Waterford GAA Thread - Mod note post #1

5948ai · 15-03-2026 03:51PM

Yeah good performance although we gifted Tipp that goal. That's a strong breeze. Hopefully we did enough with it in the first half to get us over the line.

Gluteus_Maximus · 15-03-2026 04:29PM

feck, balls etc

5948ai · 15-03-2026 04:36PM

Soft goal in the first half came back to haunt us.

gunners200 · 15-03-2026 04:37PM

Jesus typical Waterford that. Wonder what excuse queally will give this time

Dick phelan · 15-03-2026 04:44PM

Awful second half, be tough to get promoted next year

seananigans · 15-03-2026 04:44PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124314609#Comment_124314609

he will want to have one hell of a championship or we will need a new manager appointed before the winter sets in. it's nto so much that match but the KK one that really irks me

Ballyvoile Boy · 15-03-2026 04:55PM

Very disappointing finish for us to the league after a good first half today. Hard to know what the game plan was for the second half against the wind, but well done to Tipp for pulling it back. Queally has a lot to do to get this team ready for the championship in 5 weeks, so hopefully he has a strategy that has not been revealed yet. We have a decent panel and he has given a some new players a run, so let's pray he has something up his sleeve for Ennis to show why the Waterford co. board has such faith in him. We need to get out of Munster this year.

Mastermcgrath · 15-03-2026 05:16PM

there’s a couple lads making the same dumb mistakes every week. Resulted in gifting Tipp 1-1 today. Ironically the difference in the score at the end. Sort it out Queally

gunners200 · 15-03-2026 05:29PM

am still waiting to see this great running game courtesy of the duck o rourke. Same shite as last year just lump ball

kasporov · 15-03-2026 05:40PM

Waterford no hope of progressing in Munster with this negative tippy tappy hurling. Queally has no ambition to let these players hurl. How many side line cuts today were played short to players marked and we lost the ball. 1 man full forward line most of the game every game, zero goal threat. Last 10 competitive games we have averaged 1-21, last year in the Munster and A1 series you had to average 2-26 to win a game. 9 goals in our last 10 games. Our game plan seems to make the game a scrap and win a low scoring game like against Limerick.

Mastermcgrath · 15-03-2026 05:43PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124314766#Comment_124314766

This is the same duck O’Rourke who went for the Waterford u21s job a couple years ago but co board didn’t see fit to give it to him because his name wasn’t big enough?. instead he went to cork and built up a reputation then co board decide yea actually would do with him let’s get him alongside Queally.
You think it’s like turning on a tap? we’re not going to get this magical hurling all of a sudden after years of daft decisions at co board level

handy_out · 15-03-2026 05:55PM

Very disappointing to lose that one. The wind was obviously a huge factor but we knew what to expect in the second half so there’s no excuse. Bad wides, bad decisions, silly turnovers and no real style of play. It just fell apart. What a shame after such a good first half where we played some stunning hurling with great team scores.
Lots of work to do now and I’m not sure what our best team is as some of the lads who’ve got lots of game time are not filling me with confidence.

PTH2009 · 15-03-2026 05:55PM

Sickner and not great for confidence. Kildare, Antrim, Offaly, Wexford & the likes await next year in the league. Walsh Park will suffer from low attendances. Only slight positive from it could be a new management team and a lot of new players to step in for the inevitable retirements

Can we discount the Clare game as it's so hard to see us getting anything up in that graveyard of a place. Tipp revisiting Walsh Park is a must must win game

Does Queally have the option of a 3rd year or is it a 'review after 2' ?

15-03-2026 06:01PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124314728#Comment_124314728

This has been a common theme since after Cahill was manager here. Poor decision making when in possession.

It's by far the most frustrating part of our game and time and time again it costs us.

Asdfgh2020 · 15-03-2026 06:09PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124314793#Comment_124314793

duck O’Rourke was touted by some as a version of yer man kinnerk down in Limerick ie a tactical/game reading expert…..not what we’ve seen in this league campaign bar a couple of good ‘half’s’ here and there….😢……as for Munster……very hard to see more than our usual 1 win, maybe a draw and finishing 4/5th

5948ai · 15-03-2026 06:29PM

Winning is a habit and likewise losing, unfortunately that's what we have at the moment. We put ourselves in a great position but the gift of the goal and period before and after half time is where we lost it. We will be well under the radar for Clare in a few weeks time!

Mastermcgrath · 15-03-2026 06:59PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124314953#Comment_124314953

agreed we have to take the positives and move on from here. The performance was decent and there was some excellent patterns of play in the first half. albeit the defeat was disappointing given we were 8 points up at half time when the dust settles eve gone toe to toe with the all Ireland champions and missing our marquee player in Bennett and also still some otherkey names to return. The league Dosent matter a jot and the real work starts now we have 5/6 weeks for things to clock into place and get championship ready

rockable_audio · 15-03-2026 07:15PM

I feel like the only time I'm on this platform I am giving out. One man inside the full forward line tells us everything we need to know. We're going nowhere with Queally as manager. Try to defend a lead instead of building on it. I feel sorry for O'Rourke cause it's clearly not his style. The one time he gets a chance with the senior team and is landed in with two clowns in Shanahan and Queally. Might as well bring back Derek McGrath cause that was his gameplan there today mixed with handpassing. I have to wonder what the ambition of these players is? To not have a go at teams and try and not get hammered? It is not working well cause teams figured out the gameplan in 2018

Deiseen · 15-03-2026 07:37PM

Did Reuben Halloran miss a single free today?

I think he's missed two in total (maybe even one?) in all the frees he has taken this year.

Quite unbelieve and at this point he should be left on the frees unless he's having a bad day.

15-03-2026 07:40PM

Disappointed to be relegated, after the Offaly game we had three attempts to ensure survival and didn't capitalise on any of them.

The Kilkenny game for me was the one.

That said what's done is done now, 5-6 weeks to be ready for the Munster championship. Weather will hopefully be better, the ground will be hopefully harder, knuckle down now and see where we go.

I'm not overly confident/hopefully, but the Munster championship is a minefield, get a bit of luck and you would never know, the home games are crucial.

jimmythesulk · 15-03-2026 08:03PM

Imagine having a player like Dessie Hutchinson and not playing him the ball, he should be inside in the full forward ball and receiving plenty of ball in.

Yere gameplan is terrible and queally is just another Davy. He was up here in kilkenny about 15 years ago with the rower and the exact same gameplan. He wasn't asked back for a second year.

On top of that ye need to drop a few of yere players from yere panel, they have proved over and over that they are not good enough but always start.

Deskjockey · 15-03-2026 08:40PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124314847#Comment_124314847

No let's not discount the Clare game as that's one that we need to be trying to win, yes it's away but let's not go down there defeated before we get going.

handy_out · 15-03-2026 09:03PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124315233#Comment_124315233

The question for me is whether he’s good enough to start every game. If not, then he obviously can’t be our regular free taker. If he’s going to start every game then he should totally be our free taker. But you can’t carry a player just for frees in the modern game. At this moment in time, I’ve never been so confused about what our best 15 is. The team usually has 13 obvious starters with a couple of options to start or be the first two subs. This year, I’m not so sure.

TheScoringGoal · 15-03-2026 09:19PM

I'll say no more on the topic than Thomas Gleeson is not of the standard required to referee inter county matches.

Unfortunately for us, I think that league position is an accurate reflection of where we are. I don't think we're as good as Cork anyway but we hadn't a hope against them with their new manager, at home looking to avenge their all Ireland final defeat.

We improved against Limerick but I felt on the day Limerick were a bit off the standard. In fairness we won but a questionable black card and penalty helped a lot. We weren't as good against Offaly but I think we were the better team and won.

An unacceptable opening 20 mins against Kilkenny cost us, I don't see how we can feel we were unlucky after being so bad during that period. I didn't see the Galway game but we were well beaten.

And today it looked like we didn't really know how to play against the wind. Sean Walsh did well as he was being marked by a top class player, but where was the support coming forward when Walsh won the ball? Tipp players push to get on a shoulder of the player in possession. It's not rocket science it's just an change of pace with a change of direction. We rarely punched through the lines and when we did it was isolated runners.

And I cannot understand why you bring in Austin Gleeson and leave him in his tracksuit in the stand. He's a guy who has always improved with game time, he's had none with Waterford for nearly a year now.

DiscoStew · 15-03-2026 09:21PM

Simple mistakes very costly today. The goal in the first half and 3 easy point chances spurned in the second half when chances were hard come by - 2 by Calum, 1 by Jack.

I can only recall Halloran missing 2 frees all throughout the league but I don't know if he took any against Galway so open to correction there. He’s a hard working player outside of the frees, I think he has to start.

I’m not sure about the comment on Dessie, he hit 5 from play in the first half today. I think Doyle got at him a bit in the second half in fairness and we were under pressure all over the field so the supply wasn’t of the same quality certainly.

I thought we should have introduced legs from the bench earlier when it was clear Tipp were on top of us. Was surprised Bennett, Mackey and Lyons were the first ones called ashore also but maybe they were gassed. Lyons is only back from injury in fairness. Jamie had an off day which is rare for him, Jack struggled I thought. Aaron shows some quality at times and is good to carry ball out, but he seems to panic on the ball and either offload it at the incorrect time or strike when under too much pressure. Hopefully that will come good in time as he has potential at this level I think.

Any word on Iarlath Daly’s injury? Carthach had a serious hamstring injury I believe.

Mastermcgrath · 15-03-2026 09:37PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124315498#Comment_124315498

Sorry but Aaron O’Neill is not ready for this level and I thought Conor Keane should have been in his place today . Yes he’s got great potential but absolute insanity that his instinct as a defender is to run with out with the ball with his head down until he has nowhere to go. He was the same with the u20s last year gives away so many scores. needs to cut this out out of his game

kasporov · 15-03-2026 09:59PM

Anyone questioning Hallorans place on the team, without him would we have won any game without him? Would have beaten Kilkenny if he was on the frees and would still be in 1A.

The Bernablaa · 15-03-2026 10:54PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124315539#Comment_124315539

If we can't turn Aaron into an inter county hurler we may as well give up the game now. We are looking at some Mark Fitz potential. Our problem doesn't lie with blaming lads new to the team it's probably in the lads hanging around with a number of years.

As I said in a post before I don't think Quelly has learned anything in all his years involved with this team.

westwaterfordaqua · 15-03-2026 11:10PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124315539#Comment_124315539

Both you mentioned are young and untested at championship level. Leave them both learn their craft in the league without waffle like that. Plenty who have been knocking around for years doing the same.

De Burcas been hitting brain dead passes for about 4 years and he’s still our 6.

handy_out · 15-03-2026 11:15PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124315593#Comment_124315593

And if he’d scored 3 points from play against Kilkenny, we’d also have won? Ifs and buts are no good now! Not having a go as I really rate him as a player but Bennett missing a few frees is not the biggest problem we have right now. Reuben was on frees today in another tight game that we also lost.

Waterford GAA Thread - Mod note post #1

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