Waterford GAA thread - mod warning post #1 and #51

PTH2009

We need someone which height who can win puck outs and put them in the half forward line

6 weeks til the Clare game which will be a great occasion in Walsh Park. When will the players return too training after the club games ??

puzl

I heard there will be only 1 or 2 rounds of hurling championship now. You'd assume they'd get a week off, which makes the earliest start 14th April. So the 21st would be round 2 and then they'll have to figure out if they are going to do a third round. Correct me if I'm wrong here but didn't Clare completely skip April club hurling last year?

BloodyBill

cul beag wrote: »

Poor performance. Doesn’t help when you have players fundraising in a kube the Friday night of a national final but we can have no excuses on the day. Limerick were excellent and could have won by more only for the bad wides they struck in the second half. Physically they’re like heavyweights compared to us as middleweights at best but by god can they hurl with it. We can learn a lot from it for our championship game against them in Walsh Park.
The Gleason debate will continue but I’d be slow to write his obituary just yet. I believe he’s still over weight which I know isn’t ideal but he has time to correct that. 19 points playing poorly isn’t too bad when you think we missed two sitters but again I reiterate, we weren’t good enough on the day and were beaten by a far superior team.
It’ll be interesting what team he plays when he has everyone fit.

Weight has very little to do with fitness. Limerick are heavier than Waterford outside of Mulcahy and Oeter Casey. If your fit,your fit. Body fat is a big factor but idont see Gleeson having much body fat. Overall I dont like the physical appearance of Waterford. Not strong enough. When the last 15 mins came and Flanagan came on Waterford were out of gas.
Lots of work to do for the Championship for both teams. It ll take some effort to beat Limerick in Walsh Park . What they have is big work horses who put in a serious shift and then Gillane and Casey ,Mulcahy to fire the bullets. All their half forward line plays or has played centre back for their clubs. Bricks finished..zero mobility

KevIRL

As others have said, not at the races today, following not being at the races last week in nowlan park for large parts of the game. Decision making very poor and puck outs exceptionally poor. We seem over and over again to take the ball into traffic, either by carrying it in or selecting the wrong pass. Many of the usually very good players had total off days.

One thing today told us in case we had any doubts is how much the Clare game in Walsh park is a must win cause very hard to see how beat this limerick team

Jjjjjjjbarry

I thought lots of times in the first half in particular we overplayed the ball in the forwards and wasted point opportunities by going for goals. Great when it works but not so great when it doesn't and the other team are banging over points.

Road-Hog

Jjjjjjjbarry wrote: »

I thought lots of times in the first half in particular we overplayed the ball in the forwards and wasted point opportunities by going for goals. Great when it works but not so great when it doesn't and the other team are banging over points.

Would I be right in saying that limerick were short only one of last years wunning team.?.....how far away are w’ford from best 15.....?

Motivator

Road-Hog wrote: »

Would I be right in saying that limerick were short only one of last years wunning team.?.....how far away are w’ford from best 15.....?

That’s a fair point and as I alluded to earlier, there’s a couple of the Waterford lads that needed that game today. A great experience for both the management and the panel and it can only help them going forward. There’s plenty of time to get things sorted out tactically and plenty of time for the injured lads to get back and up to speed training wise.

Stacksofwacks

KevIRL wrote: »

As others have said, not at the races today, following not being at the races last week in nowlan park for large parts of the game. Decision making very poor and puck outs exceptionally poor. We seem over and over again to take the ball into traffic, either by carrying it in or selecting the wrong pass. Many of the usually very good players had total off days.

One thing today told us in case we had any doubts is how much the Clare game in Walsh park is a must win cause very hard to see how beat this limerick team

It will be a different game in WP I'd imagine, I think both our home games are must wins, do that and we should qualify

spideyman92

Jjjjjjjbarry wrote: »

I thought lots of times in the first half in particular we overplayed the ball in the forwards and wasted point opportunities by going for goals. Great when it works but not so great when it doesn't and the other team are banging over points.

I think there were a few examples of overplaying balls throughout the whole league campaign. It's alright when you're playing the likes of Laois and can tap over a few more scores to compensate for it. But Limerick didnt give them any time on the ball, with a couple of men pressing the Waterford lads whenever they were in possession so most of the overplaying resulted in misplaced passes, lost balls and scores for them. We've a lot of nice flicky hurlers with pace but we could do with a few more big lads with a more intimidating presence.

brinty

Conor Gleeson is a huge miss right now. As someone said we looked like middleweights v heavyweights at times. Limerick looked massive and horsed us off balls all day long.

We've no one with a bit of a devil in them that'll give a huge (murdering on legal) hit every game that'll rouse the crowd. I know Moran nailed canning last week but that's rare. Ozzie can do it at times but he's as likely to get booked as do it correctly.

Gleeson is a hardy and tough little funker,who wasn't back down from anyone and we could do with one or two more like him. We're just too nice and polite and lack that killer instinct right now.

PTH2009

Walsh Park as a Championship is an unknown quantity and far from a guaranteed success for us. I knw we had 2 big wins in the league there but munster championship is a different kettle of fish

Not getting out of Munster 2nd summer in a row will be heartbreaking and damaging. Personally not a fan of the new system as like last year u dont get the chance against a team outside ur province unless u get through all the other teams in ur province (KK,Gal,Dub and Wex have a gimmy every year with a guaranteed win over a weaker county) and Munster is dog eat dog. The old system at least u get a second chance if u lose out in Munster through the qualifiers

DiscoStew

puzl wrote: »

I heard there will be only 1 or 2 rounds of hurling championship now. You'd assume they'd get a week off, which makes the earliest start 14th April. So the 21st would be round 2 and then they'll have to figure out if they are going to do a third round. Correct me if I'm wrong here but didn't Clare completely skip April club hurling last year?

Clare did indeed skip it and started their club championship much later in the year.
Waterford senior club championship begins next weekend. There is 1 round being played followed by 2 rounds of football championship. Much of the panel should be available for training after the round of hurling is over.
There was some junior and intermediate championship fixtures played this weekend, that didn’t involve county players.

windy shepard henderson

puzl wrote: »

I heard there will be only 1 or 2 rounds of hurling championship now. You'd assume they'd get a week off, which makes the earliest start 14th April. So the 21st would be round 2 and then they'll have to figure out if they are going to do a third round. Correct me if I'm wrong here but didn't Clare completely skip April club hurling last year?

starting on paddys weekend to the may bank holiday weekend is 5 or 6 rounds of league games in both football and hurling , 1 or 2 rounds played in june with non intercounty players playing

championship draw takes place in april will be set for a july or august start depending on how the hurlers get on , it was the same last year as this year

it probably makes sense i feel if you start a club championship now and resume it 2 or 3 months later players lose momentum

spideyman92

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

starting on paddys weekend to the may bank holiday weekend is 5 or 6 rounds of league games in both football and hurling , 1 or 2 rounds played in june with non intercounty players playing

championship draw takes place in april will be set for a july or august start depending on how the hurlers get on , it was the same last year as this year

it probably makes sense i feel if you start a club championship now and resume it 2 or 3 months later players lose momentum

I don't think it's fair on the average club player either. All that preparation getting ready early in the year for 1 or 2 matches and then the competition gets put on hold until the county team finishes up.

ovalu

We seem to have picked a lot of very small forwards in the panel, we were getting blown out of it by the Limerick half back line in the second half, yet replacing Mikey Kearney who is small enough with the absolutely tiny Stephen Roche was hardly the solution. Surely it would make sense to have at least looked at players like Seamus Keating or JP Lucey who at least have the physicality to compete with big half backs,

windy shepard henderson

spideyman92 wrote: »

I don't think it's fair on the average club player either. All that preparation getting ready early in the year for 1 or 2 matches and then the competition gets put on hold until the county team finishes up.

anthony daly changed it back in the early 2000s when he was in charge and it has sticked since , he was probably more afraid of guys getting injured while with there clubs ,

i dont get county boards that allow for this to happen , yesterday the limerick football championship started despite the hurlers playing in croke park today , several of that team are duel players especially gearoid hegarty who started out his intercounty career as a footballer

killbillvol2

I haven't read any of the thread today so I may be repeating something. But the support from Waterford today was pathetic. And largely silent. As usual.

I stayed for the football, in which I have no interest, and it was uplifting to see the enthusiasm of the Mayo crowd who had travelled in huge numbers.

If I see any BS here about not being able to get tickets for championship games you can all take a long hike. And I'm speaking from nearly 50 years of listening to sunshine supporters who offer f all on days like today.

hurler on de ditch

ovalu wrote: »

We seem to have picked a lot of very small forwards in the panel, we were getting blown out of it by the Limerick half back line in the second half, yet replacing Mikey Kearney who is small enough with the absolutely tiny Stephen Roche was hardly the solution. Surely it would make sense to have at least looked at players like Seamus Keating or JP Lucey who at least have the physicality to compete with big half backs,

Maurice Shanahan when fit should start .still an excellent hurler ,great man to catch a high ball,good to take a score and so difficult to mark .pity he was injured today .definitely the man for the half forward line, Calum Lyons had an extremely tough day .he could not get close .felt Tommy Ryan should have started .but I think he and Peter hogan would be lucky to get a start the next day .P,Curran would be my choice .thought the Brick should have been subbed earlier,(absolute legend) but his day is up .Shane Bennett should have been left on,.N,Connors was brilliant today only for him we were cleaned out ,Aussie really should be centre back.,SOK is some shot stopper ,

PTH2009

killbillvol2 wrote: »

I haven't read any of the thread today so I may be repeating something. But the support from Waterford today was pathetic. And largely silent. As usual.

I stayed for the football, in which I have no interest, and it was uplifting to see the enthusiasm of the Mayo crowd who had travelled in huge numbers.

If I see any BS here about not being able to get tickets for championship games you can all take a long hike. And I'm speaking from nearly 50 years of listening to sunshine supporters who offer f all on days like today.

Yeah we stayed for the football too and really enjoyed it delighted for Mayo. One Mayo supporter near me was as wild as anything as was many others including kids. Football can be low scoring and boring on TV but when u see a quality game it's amazing how tough it looks too score. Theres players constantly up ur nose who give u **** all room

It's going too be fun in the lead up too the Walsh park games about 'genuine supporters' not getting tickets who "go too every game" but dont bother buying a season ticket

Gavlor

killbillvol2 wrote: »

I haven't read any of the thread today so I may be repeating something. But the support from Waterford today was pathetic. And largely silent. As usual.

I stayed for the football, in which I have no interest, and it was uplifting to see the enthusiasm of the Mayo crowd who had travelled in huge numbers.

If I see any BS here about not being able to get tickets for championship games you can all take a long hike. And I'm speaking from nearly 50 years of listening to sunshine supporters who offer f all on days like today.

You do know that mayo has 50000 more people than Waterford yeah? Baring in mind that we’ve only a population 80000 you’d kind of expect them to have a much larger crowd. Wasn’t much difference in terms of enthusiasm today between waterford and limerick fans today until the last 15 minutes so comparisons to mayo who have a bit of a cult one sport following is unfair.

All Ireland tickets should be based on 3 metrics.
Season tickets
Active club members
Club games attended

killbillvol2

Gavlor wrote: »

You do know that mayo has 50000 more people than Waterford yeah? Baring in mind that we’ve only a population 80000 you’d kind of expect them to have a much larger crowd. Wasn’t much difference in terms of enthusiasm today between waterford and limerick fans today until the last 15 minutes so comparisons to mayo who have a bit of a cult one sport following is unfair.

All Ireland tickets should be based on 3 metrics.
Season tickets
Active club members
Club games attended

What utter bollocks! The difference in population is about 14 000 or less than 10%. Never mind the additional hassle of travelling from Mayo. Go and get numerate and maybe literate before you start quoting numbers.

windy shepard henderson

Gavlor wrote: »

You do know that mayo has 50000 more people than Waterford yeah? Baring in mind that we’ve only a population 80000 you’d kind of expect them to have a much larger crowd. Wasn’t much difference in terms of enthusiasm today between waterford and limerick fans today until the last 15 minutes so comparisons to mayo who have a bit of a cult one sport following is unfair.

All Ireland tickets should be based on 3 metrics.
Season tickets
Active club members
Club games attended

come on , i was in walsh park for the 1/4 final it was shocking 2000 people just about for a home game , it will be a sell out twice or 3 times over for the championship

in 2016 we played ye in two league finals in thurles , a combined total of 29000 watched both games , it would have been much bigger had the average clare following not been totally sick of the sight of davey fitz , it was almost a boycott at the time from clare and they probably still out numbered waterford

to be fair you are right mayo are a bad example they are the best supporters in the country but waterford deserve so much better especially this excellent group of players

windy shepard henderson

killbillvol2 wrote: »

What utter bollocks! The difference in population is about 14 000 or less than 10%. Never mind the additional hassle of travelling from Mayo. Go and get numerate and maybe literate before you start quoting numbers.

very hard to disagree with this ,

Stacksofwacks

Waterford population is 110k...Yeah recent turnouts have been disappointing but I dont think its a Waterford only problem, with so many games on TV and games being livestreamed on twitter etc the days of 50k at a league final are long gone Im afraid

windy shepard henderson

Stacksofwacks wrote: »

Waterford population is 110k...Yeah recent turnouts have been disappointing but I dont think its a Waterford only problem, with so many games on TV and games being livestreamed on twitter etc the days of 50k at a league final are long gone Im afraid

yeah you are dead right but at times clare suffer from the same fair weather fobia as waterford , but it could and should be slightly better , from a waterford point of view

when we went to the 1/4 final at walsh park just to be on the safe side we parked at the supervalue at the bottom of the mount sion hill that leads you up to walsh park , we were expecting at least 4 to 5000 at that game , one of my mates taught we were lost in some housing estate as we approached the ground , there was no one else but ourselves entering the ground with about 20 minutes before throw in , there was little atmosphere at the game and dont give me that guff that there was rugby on at the same time

Stacksofwacks

other possible reasons is i dont think this Waterford team has caught the imagination like the previous team with Ken McGrath, Mullane, Big Dan, Flynn etc in terms of style etc even though it is a good team it dosent have the same flair or wacky characters as the previous generation. I might be talking bollocks but thats how it feels to me

PTH2009

Stacksofwacks wrote: »

other possible reasons is i dont think this Waterford team has caught the imagination like the previous team with Ken McGrath, Mullane, Big Dan, Flynn etc in terms of style etc even though it is a good team it dosent have the same flair or wacky characters as the previous generation. I might be talking bollocks but thats how it feels to me

Social media exists way more today as compared too 10 years ago and my god a lot of the current GAA players are very active on it and attract attention of the younger generation. What young Waterford hurling doesn't want to see Aussie in person ???

Its sad but social media is the way life is gone now

windy shepard henderson

PTH2009 wrote: »

Social media exists way more today as compared too 10 years ago and my god a lot of the current GAA players are very active on it and attract attention of the younger generation. What young Waterford hurling doesn't want to see Aussie in person ???

Its sad but social media is the way life is gone now

i dont think its either TV or social media i just think its laziness , in 4 or 5 weeks time everyone in clare and waterford will be whinging that they cant get a ticket to an 11000 event that is televised anyway and that the gaa has somehow let them down despite not being able to make a game in the 3 years :rolleyes:

KevIRL

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

i dont think its either TV or social media i just think its laziness , in 4 or 5 weeks time everyone in clare and waterford will be whinging that they cant get a ticket to an 11000 event that is televised anyway and that the gaa has somehow let them down despite not being able to make a game in the 3 years :rolleyes:

I'd agree that Waterford supporter turn out this league has been awful and have commented on same a number of times. While it may have been understandable in the early games in thurles and Port Laoise the numbers at the home QF, a SF only up the road in KK and a national final at Croke park were nothing short of desperate.

I'd tend to agree that laziness is the main reason. People down here are event junkies like so many other counties and only want to be at big games like AI semi final and final. every auld excuse under the sun gets rolled out but in my opinion it boils down to laziness with so many not prepared to make a small bit of an effort to support the team until the very big stage arrives (if it arrives). The very same people of course often the most critical of the team, management, county board and GAA in general.

The Clare game on 12th may is going to be a huge event and hyped up so much in the media so watch demand for tickets, and as others have said the moaning about difficulty in getting them go through the roof over the coming weeks.

redlead

Waterfords support base seems almost non existent now; even a lot of the core support has disappeared. I don't know what's going on but we must be by far the worst supported team of the big 8 now, even with population differences taken into account.

Fair play to Limerick yesterday, they've been excellent throughout the league and won easily yesterday in second or third gear. We just weren't at the races. We performed so poorly throughout the team it's hard to judge too much, just one of those flat days. Noel Connors was exceptional but that's about it.

We are still playing that ticky tacky style that Tipp used to always find out and now Limerick have (the quality teams). Overpaying the ball by trying to make low percentage 3 yard hand passes or flicks and then running into swarms of players. It's infuriating stuff to watch but hopefully we learn our lessons and mix our game up a bit more.

Aussie floating around the place really doesn't work and is a liability at times. Firstly, he's just not good at doing it, he can't seem to get anywhere near the ball. Secondly, no one knows where he is so they can't hit the ball to him and lastly when he was wing back he doesn't seem to realise he is supposed to mark his man. Limerick scored two points yesterday solely because Aussie was standing loose 4 yards off the man he should have been marking. Put him wing forward and leave him there.

At the end of the day I don't think we should be losing the run of ourselves over reacting. We still got to the final which is better than everyone else. Hopefully that's the worst game we will have this year. I still don't think our fitness levels look anything like Limericks so I'm not sure what way we are timing things. Time will tell.