's the best we've found since sean cullinane, everyone makes mistakes noel connors nearly gave away a goal in the 2nd half. He'l learn from it
As for Shane fives replacing him full back, I heard he hated playing there for the wit and county, way prefers corner and wing back, darach honan gave him a right hiding in the 2009 u21 final if anyone remembers that

seananigans

I don't know if anyone plays minecraft , but i'm currently building semple in it

I got about 2/3rds of the way through on an old server and am starting again

Ando's Saggy Bottom

seananigans wrote: »

I don't know if anyone plays minecraft , but i'm currently building semple in it

I got about 2/3rds of the way through on an old server and am starting again

Could you put some nicer toilets in your one?

seananigans

Ando's Saggy Bottom wrote: »

Could you put some nicer toilets in your one?

have you played minecraft? all you get are 1 metre squared locks .

All i've ever had in semple is a piss

my dad remarried about 10 years ago and married a divorcee from Thurles, so i get to head to my dad's house for that kind of business

gammon_steak

Lawlor getting way too much stick here. He made a terrible mistake yesterday but other than that he's been the best full back we've had in years. Full back is not about being fancy, it's about minding the house and sometimes that means playing the man.

The blue blaa

gammon_steak wrote: »

Lawlor getting way too much stick here. He made a terrible mistake yesterday but other than that he's been the best full back we've had in years. Full back is not about being fancy, it's about minding the house and sometimes that means playing the man.

Here here.. He's a good player last week Maurice couldn't jab lift a ball this week 12 points, don't judge these players on 1 performance they give their all an somedays it doesn't happen for them, full back is probably the hardest an most unforgiving position on the field get behind the team at this is stage of season stuff the begrudgers

Mountainlad

The blue blaa wrote: »

Here here.. He's a good player last week Maurice couldn't jab lift a ball this week 12 points, don't judge these players on 1 performance they give their all an somedays it doesn't happen for them, full back is probably the hardest an most unforgiving position on the field get behind the team at this is stage of season stuff the begrudgers

Agreed. And we also have a tendency to judge players on one mistake over the course of 70 mins here. Saw the highlights earlier and the very first score came from Lawlor coming out winning a ball and playing a long ball 80 yards down the field straight to Jake Dillon who caught it well and hit a great score.

And yet nobody in a million years would mention that. But he could be two years with out another mistake, and the first mistake he'd make again people would be talking about last night's match again.

I'm not saying that's something exclusive to him, seen it with several players. Even a few months ago Maurice Shanahan was an 'average' hurler, and Jamie Nagle was 'pure useless'. We're quick to judge, guilty of it myself sometimes too. But horrible to see the negativity after a positive result last night. Some people wouldn't sleep at night if they hadn't something bad to say I'm starting to think.

Deise Hurler

Have to agree with the above. Lawlor made one or two mistakes yesterday but has been effective if not spectacular at full back for us. The last time I remember Lawlor not starting full back for Waterford was the 2011 Munster Final. Enough said. As for those calling for Seamus to be dropped, thats just crazy. If he hadn't been pulled to the ground yesterday at the start of the 2nd half he would have had a goal. Seamus is invaluable to the forwards due to his size and ball winning ability.

seananigans

I've said it before and i'll say it again, we're not at the endof an era but the start of one, i respect immensely the crop of '98 and i would be indifferent ot hurling without them .

but our best days are not behind us.

it's an absolute tragedy that flynn the mcgraths the prender's tony browne john mullane big dan never lifted the big one.

I hope the can take some comfort in the fact they inspired the generation that did and that they are only standing on the shoulders of giants

It's going to happen ,and soon at that . i only hope my dad of 67 gets to see it before he dies

HillFarmer

Dos anyone know if we can meet Clare in the last round of the qualifiers provided both teams come through the next phase?

ie since we played them already or is it an open draw

Cake Man

HillFarmer wrote: »

Dos anyone know if we can meet Clare in the last round of the qualifiers provided both teams come through the next phase?

ie since we played them already or is it an open draw

Was thinking about this myself, not too sure but I'd imagine we couldn't meet again.

I think things will go like this in the qualifiers:

Phase 1
Waterford v Westmeath - Waterford
Wexford v Carlow - Wexford

Phase 2
Tipp v KK/Dub or Laois - taken as Tipp v Dub/Laois (KK don't lose replays!) - Tipp
Clare v KK/Dub or Laois - taken as Clare v Dub/Laois (KK don't lose replays!) - Clare

Phase 3
Waterford v Tipp/Wexford (assuming we can't meet Clare again)
Wexford v Tipp/Clare/Waterford


Phase 3 is really going to be crunch time for us. With all due respect, the best we could get is Wexford (assuming they get through), worst would no doubt be Tipp (again, assuming they get through). It'd be just our luck to meet Tipp and I'm going to predict that is exactly what will happen!

deisedude

Didn't read any of yesterdays papers but no match report online or the sunday game mentioned how bad a ref McGrath was

robopaddy

Mountainlad wrote: »

Agreed. And we also have a tendency to judge players on one mistake over the course of 70 mins here. Saw the highlights earlier and the very first score came from Lawlor coming out winning a ball and playing a long ball 80 yards down the field straight to Jake Dillon who caught it well and hit a great score.

And yet nobody in a million years would mention that. But he could be two years with out another mistake, and the first mistake he'd make again people would be talking about last night's match again.

I'm not saying that's something exclusive to him, seen it with several players. Even a few months ago Maurice Shanahan was an 'average' hurler, and Jamie Nagle was 'pure useless'. We're quick to judge, guilty of it myself sometimes too. But horrible to see the negativity after a positive result last night. Some people wouldn't sleep at night if they hadn't something bad to say I'm starting to think.

lets not forget Micahel Ryan aswell lads, last week he was being ridiculed and people were saying he was a joke. Havent seen his name mentioned once since Saturday night.

Were a fickle bunch. One defeat and the world is over, one win and were back in an AI Final. Never ceases to amaze me some of the people on here

robopaddy

2nd Phase Qualifier Draw:

Clare V Laois

(Losers Of) Dublin/KK V Tipperary

If results go as youd expect them to we will be playing Tipp In the Phase 3 qualifier.

Clare have a handy route into the quarters should play Wexford in phase 3

hardybuck

robopaddy wrote: »

2nd Phase Qualifier Draw:

Clare V Laois

(Losers Of) Dublin/KK V Tipperary

If results go as youd expect them to we will be playing Tipp In the Phase 3 qualifier.

Clare have a handy route into the quarters should play Wexford in phase 3

Can we actually play Clare again in a qualifier anyway?

fricatus

hardybuck wrote: »

Can we actually play Clare again in a qualifier anyway?

Yes and no. The draw specifically avoids repeat pairings, so we would only meet them again if there was no other option. In Phase 3 there are other options: Laois, Dublin, KK or Tipp; so we won't be meeting Clare in Phase 3 anyway.

Assuming we beat Westmeath, it's more than likely Dublin or Tipp. I can't see Laois beating Clare or KK losing the replay (good and all as Dublin are).

Intorestin' champenchip!!!

hardybuck

fricatus wrote: »

Yes and no. The draw specifically avoids repeat pairings, so we would only meet them again if there was no other option. In Phase 3 there are other options: Laois, Dublin, KK or Tipp; so we won't be meeting Clare in Phase 3 anyway.

Assuming we beat Westmeath, it's more than likely Dublin or Tipp. I can't see Laois beating Clare or KK losing the replay (good and all as Dublin are).

Intorestin' champenchip!!!

Yeah, that's what I was thinking myself.

As for Dublin - I don't think they're are any great shakes at all. They're 1B and struggled past Wexford in a replay.

KK must be having trouble of their own, as they didn't play great against Offaly, and are only still in Leinster by the skin of their teeth. While always wary of criticising them, with Shefllin & Fennelly out and perhaps Cody not 100% himself, perhaps they aren't so invincible.

Galway must be watching with interest, but even they only struggled past Laois!

Very, very interesting Championship so far.