Waterford GAA Discussion Thread 2013- Mod Warning Post #1

cul beag wrote: »

Great performance today. Mahony was excellent again in the forwards he's really developing into a consistent player this year. Nice to see Donnelly going well,showing for everything and didn't look a bit overawed by his debut. Ray Barry with 4 points from play was excellent aswell but a special mention for de burca who bar the slip for the goal was tremendous. Nice to see a solid performance and it gives a nice headache to the management for the Dublin game in 2 weeks time.

Agree. Would not blame Tadhg for the goal. Thought for a young player that he was excellent as were others you mentioned. All in all an improvement on last week and a very good team performance. So having being critical last week credit to all the players and management.

STIG83 wrote: »

We need to start banging in goals to be in with a chance of silverware this year

We need to start creating the chances first im afraid

Jezus, we win by 6 points and people complain we didn't get a goal. We must be the most self defeating county in Ireland

deisedude wrote: »

Jezus, we win by 6 points and people complain we didn't get a goal. We must be the most self defeating county in Ireland

I didnt say that at all. I wouldnt have been that worried if we lost as long as we got a better attacking performance than last week and we did. Good to get the win and most importantly blood new players. Always room to improve though

That was a great win. Great to see the new faces acquit themselves so well. That Ryan Donnelly has a real intelligent air to his hurling and is well able to win his own ball. He developed a great understanding with Pauric Mahony as the game wore on and it drove Tannion to distraction.

The work rate of the team was phenomenal. They harried Galway out of the game which was great to see.

sid wallace wrote: »

That was a great win. Great to see the new faces acquit themselves so well. That Ryan Donnelly has a real intelligent air to his hurling and is well able to win his own ball. He developed a great understanding with Pauric Mahony as the game wore on and it drove Tannion to distraction.

The work rate of the team was phenomenal. They harried Galway out of the game which was great to see.

+1 to all this. Both this week and last Waterfords willingness to work hard for the ball has been shown, and we won more than 50% of the possession 'rucks' that broke out in both games

STIG83 wrote: »

Will the Bennett brothers be on the panel this year?

Shane is too young but Stephen will be. Needs a break fron hurling for his hip to clear up

Good performance but we retreated out the field a bit 2nd half instead of going for goals, not really a criticism as we were wind assisted. 1st half we could have had 1 or 2 goals bar some cynical defending but after the horror show up front vs tipp we may learn to walk before we run. Good progress made, who's next? Dublin at home?

Excellent win for Waterford today, really encouraging for the season ahead to see the team working so hard for each other. They could have won by more in the end.

Great to see the forwards doing well today, lots of scores from play from a wide range of players. Paudie Mahony was excellent. I felt sorry for Tadhg de Burca for the goal, not much he could have done but he had a super game. Ryan Donnelly and Ray Barry were both very good as well. Very encouraging to see these young players do so well.

Only worry is the complete lack of goals. We havent created a clear goal scoring chance in the 2 games so far. As others have stated, we may have to wait for Bennett to come on board to provide goals.

All in all, a very satisfying day. Looking forward to the Dublin game already!

Waterford 0-22 Galway 1-13


Derek McGrath made six changes from the team he announced last week, with Iggy O’Regan coming in for Stephen O’Keeffe in goals, Tadhg Bourke for Barry Coughlan at corner back, Ray Barry for Jamie Barron on the right wing, Stephen Molumphy for Jake Dillon on the left, Ryan Donnelly for Maurice Shanahan at corner forward and Seamus Prendergast for Shane Walsh at the edge of the square.


On today’s performance, you would wonder if that forward line started last week would be now top of the league. However, the big difference was that Pauric Mahony’s radar from open play was in much better working order, as he finished up with five points from play as well as six pointed frees. In the process he gave Iarla Tannion a torrid time and was my man of the match.


Overall, this was a great team performance, with the players hunting in packs and working hard for each other. Playing against the wind in the first half, they worked their way out of defence very well with some good hand and stick passing and support play. However, at times they overdid the short passing and in the second half in particular, with the wind behind them, they might have used route one more often as Seamus Prendergast clearly had the Galway full back in trouble.


In the first half, despite having the wind at their backs, Galway were unable to take control of the game as Waterford defended really well and played some excellent ball into the forwards which on another day might have produced a couple of goals. Galway did have eight wides (to Waterford’s four) but, unlike last week when they were scoring for fun, today they were nearly always shooting under pressure. As it happened, Waterford had their own share of wides (five) in the second half and both sides ended up with nine wides apiece.


The key features of the first half, apart from Pauric Mahony’s roasting of Iarla Tannion, were Jamie Nagle’s marvellously skillful performance at right half back, a couple of great layoffs by Ryan Donnelly to create scoring chances for Mahony, and some great catches by Seamus Prendergast. The one time he got clean away he was taken down cynically just outside the large square. Overall, the exchanges were even enough, with Waterford going in at half time one point ahead, 0-9 to 0-8.


It took Waterford a while to impose themselves on the game in the second half but they gradually opened up a three-point lead which was cancelled out by Galway’s goal. Iggy O’Regan must take a lot of the fault as his attempt at a directed puckout went astray but even then Tadhg Bourke unluckily slipped as he went to cut out the through ball leaving Jason Flynn in the clear to fire home from close range.


However, this only served to spur Waterford to renewed efforts and, with Kevin Moran storming into the game at midfield and Ray Barry doing the needful on the scoreboard, Waterford controlled the game from there on in to finish comfortably ahead, despite missing some late chances. Waterford also appeared to lose their shape for a while as McGrath sent in several substitutes, including Eddie Barrett for Shane O’Sullivan, Jamie Barron for Brian O’Sullivan, Jake Dillon for Stephen Molumphy, Stephen Roche for Seamus Prendergast and Gavin O’Brien for Ray Barry. It has to be said that all the substitutes settled in right away and none of them looked out of place.


The Waterford defence was again massive today. Tadhg Bourke deserves great credit for an excellent performance in his first senior start for the county. He played with great poise and maturity, allied to a good brain and super skills, and didn’t allow the slip-up for Galway’s goal upset him. Of course, it was a big help that the other full backs, Shane Fives and Noel Connors, were both in top form, with the latter giving a master class of corner back play in the second half.


Apart from Jamie Nagle, Brick Walsh owned the centre back position and destroyed his opposite number (who was substituted) while on the other wing Philip Mahony also did the business. Shane O’Sullivan worked hard all through at midfield, while Kevin Moran really led the charge when Waterford took over in the final quarter.


Ray Barry had a quiet enough first half but really impacted on the game after the change of ends to finish with four points while Stephen Molumphy, as ever, was extremely effective on the other wing. Ryan Donnelly really impressed here, once he got up to the pace of the game in what was also his first start. He has great pace and body strength, and the ability to look around for players in better positions. Seamus Prendergast also had a really good game, but Brian O’Sullivan again had little impact.



When one thinks of the following list of players who didn’t play today, with most of them hopefully becoming available as the year progresses, one can see that these really are potentially exciting times for Waterford hurling.
Stephen O’Keeffe, Barry Coughlan, Liam Lawlor, Paudie Prendergast, Stephen Daniels, Darragh Fives, Richie Foley, Maurice Shanahan, Shane Walsh, Brian O’Halloran, Donie Breathnach and perhaps Stephen Bennett, Austin Gleeson and (hopefully) DJ Foran.


Waterford scorers: Pauric Mahony (0-11, 0-6 frees), Ray Barry (0-4), Seamus Prendergast (0-2), Kevin Moran, Stephen Molumphy, Ryan Donnelly, Stephen Roche and Jake Dillon (0-1 each)


Galway scorers: Conor Cooney (0-6, two frees), Cathal Mannion (0-3), Jason Flynn (1-0), Padraigh Brehony (0-2), David Burke and Niall Healy (0-1 each).

robopaddy wrote: »

Some difference between the comments here last week. Paudie mahony 'not fot to wear the jersey'? How many points has he scored in the past 7 days including fitz cup? Im thinkin over 40....
Also ray barry came in for crazy criticism here last week with some disgraceful personal jibes thrown at him. 0-4 points not bad for a fellah whose 'not up to this level'

Just shows the level of rubbish on here sometimes. Good to see the team get the credit it deserved here today by the way

Couldn't agree more. Disgraceful some of it,amazing we've have none of it tonight against any of the players! People with personal vendettas have no place on here. I have no problem with players being criticised as long as in theory its being constructive but please leave the personal stuff off here. Maurice Shanahan is another one whom is constantly coming in for it on here. Did it ever dawn on people there could be personal problems going on with any of these players outside of hurling? Amateur sportsmen that have to go to work or college the following day like everyone else and yet they'll come in for torrents of abuse at times. We all want to see Waterford doing well but give these guys a bit of support because we must be the worst county around for slating its players /management when things go wrong. I think both players and management deserve great credit for the win today and hopefully it helps the youngfellas gain the confidence to believe that they do belong at this level.
Parts of it today weren't perfect such as over doing the short passing at times,taking wrong options also,but these can be worked on and hopefully will help us improve even further against Dublin in 2 weeks time.