Waterford GAA Thread - Mod note post #1

What happens next is vital. Putting all the hope on this team going forward would be a huge mistake..it’s viral to get another good minor team in 2/3 years and there should be an excellent management team out in place to make sure a few gems are picked up on weaker teams.

Joxer looks finished with the minors and will want to progress to the 20s. What happens with Ken, Browne, Moran, and Andy Moloney? It would be a mistake to just let them step aside in my opinion. Ken gets criticised unfairly in my opinion..he’s basically had the same results as Joxer in two years. He has a weak group but has still improved players and they have played well for large parts of games just not at the level of Tipp and Cork. Be very foolish not to have them involved in county setups for the next few years. Would they go back to minors? Moran is involved with De La Salle and Tony Browne is too valuable an asset to let go.

How this minor team are handled over the next three years will be so important. I was delighted to hear joxer mention this the other night straight after the game. All the great work done over the last few years will be for nothing if they are not looked after. This group basically had two years at minor so the same will probably be true for them at under 20. This means there is nothing for them next year so what do they do? Go away and do their own thing and go back at it October/november 26 for the following years under 20?
If what’s being said is true of next years minors not being great will a lot of the promising under 15s be brought into minor next year to give them two years at the grade similar to what happened with this years minors?

A lot of great work done but in reality it’s only a start and probably the really hard work is still to come if we are to remain competitive for the long term future at the highest level

Would Joxer really jump straight into another 3 years with the group? It would be a tough ask. I wonder would he be better served to take a step back for a year, recharge the batteries, leave Ken and his management have their 3rd year at U20 and then take over the U20’s for the 2027 and 2028 campaigns.

Ken has gone close in many games. There were plenty games where a top freetaker would have turned losses into wins.

I wouldn’t like to see too many parachuted straight into the U20 team. There’s a few candidates definitely, but the majority would be as well served with a development year with the U19 squad where the pressure would be much less. They could continue their physical and athletic development in this environment while playing less pressurised games.

Kevin Moran would be an interesting shout for next minor manager. Derek’s name was mentioned at one point also. Following this success up with another good minor performance in the next few years will be important. It may not be next year but we have to build towards it for the following year if that’s the case.

Brilliant to see the Minor Hurlers bringing the cup around to all the cul camps this week...

Tbh I wouldn’t begrudge Horgan winning one

other than that I couldn’t give a rattlers which of them won it

Don’t think that’s fair at all. They took on a group that were limited and knew they weren’t good enough yet made them fairly competitive in all the games bar the last one v Cork when they were as good as out anyway. Also there was a stark improvement in the 12 months between year 1 and year 2. Also a few players will be options for Peter Queally panel next year. I don’t think we can have asked for much more from it be honest

Pity we couldn’t keep Cahill he has them well tuned , just shows how it can open up for you once you get out of Munster . Cork will be favourites but Tipp have a boxers chance .

Is he the first manager to bring 2 different teams to an All Ireland final ?

ah look the dogs on the street knew the Tipp job was what he had his eye on long term. I think having had the experience of being in the final with us will stand to him now aswell

Similar as it did to Davy with Clare in 2013

Fully agree. He once turned down the Tipp job, he was never going to turn it down a second time, the man is Tipp through and through.

I guess our only regret is the "what if", had we have given Sean Power a go. He was deemed to not have enough senior experience and the role was given to Pauric Fanning, 12 months later we gave the role to Cahill who also had little senior experience.

I'm not saying things would have worked out with Power, but being one of our own, it was worth a shot as Cahill was only ever going to be 2-3 years at most especially if he did well, which he did to be fair.

The mess up started by not having any succession plan after Derek McGrath stepped away. Cahill only came into the reckoning because of the Fanning debacle and we were lucky to get him at the time but was never going to be a long term project as we mentioned above. By that stage covid had hit and Limerick were steamrolling ahead of everyone else and we had lost valuable time with with a generation and of players due to cluelessness at board level. As for the appointment after that don’t get me started but we need lessons to be learned for the next generation coming through

that was strongly rumoured, even if it was the case there was absolutely zero plan B when it fell through, to the point Pauric Fanning literally volunteered to step in a few short weeks before pre season training was due to return

County championship throws in this weekend. Hard to see past Ballygunner but with a new management team it could be the best chance for teams to catch them.

The one big plus if this split season is the amount of weekends that we have local games on is great.

Clare last year scraped third out of munster AI champs . Tipp this year in an AI ( although not favourites) .Any bit of luck at all would do us .

Are back in 1A . coming off the minor win, ideally Ballygunner will have a good run too and really get a fire lighting ,few early results in the league, maybe a league final/win and we really could get going .

Yeah it's likely going to be whatever standout performers we had in this years 20's - as mentioned above Jack Twomey and Conor Keane. Could probably add Mark Hartley as well.

Can be hard to know though, there are usually always lads who were either on the fringes of the panel (or not even on it at all) that come good and likewise lads who don't really kick on after minor/20.

Agree what mastermcgrath said above, priority would be to hopefully see a step up from lads who have been in and out of the county panel the last few years without really nailing down a spot (either through bad luck with injury or simply not doing enough to stand out when given a run).