Waterford GAA Thread - Mod note post #1

deisedude wrote: »

Shame thats how Darragh Fives bows out. If only he could stay fit (not his fault) he had all the potential to be one of our best ever players

Did he start the All Ireland final in 2017? I’m trying to think of the last meaningful impact he’s had in a Waterford jersey.

Interesting to see the additions to the squad, DJ Foran, Keating and Douglas. All big players physically. Kiely can mix it too. Interesting to see where Shane Bennett would fit in.

Mastermcgrath wrote: »

Did he start the All Ireland final in 2017? I’m trying to think of the last meaningful impact he’s had in a Waterford jersey.

Interesting to see the additions to the squad, DJ Foran, Keating and Douglas. All big players physically. Kiely can mix it too. Interesting to see where Shane Bennett would fit in.

started the 2017 semi v cork when de burca was suspended and was our best player that day.

Always thought of him as a more natural centre back than de burca and wouldve been a massive plus to us this year with de burca injured

JeffKenna wrote: »

Went to the county final a few years ago and found it odd Immokily were demolishing Midleton, a single town in their catchment area.

There’s a tradition of it in cork. There’s an honour in being selected to represent your divisional team which stretches back to the foundations of the GAA. It’s not something you just manufacture like Waterford tried in the 90s, it just didn’t work

Does anyone else think it slightly strange that with Sokky unavailable next year, none of the new players named to be called up are goalkeepers? Incidentally who would be the next one up?

Would Seanie Barry & Jordan Henley be the 2 obvious candidates? Stephen Enright is a good goalie as well but the wrong side of 30 & played football with the county.

SeanieW1977 wrote: »

Group team with kill fenor dunhill bonmahon newtown butlerstown would make a decent senior team - would stop all this nonsense with players transferring and assisting

Same in city ferrybank Erin’s own saviours St. Paul’s

Down west then I’m sure could make up 1

Would cut all the nonsense out!

Mind you, one would have to wonder if the Kirwan situation was with any other club would be allowed bar the county board chairman’s club.

They wouldn't win the intermediate championship never mind been decent senior teams

Dublin Dave 2014 wrote: »

Group teams in my opinion create the opportunity for many players to play senior hurling at a competitive level
West Waterford; Lismore , Ballysaggart & Cappaquin ,
Rural clubs are at a huge disadvantage verses the city teams . Kerry have had group teams for years in football, players gain experience at the top level, Would create new tallent for county team .

You do realise 2 of the teams you mentioned above are currently senior?

" wrote:

Mind you, one would have to wonder if the Kirwan situation was with any other club would be allowed bar the county board chairman’s club.

I don’t get that logic. Wouldn’t Kill be the big losers here as they are actually losing their best player?

tommylad1212 wrote: »

He is still playing football for kill, kill Don't have a hurling team they are assisting fenor,

Yes ok. If he wanted senior club hurling you’d rather see him going to a club like Clonea than Ballygunner or De la salle getting him

Gardner wrote: »

The Kirwan transfer is a complete joke. 2 clubs are a logger heads over it and rightly so.

As for amalgamation of clubs. It's a good idea in general but clubs themselves are generally against it. I believe Erin's Own and St Saviours toyed with idea after amalgamation at minor and under 21 way back in the 00s which brought some relative success. But one club voted for it and the other didn't. They would probably be a senior hurling and football club now if that went through.

https://waterford-news.ie/2021/01/22/anomaly-in-transfer-and-assist-rules-in-waterford-gaa/

Mastermcgrath wrote: »

Yes ok. If he wanted senior club hurling you’d rather see him going to a club like Clonea than Ballygunner or De la salle getting him

he wouldnt get on either the De la sale or ballygunner team, that is reality. He is way off senior county hurling.

DiscoStew wrote:

You do realise 2 of the teams you mentioned above are currently senior?

Absolutely, but there is nothing gained watching any team hammered at any level. Wouldn't it be great to see a group team put it up to Ballygunner , seeing a competitive challange at the top

I must admit to being disappointed at the new additions (or, rather, the lack of new additions) to the county hurling panel announced by Liam Cahill last week. This assumes, of course, that these are the only additions to the panel.

On the latter point, it would be nice if Liam Cahill (and all Waterford hurling managers) would publish the names of each year’s new panel, as they do in Cork. It would rein in the endless speculation which surrounds the panel, and would be a courtesy to Waterford’s army of loyal supporters who put a great interest in this issue.

I am mainly disappointed that none of the promising young talent who put their hands up in this year’s county championship, and, indeed, in the recent Under 20 game against Tipperary, have been recognised. Michael Kiely had already been named in last year’s panel before injury ruled him out for the year. Shane Bennett, DJ Foran and Seamus Keating are all familiar figures, and I’m not aware that any of them stood out in the county championships. The same could be said about Tonto Douglas who was very prominent at Harty Cup level but, in my experience, has done nothing special since to deserve this call-up.

This is not to say that I have any reservations about Bennett, Foran and Keating being called up and am glad to see them on board. It’s just that in my view there are a lot of players on the existing panel (assuming none of them have been dropped) who are not up to it and should have been replaced. Keating’s call-up is obviously in response to the loss of Tadhg de Búrca and Darragh Fives, but I think on his own merits he deserves a place. He never got a sustained run in the panel before and hopefully he will deliver on his potential.

It is a terrible pity to see Darragh Fives apparently ending his intercounty career. He is a terrific hurler and could have gone down as one of Waterford’s best ever if he had not been beset by recurring injury. He seemed to have got over these problems in 2017 when he played in every one of Waterford’s championship games and was a key factor in them reaching the All-Ireland final. He came on as a sub in their first game, against Cork in the Munster semi-final, which Waterford lost. He then started (and finished) the qualifier games against Offaly and Kilkenny (a famous win) and the All-Ireland quarter final (against Wexford), semi-final (against Cork) and final (against Galway).

However, the recurring injuries returned the following year, starting with Waterford’s first championship game against Clare, when almost the entire Waterford defence got injured up in Ennis. In 2020 he played in Waterford’s first two league games (against Cork and Westmeath) but missed the remaining three due to injury. However, he returned for Tourin in the club championship during the summer and, according to Liam Cahill, he was doing really well in training for the county team until struck down once again in the week before Waterford’s first game in the Munster championship against Cork.

We can only empathise with him in his misfortune, thank him for his great contribution to Waterford teams since he first burst on the scene with the minor team which won the Munster championship in 2009, and wish him all the best for the future.

I agree with giveitfong with regard to the players being called up. The U20's should have beaten Tipperary but I'd guess the majority of the players that played well are probably U20 either this or next year.

Apart from Bennett, I don't see any of the new additions pushing for championship involvement.

Waternut wrote:

Apart from Bennett, I don't see any of the new additions pushing for championship involvement.

If Douglas can get up to the required fitness and strength and conditioning level required for inter county then he certainly has all the ability to make a genuine scoring forward for us .

tommylad1212 wrote: »

Who would you like to see called up that would push for championship involvement ?

To get to the speed of championship and have the necessary fitness and conditioning work done, I suggest there probably isn't anyone apart from Bennett this year - especially given that training and preparations will likely be hampered with CO-VID.

I would have probably picked Fitzgerald and Leavy from the U20 game acknowledging that both also played well for their respective clubs last year.

Douglas is an interesting pick. From what I've seen, he has potential but there are also lingering doubts.

JD60 wrote: »

Would you get over the fact that Maurice and Connors have left the stage.

Would that be in the same way ,people should get over Darragh fives ,, Maurice is a proven forward of class , unlike some that are still harked upon

hurler on de ditch wrote: »

Would that be in the same way ,people should get over Darragh fives ,, Maurice is a proven forward of class , unlike some that are still harked upon

The boat has sailed with this one unfortunately and it's no disrespect to the man because you genuinely couldn't meet a nicer man than Maurice.

It's a younger man's game and the modern forward needs to be mobile and have pace. Both Maurice and Noel were fantastic but Waterford need to now look to the future. And by the way, I think Moran's number is up too.

The younger lads need to be given an opportunity and we need to invest properly in our underage teams and structures.

DiscoStew wrote: »

I read during the week, but can’t recall where now, that Cahill is planning on working closely with the U20 panel this year. The article said he had asked the county board to stick with Stephen Gough’s management team rather than the alternative choice of Gary Morahan’s management team. Morahan’s team included former players Noel Connors & Tommy Ryan, as well as former coach Pa Kearney. Cahill was worried about there being a conflict with such links to the previous management team seemingly.

If that’s true then it’s actually a positive thing to see that Cahill is invested in the longer term future of Waterford hurling. I disagree with giveitfong who reckons we should have called up more of the U20’s, as Waternut alluded to they ‘should have’ beaten Tipp but the bottom line is they didn’t close it out. That indicates to me that these players have a bit to go yet, thankfully a large number are underage again this year so they have a chance to push on and do themselves justice before stepping up to senior. The best of them, Daly and Kiely are already involved in the senior panel but the rest of them have to prove themselves.