Waterford GAA Discussion Thread 3 ***Updated Mod Note Post 1***

Is anyone else proper buzzing, ? PTH put us down for a draw high praise indeed

It's great to know win lose or draw , our lads will fight to the final whistle

a harder game than last time no doubt , but JBM has zero tactical nous, im really thinking we can edge this one

PTH2009 wrote: »

It's a pity one of our best players is exam tied hopefully he still plays it will good for his brain. Just has to miss the drink Sunday night lol

he should focus on his exams, hurling is a pastime not a career

tomwaterford wrote: »

Only other insistent I can recall is Andrew oshagnassy of Limerick playing during leaving cert....but he was afaik going onto the army[/QUOT


Shaughnassy didn't play if I remember correctly, but Pat Kirby did

Great read on Pauric Mahony here


http://www.thestar.ie/star/my-leg-broke-like-cisses-63154/


Hope the Tadgh O Sullivan factor gets him back sooner than Woolock. Mahony will be missed alright. Also fair play to Woodlock for offering to help.

I am usually fairly conservative about tipping Waterford, as i was at the games v cork in '82 ,'83 and '86 and even though i was young there was such a sence of hopelessness after all them games, you felt we'd never recover, and to some extent never compete, but those times are gone, and i don't think we will not return to them short term at least, and huge credit to that must go to the man who has shown great courage in lifting us again, and as the man himself said ,we are not there yet but its coming, but isn't it grand to be facing into a muster and All ireland campaign with a sense of hope and confidence.
Derek McGrath has brought us out of a time when we were freewheeling towards mediocrity, by being intelligent enough to be able to evaluate what he had , and by deciding this is where we need to go, and i firmly believe that he did this with a purness of heart that has the love of Waterford hurling as its core value, and i thank him for it, and i hope he will be granted all the support he was never promised but now deserves, and i include myself in that group, and i am humbled by how wrong i was.

Now on to sunday, Cork side named looks piss poor, if i'm to be honest, the Only question for Waterford is Who is now the designated free taker, but Derek will have that sorted , a man who took his managemant future in his hands and did what he did, knowing he would be knocked and had the vision and judgement to stick with it, will have sundays free taker thinking he is better than Paudie is , so no worries there, and paudie also is a big loss from general play, as he has become a huge player in that system, and his work on and off the ball ,could only be described as very impressive, but the rest of it, is fairly straight forward, everybody knows their job, the team has been the same all year, and i don't think anyones heads are going to be turned by playing munster championship hurling, League final was a big game, and no one bottled it, won't happen, so really its all about whats on the field.
Cork , as i said are poor, and everybody is expecting this bounce , and suddenly they are going to be world beaters, yeah they're better than the league final, But how much better?, I don't think that much better , not this side, also i am wondering how strong Cork are on the line with one notable member of the back room team , that jimmy barry usually seemed to be leaning on, no longer there, might be nothing, but when your winning it means nothing, but when things go bad , then a strong voice can mean an enourmous amount , and to the players , O Neill is not the same hurler he was 3 years ago, Murphy cannot be even up to speed[no matter how well he is going with Bride rovers], and McDonnell is the most solid of that group, Half line if they line out like this , are poor, all three are either poor hurlers and slow or just slow, and they also don't look to be the type of guys you would want to have the ball in hand and expect good delivery every time, Ellis is the pick , but he can be got at with a bit of trickery and pace, Murphy is a clone, and as for the footballer, would not be playing if they had anyone else, Midfield i initially liked Walsh when i saw him under 21 , but his hurling has gone to pot, i think kearney with enough time and space could be a danger , and he is a lovely hurler and good striker, but won't get the time to do any of the above , so if he broke even then it would be a plus, if Walsh was wing forward , then he might be a bigger danger , but recently at midfield game flows around him, and when he's on the ball decision making is poor.
Forwards, I think Rob o shea is a plus for Cork and he's not even starting , nice hurler but thats about it, Harnedy i think is top top class, if we could bring anybody [and he is nearly a Waterford man], and improve our side espically where he plays then it would be him, the biggest compliment i cna give him, is he is a great bit of stuff , a great competitor, and will need constant watching, Cooper is a worker, and he links it quite well , but he is no world beater, good stuff in him too, but he can be held, Inside line , Jesus how does luke o farrell survive , what does he do?, does not score enough, does not play close enough to goal, does not throw it around enough, does not win enough ball, i don't get it, they say he's always dangerous, i don't know, i think shane fives will eat him up , or barry coughlan if he does not try and kill him would also fancy his chances, and P Horgan, the myth , the legend untill he runs into the best corner back in Ireland bar none over the last 3 years , and puff he's gone, Lehane is hit and miss, he's 100 miles per hour , and can tip a goal, and takes a few points, but again when he's hot he's good, but then fades out of games for long periods, i again would question his decision making, but can't deny his pace or hurling,and you'd have to question how fit Cadagan is, but he looked like aworld beater if given time and space, and had a good year last year, i just don't think he is fit, but again either shane or Barry will do ok, their bench Paudie sullivan , and and and ???, .

We will win this if we truly believe we can, its basically in our own hands if we perform [and we are getting very consistant,imagine saying that about a waterford side], well and Cork perform well, we have a better side, end of, i'd take a point , but would be confident enough is saying it could be more, bookies are Rarely wrong, but in this case it all points to a Waterford win, not being Cocky ,as its not in us, but bigger fish out there, and any other team in munster playing this cork side on Sunday would fancy their chances, and we're better than most.Let the Hurling world take notice, we're Coming , and we're getting better.