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

Kerry 1-11 waterford 0-0 ht

1.15 to no score

3-22 0-1 full time

mountgomery burns wrote: »

Sure last week Derek was staying...

And big Dan is throwing his hat in the ring so it’s makes for great viewing!

PTH2009 wrote: »

cul beag wrote: »

And big Dan is throwing his hat in the ring so it’s makes for great viewing!

Hope it's not true

Great right hand man/selector but not as manager

Sean Power my favourite to get it and to have most of the same backroom team as the under 21s. The squad could have great respect for Sean as most of them were part of his AI winning minor and under 21s

seriously a great right hand man, not so sure , he was more of a yes man than anything else , he looked more of a gofer than someone Mc Grath would actually listen too, we don't know the facts at all if any if Dan tried to influence Mc Grath to hurl in any kind of a positive manner or was he just there to run around screaming at everyone to get back, like I said we don't know the facts, but he was in the set up all the way and played his part in what can only be described as puke hurling , basically playing Football/rugby with hurlies ,let's hope we never see it again , nearly 10 years of it now , let's hope when Mc Grath cleans out his desk he brings with him every yes man , that was associated with him , I remember Paul Flynn writing for one of our local rags about Davy Fitz ,that he believed that he dragged Waterford back 30 years , add to that the damage Mc Grath has done and we'll do well to climb out of this hurling quick sand, here's to a new manager who ever it will be and the very best of luck to him , looking forward to next years league already,its a shame that that it didn't work out for him and I hope he does well wherever he goes , he seems like a decent fella , but a decent intercounty hurling MANAGER he is not , and his record will show that , very very average altogether , onwards and upwards ,

anyone have a timeframe for new management to be in place??

PTH2009 wrote: »

Bigsliothar wrote: »

anyone have a timeframe for new management to be in place??

Heard they want to have it finalised by the county senior hurling final which will prob be end of Sep/October

The county final will be sorted well before that with all intercounty teams out of championship.

Last Sunday’s game against Cork in Thurles was quite enjoyable, although, as Donal O’Grady observed in the Examiner, it lacked the intense edge of a real championship occasion. It was surreal being at a Munster Championship match involving Waterford where my heart was not in my mouth as the game went down to the wire.

Waterford played some good hurling, especially in the first half, but overall Cork were clearly the better team. As usual they were well-organised, working the ball through the lines to create loads of scoring opportunities. However, their shooting was way off, while Waterford’s was unusually good, as reflected in Cork’s wide tally of seventeen compared with just seven for Waterford.

A lot of Waterford’s points came from out the field, or were gifts from sloppy play in the Cork defence. As ever, Waterford rarely exerted pressure close to the Cork goal. Cork’s sloppiness and wayward shooting indicated a team which may have thought that all they had to do was to turn up to win the game. However, when push came to shove they came good in the closing stages, which you would expect as the result meant a lot to them. Also Waterford ran out of steam towards the end, as the exertions of four games in four weeks clearly began to tell. The GAA will surely have to make some adjustments to the playing schedule in next year’s championship.

With Cork being so wasteful, Waterford could well have won the game. Just after half time, Tommy Ryan passed up a tap-over point and appeared to go for goal off his weaker left side which Anthony Nash dealt with comfortably. Immediately afterwards Pauric Mahony had a straightforward scoring chance which he would normally nail, but underhit his shot into Nash’s hand. If Waterford had got these two points it could have changed the dynamics of the closing stages by putting extra pressure on Cork.

On top of that, Seamus Harnedy’s goal should never have been allowed. After initially taking the ball into hand, he then handled the ball again before taking six clear strides before shooting to the net. Even if, as some have suggested, he handled the ball again during these strides (not obvious on TV) it would have been a foul for handling the ball three times. Overall, it was terrible refereeing, and variation between referees in their toleration of overcarrying has become a major problem (as has poor umpiring, which has been particularly evident this year).

Obviously the highlight of the game, from a Waterford point of view, was the outstanding performance of Tommy Ryan in what may have been his first championship start (I am open to correction on this). When he first came on the scene I thought Ryan was too small and light to make it at this level, but he is certainly a lot stronger now. He does have a tendency to go it alone. When he went for the long-distance shot late in the game which was blocked down (leading to Patrick Horgan shooting Cork into the lead), if he had looked up he might have spotted Tom Devine who was completely on his own on the left wing and calling for the ball.

Devine really upped his game this year. His first touch and shooting have been top drawer. He will be a big loss if he is not available next year.

After early jitters, and despite some naivety which one would expect, I thought that Seamus Keating did well when brought on to replace Noel Connors. One would have to ask why more use was not made of him when Waterford were hit with their injured defenders crisis.

An interesting aspect of last weekend was that the two teams which were full of energy and sharp as tacks in Limerick the previous week (the Limerick seniors and Waterford minors) both were totally flat against Clare and Cork, respectively. The way entire teams can collectively be affected like this is a fascinating aspect of sport. There was less at stake for Limerick who would still have been in the championship regardless of their result. I am amazed at the way Clare have been hyped up by the media pundits after this game, given how poor Limerick were.

Apart from the fact that Waterford minors had to play four games in four weeks, consistency between games is rarer at this level. Bad and all as they were playing, they still dominated the early stages of their game against Cork, but had some really bad misses. As happens in these situations, Cork (who had zero confidence starting the game, a rare occurrence in teams from that county) managed to put some scores on the board and you could see them gaining self-belief and eventually taking over completely.

I was surprised to see Caolán Mac Craith being hauled ashore when the game just might still have been retrievable. While things had not been going well for him (mainly a result of poor supply from out the field), he was the one member of the Waterford team with a bit of X factor who might have been able to grab a goal or two out of nothing.

It is ironic that the two teams which Waterford beat in this championship, Tipperary and Limerick, are now in the Munster final. They did show a lot of quality against Limerick, and along with the good showing of the under 21s on Wednesday, it is clear that the production of good young hurlers in the county did not cease in 2013, as some people (including Derek McGrath) seem to think.

Finally, assuming that last Sunday was his last game for Waterford, I salute and thank Brick Walsh for his enormous contribution to Waterford hurling over the last 15 years.

Giveitfong wrote: »

Waterford played some good hurling, especially in the first half, but overall Cork were clearly the better team. As usual they were well-organised, working the ball through the lines to create loads of scoring opportunities. However, their shooting was way off, while Waterford’s was unusually good, as reflected in Cork’s wide tally of seventeen compared with just seven for Waterford.

I actually thought we were the better team last week. Just when it came down to it at the end of the game, Cork had something to play for to give them that little boost to get them over the line.

Deiseen wrote: »

You are joking? Surely these should be sorted by September at the latest?

Plan was emailed to clubs last week that's the dates that were given

Mastermcgrath wrote: »

The day after Waterford and Tipp were knocked out of the championship there was a whole host of clubs from the states making contact with players, all competing to get the best players across before the start of the summer championships over there. Some were even getting whatsapp messages that evening!! There are already a few lads gone, and I believe De Burca, the Mahonys and Fives (not sure which one) have departed for Australia.
That's the reality of the modern game and unfortunately I'd say many clubs don't feel any better off because Waterford are out of the championship.

Think about 10 of the panel gone away, club championship back on this weekend it's the clubs that will suffer