Waterford GAA Thread - Mod note post #1

Jjjjjjjjbarry

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120284858#Comment_120284858

Legend. Thanks!

Jesus, they were quality goals! And nicely taken point as well.

decies

Team announced Sunday

Ian OB

Nice to see Foran back. I'd switch himself & Curran around though.

TheScoringGoal

Looks like Fagan, Barron and Prendergast will all drop back a line.

Interesting to see how Gavin Fives gets on. Injuries have held him back for a couple of years. Though half back is one of the lines we seem to have depth in so it will be hard to break through there.

Relhcstirt

Sunday will be a big challenge with no subs!!

PTH2009

Another bad day out for the Footballers

Waterford 1-6- Wexford 2-12

Mastermcgrath

Another very experimental team out tomorrow. I imagine it’s last chance for some young players to stake a claim as there’s just 2 games left against Tipp and KK for Davy to figure out his best 15

Cake Man

Was going to buy the game on GAAGo but the game not even being televised.

Anyway, best of luck to Davy and the team today. Hopefully a few lads stake a claim, a good score is racked up and no injuries (or red cards…).

PTH2009

Best of luck to the team and management today. Our last real 'home game' of the season

PTH2009

Far from Davy and the 2 selectors in the management team. Counted about 8 different 'coaches' in the warmup

Decent crowd here

PTH2009

Not at the races today, Antrim down to 14 but playing very well

Big improvement needed for the 2nd half

decies

Forget Davy more direct hurling please especially against 14 men . Usual plan bring on A team to win it . Not learning anything from first half . Tipperary is next up and next level .

PTH2009

Wins a win but bad performance littered with mistakes. Terrible on our puckouts and yet again another red card

Conor Ryan didn't do too bad, Aussie and Patrick Fitzgerald great when they came on and a good penalty save by Shaun O Brien

Looking like a win is needed against Tipperary or Kilkenny to get to the semi finals

Up against the big guns from now on

Jjjjjjjjbarry

Not going to judge until championship but it appears we’re gone two steps back in every way. Not sure the players are getting whatever the game plan is and I’m not sure Davy knows exactly himself just yet. Lot of work to do and considering how tough Munster is, we’re not showing any reason to believe we’ll get anywhere this year.

Few positives obviously in that Barron is showing signs he’s getting back to his best, Prunty and Lyons better today. Ryan seems decent. McNulty was on fire in the first half and is way better in the half back like than as a corner back.

Worrying that Aussie seemed injured at the end. Hope he’s ok.

Is Bennett injured?

Jjjjjjjjbarry

What’s with the rumours about a rift between ballygunner and the county board? Sounds like BS?

Dick phelan

Could anyone explain the penalty decision. He was fouled well outside the area. Is there a new rule or something

Dick phelan

Very worrying performance once again running into traffic far too often. Antrim with 14 had more space than us. Prunty looked much better today. Thought McNulty was very good as well. I don't understand why we persisted with a 2 man forward line forwards did very little but hard to blame them when they were heavily outnumbered.

Jjjjjjjjbarry

I was hoping someone else saw what happened as it didn’t make sense to me either. I’m assuming he deemed it as a clear goal scoring opportunity and awarded a penalty and black card?

Dick phelan

Sorry I'm out of the loop what's the new rule? If it's a black card it's a penalty?

TheScoringGoal

Jesus that was tough viewing. I've said it before but I reckon Fergal Horgan must hate hurling as he has an ability to ruin a match with frees. Nonetheless as someone else has stated our puck outs remain a major issue. We seem to go all in on them so when we lose them (which is much more often than we should) we're totally exposed defensively.

Jack Fagan is a bizarre choice as a sweeper, particularly when he could be the sort of player who could win ball for us.

We learned last year that the league is totally different from championship so all we can do is hope things come together as today was a very poor showing.

JD. 60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120290865#Comment_120290865

Listening in to WLRFM, it did sound like the referee had a ‘mare’ ; what a surprise.

Ian OB

Our record of never winning back to back titles continues.

Why did the physio get yellow carded?

PTH2009

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120291027#Comment_120291027

Would Kyle Hayes of stayed on the pitch if he was in charge of that game ?

seananigans

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120291415#Comment_120291415

We are currently undefeated ,now we have tipp away in 2 weeks, and Davy will need to put out a decent team to beat them, but we will be in a much better place to judge after that,in the meantime, keep the faith

seananigans

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120290725#Comment_120290725

not new was there last year, but refs stopped enforcing it come championship, if you're in on goal and taken out it's a black card and a penalty regardless of if it's in the box or not .

Jerry Atrick

Aa

Jerry Atrick

What rift jjjjjjbarry?

Gardner

Said it a few weeks back in regards to our puck out options and the winning of the primary possession, I didn’t take note of the stats yesterday but I’d say its well below 50%. I’d be interested also to have the stats on the secondary possession. I’d say they will be within the same range.  

I do honestly think Davy will use Kilkenny game to put out approx 80-90% of his first team and a team like yesterday again vs Tipp. He then has 5 solid weeks from the last league game till we play Limerick. That 5 weeks behind closed doors is crucial for us and how we front up vs Limerick. Wouldn’t read too much into the Tipp game Sunday week. Throw a few pound on Tipp.

Mastermcgrath

Really hard to know where we’re at. The performances have been poor so far, unbeaten but haven’t really come up against the top quality opposition yet.

as another poster highlighted, starting inexperienced lads then springing the more experienced lads off the bench to win the games when we looked in trouble is not really learning anything new

its clear Davy is not interested in the league and that’s fine, he’s entitled to take time to figure out his best side and best system to suit players etc. I wonder is this a 2/3 year plan in his head. The Waterford public really need to see instant impact given the disappointments of the end of Cahills reign but we haven’t seen any signs of that instant kick you become a accustomed to with Davy teams yet

the next 2 games will tell a lot

upthedeise16

I only listened to yesterdays game which was painful enough tbh. I’m glad I go to most games as although Kieran O’Connor comes across as a lovely man, the mistakes he makes throughout the game were laughable. He seems to care more about where lads work than anything, “The Radleys man/The TQS man”, & he also shows particular attention to who is in the crowd & who he met beforehand such as, “I seen ______ mother Mary below & she will be delighted with that one”. In fairness, Michael Ryan was good with him & very honest, calling out Waterford players for pure skill execution & not papering over the cracks as he stated that Antrim had been the better side & that only for the sending off, Waterford would have been in big trouble. I’ll be at the last 2 games anyway so don’t have to worry about radio coverage going forward!

My 3 big takes from the 3 games to date under Davy are the lack of ball going into our full forward line, the positioning of Callum Lyons at 6 & the seemingly poor return from our own puckouts.

It was stated throughout the match that there was no ball going into the full forward line which, in the 1st half was understandable as they were against the wind, & Antrim sat a man deep (again, depending on commentary for this analysis!). Even when the man was sent off, the ball wasn’t going in and DJ Foran & Rueben Halloran getting their chance to start, were starved of possession. In the 2nd half, it seemed only 2 balls were hit in, both won or broken by Foran who missed a good goal chance and the penalty was won, yet no more ball was hit in. I find this frustrating as the stats show our full back line scored more than our starting full forward line. There seems to be a tactic of shouting from distance instead of feeding the ball in. The benchmark, Limerick, have shots from distance for sure but force out the opposition half back line out the field to leave space for their full forward line inside & when the chance is there, they deliver excellent ball inside to the likes of Gillane, Flanagan & Casey. I’d argue Dessie, Kiely & Bennett would be potentially as good a full forward line as this but if they are going to be starved with possession & watching the ball flying over their heads from long shots, we may as well have myself, @Gardner & @pth inside!

This leads me on to my next point. There is nothing more exciting than seeing Callum Lyons break out of defense & carry ball before unleashing a shot but is there anything more demoralising for a side than seeing aimless shots drop short or wide while a full forward line is frustrated inside? Lyons, for all his quality & good scoring record is not a great shooter & I don’t think he is disciplined enough to sit at 6 to protect the full back line. I want to emphasise that I think Lyons is a class act who offers a lot but at number 6, protection for the full back line is not included in this. Again, I’d argue, whatever 3 are in the Waterford full back line are great man markers, even if Prunty struggled with the smaller man yesterday & against Laois, but the quality of ball & more importantly, the space left in front of the full backline makes their job almost impossible & it makes them look as if they are being exploited as they have literally no protection. The likes of Lyons, Fagan, McNulty & Daly love attacking & carrying ball or shooting but I think it is to the detriment of the team in terms of scores being conceded at the other end & the lack of ball going inside. The only thing I can think of tactically is that, when fit, TDB will sit in as sweeper & this will allow Lyons that freedom to attack as otherwise, I would worry about the cover given to the full backline.

In terms of puckouts, it’s probably been an issue with a few years. O’Brien & Nolan are doing well on goal but there has to more ball winners put into the half forward line in my opinion. Teams are happy enough if Waterford go short to McNulty, Prunty, Gleeson etc as Waterford going through the lines, tend to make mistakes or drop ball. Canning highlighted the same issue about Galway last night. If they are to go through the lines, it has to be ball to hand & it has to be controlled first time. What I find with Waterfords short puckouts is that we go short, go short again & carry into the crowded middle third & often get overcrowded & dispossessed or there is a breakdown due to a poor touch. Limerick, again I’ll use as they are the benchmark, work the ball through a triangle formation & often the first man gets it back & is further up the pitch & in a position to deliver good ball inside to the full forward line. The likes of Morrissey, Lynch & Hegarty have dropped deep to provide an option but also to leave this space. It’s something Waterford have to work on.

In terms of long puckouts, the best ball winning options for the half forward line are not playing there at the minute or haven’t started games. Montgomery has had a decent league & is a big man but isn’t superb in the air. Curran, Jack Prender, Rueben Halloran, the Barrons aren’t recognised as puckout winners in the air so would need space provided to run into. Aussie is the obvious option if puckouts are to be long. Fagan is the other option & I think he is needed up there as I believe there are sufficient options in the halfback line. His 2nd half performance in the Covid semi-final against Kilkenny was Fagan’s best performance in a Waterford shirt as he claimed puckout after puckout. If Waterford are to go long, he would be a bonus to have up there. There could be another big man on the other wing such as Foran or Sean Walsh but I suspect it will be a smaller man, such as Prender or Barron will continue there & drop into midfield to get on ball. That leaves space for the likes of Kiely or Bennett to come out on puckouts & attack the ball from behind like a crash ball & either win it, or break it for the extra Waterford man. Limerick, again I’ll be told I’m harping on about them, do it well with Gillane. I remember it particularly up in Limerick last year when Daly went off, they targeted that puckout option & had great joy out of it as Waterford halfbacks went man for man & vacated that space for Gillane. I think the 2 big men & floater may be a good option for Waterford & there would surely be more success that we are currently seeing. My thoughts probably seem like copy tactics but I do think there would be an improvement.

For all I have said, it has only been 3 league games. First one, we had 2 men sent off, the second a man sent off and this weekend, the opposition had a man sent off so it has been hard to see a trend in play other than what I mentioned above in my post. Moreover, what I would call a strongest team hasn’t been available & to be fair, although they have been as expected, the results have been positive even if performances haven’t. Also, a few new players have been given game time which is positive. The next 2 games will be a step-up against better sides, both away so there will possibly be more to learn & see a system in play.