Waterford GAA Thread - Mod note post #1

TheScoringGoal · 17-04-2022 10:59pm

Patrick Curran won man of the match and played well but I thought Conor Gleeson was exceptional. On a day when off the top of my head I can think of 2-3 that we gifted away he hardly put a foot wrong.

Asdfgh2020 · 18-04-2022 7:54am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118941012#Comment_118941012

are you forgetting about his yellow card..?

Cake Man · 18-04-2022 8:18am

Delighted with the win yesterday, we made things difficult for ourselves but in the end just glad to get out with the 2pts. Wasn’t looking too good in the first half, it was worrying to see how we responded to Tipps first goal. It’s like we just switched off and we’re almost a bit she’ll shocked to have conceded the goal. Yes, it came from an error by Prunty and even then either a defender could’ve got a hook/block in and SOB in goal could have done a bit better coming off his line quicker but we really need to get to grips with conceding a goal and settle back into our game. Do that against Limerick next Saturday and they’ll be out of sight.

In a way I’m kind of glad how the game turned out. It was a battling performance where we lived on nerves at times and hopefully that brings us on a bit. Had we gone out and won in a fashion similar to Wexford and Cork in the league I’m sure the hype levels would have been cranked up even more. After Limerick dispatched Cork with ease, no doubt all the talk after the first round is how Limerick are back to their usual selves while we’re probably not as good as some might have made us out to be. Might not do any harm to have the hype pulled down a tad and we go into next weekend as big underdogs which will suit us just fine. Without sounding defeatist and writing the Limerick game off, we can go there not under huge pressure for a result. We needed to beat Tipp to give that safety net and I’d nearly see the Limerick game as almost a “free shot” to see where we are. There will be bigger tests ahead and no doubt we’ll probably end up having to face then again in this championship you’d feel. We’ll have learned a lot from the Tipp game, even if it’s just a reminder that we can’t afford to fade out of games. Limerick will destroy us if we do that on Saturday. Also need to sort out a puck out strategy as we got little joy out of that most of yesterday.

Anyway, well done to Liam and the lads. Aussie, Curran, Conor Gleeson and Barron all did very well. Jack Prendergast started well but drifted out of the game, need to get him (and especially his pace) more utilised. Monty never really got into it but he’ll bounce back. Dessie didn’t get much ball early on but took his chances very well when they did present themselves. Stephen Bennett did well in flashes but again, need to get him more involved and running at Limerick next weekend. Tadgh generally well but a few poor balls and one backwards hand pass to nobody that Tipp pointed from. Really can’t afford mistakes like that going forward.

Looking forward to next weekend, hopefully the lads can raise it another gear or two (and more importantly, keep it at that level throughout). We simply have to to have any hope.

decies · 18-04-2022 9:19am

A lot of talk pressure off with a win with limerick coming in terms of advancing out of Munster. While potentially the first of many meetings i think we should be going all out to take them down in first meeting we can’t just expect to turn it on again later in the championship if it’s a knock out situation . There’s going to be pressure there has to be pressure if your going for an all ireland let’s get a win now over them and push on from there. If the local scribes lose the run of themselves so be it . We can’t be just waiting when or if limerick fall off a cliff it doesn’t work like that . We would have won more then two all Ireland’s if that was the case down the years . Plenty to work on for the management after tipp game . Quick turnaround ignore the noise and let’s do this !!!

thesultan · 18-04-2022 9:27am

There was monsoon rain coming down from the west but cleared or light drizzle in the city..how in the name of christ haven't they put a few numbers on the seats?

thesultan · 18-04-2022 9:29am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118941012#Comment_118941012

Surely Kohoe was man of the match??

thesultan · 18-04-2022 9:31am

Our depth is gone. They will all start the next day?

JeffKenna · 18-04-2022 11:24am

Was there much of a tailback heading back West due to the accident? I seem to have missed it. Hopefully all will be ok.

seananigans · 18-04-2022 1:34pm

Mastermcgrath · 18-04-2022 2:22pm

100% we should, and will be be going after Limerick all guns blazing on Saturday. We have a 3 week break after the game and no fresh injury worries as far as I’m aware (although Kiely did look like he picked up a knock) so we can empty the tanks and see where we’re really at.

But I also agree with the poster that says the result is not the be all and end all. They will have a full house in the Gaelic Grounds and What’s important here is really taking the game to them and showing that that 11 point gap from the previous 2 championship meetings has closed. If we come out of the wrong side of the result by a couple of points after a really strong performance, that is progress and sets us up for hopefully another crack at them later in the championship. I think we will take care of Cork in Walsh Park and are better than Clare aswell so performance here is as important as the result.

Another 11 point defeat however would look ominous for us and everyone else for the rest of the championship. We have to go all out for this one to lay down a marker

seananigans · 18-04-2022 2:27pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118941906#Comment_118941906

is there any team other than limerick who we havent beaten the last 3 years? seriously doubt it , we cant just put limerick on the backfoot and hope to win enough games to keep going,to rob a quote, "the line must be drawn here,this far, and no further" .

we need to show them we can compete,even if we lose we have to throw everything at them, scare them ,if we win we need to show them we're good enough, we lose we need to run them close enough to know theyre vulnerable .

no shyness no shadowgames no nonsense, to be the best we have to beat the best , so lets start this week ,tipp taught us a lesson last weekend ,let'snot have to learn it twice,there are no soft games, no easy victories, no foregone conclusions.

We are munster, and in munster you cannot do things the easy way proving yourself once wont work, you have to do it again and again and again , we have 6 more games to win,and someone has to win it, why not us ?

robbiezero · 18-04-2022 2:35pm

Aside from all the need to lay down a marker stuff v Limerick in what could well be the first of 3 meetings, neither team can really afford to not go bald headed for it, you really dont want to be in the situation of having to win both of your last 2 matches to be sure to qualify. While both likely would win their last 2, you never know what could happen on any day , sendings off etc.

Asdfgh2020 · 18-04-2022 4:21pm

Does anyone know what to expect from ‘lohan’s lads’ this year……..they gave us an unexpected ‘clipping’ last year and we followed it with a crap performance v Laois…….definitely redeemed ourselves v Galway and Tipp but there is a possibility that Clare could be the really overlooked team this year…….if they take care of cork loose to limerick and beat Tipp then who knows where Waterford might end up in munster…..lots of permutations…!!

fuinneamh · 18-04-2022 5:01pm

Any day you beat Tipp is a good day. Delighted with the win and the manner of it. We're definitely the second best team in the country but I'm still not convinced we've done enough in the off season to bridge the gap with Limerick.

For me Cahill and Bevans have done a terrific job, introducing a game plan that suits the hurlers in Waterford and making us more than the sum our parts with great squad rotation. The only black mark is the lack of a consistent short puck out strategy that turns a puck out into our biggest strength which is 2 or 3 players running at deep at the opposition goal. They get a pass for last season as there was no off-season but there's no evidence to suggest they've implemented anything this year. It's my opinion that it's too late to introduce such a radical change and it's unlikely to be introduced mid round robin as it requires huge repetition on the training ground and numerous games to stress test. Without this string to our bow, I think we will comfortably beat any team in the championship apart from Limerick. But the problem with weaknesses is that they only get exposed in the game that ends your season; Think of the 2nd quarter last year vrs Limerick where we got cleaned out on our puck out (long or short) and lost the game.

So it's too late to turn our short puck outs into a positive but there is a way to at least not make it a negative with minimal coaching. It's puke hurling but I believe if Waterford are losing the puck out battle that they should do a Stoke on it and deliberately hit the ball over the sideline in the opposition half of the pitch. It would allow us to focus on turning over Limerick whilst having an advantage of 15 v 14 on the pitch. This is much better than going short and getting turned over or going long and allowing Limerick to get their triangles going.

I love Limerick's tackling from their forwards and fully applaud how they play the ref but opposing managers have to start publically pressuring referees into recording ticks and subsequently yellows. Cork got absolutely done yesterday by this again. Limerick either turned the ball over or gave a free away on the Cork 45; which is as good as getting the ball back as Cork were then hitting the ball long into 12 Limerick bodies with a powderpuff forward line. The borderline fouling in the opposition half is also kryptonite to Waterfords running game and Liam Cahill should be highlighting this in public in the build up to next weeks game.

supernova5 · 18-04-2022 5:15pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118943299#Comment_118943299

believe me you have nothing to worry about with Clare, they certainly won't seriously trouble anybody....

seananigans · 18-04-2022 5:25pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118943427#Comment_118943427

have to agree, we're quick to forget we were 13 years without a win against them, and we're now 2 for 2 , that is a magnificent achievement ,and by god did we work to earn it

Moggy13 · 18-04-2022 5:34pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118943512#Comment_118943512

Absolutely. I still think back to that annihilation in 2011 and again in 2016 and the fact that Tipp for the most part have had our number. Tipp threw everything at us yesterday, we weren't at our best, totally incohesive at times, but we still prevailed. There's serious character in the team. Next Saturday that character will be needed and more.

seananigans · 18-04-2022 5:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118943531#Comment_118943531

aah 2011, i was forced in recession to live abroad and planned a trip home around the munster final , lar broke our hearts 0-19 to 7-19 (only the 7 scores in it!) that godawful green goalie jersey .

but my best memory of that day was i had a lift off the keanes in moonlaun,tramore , and after we walked out and were dead silent for a good awkward 8 or 10 minutes, and then i started the conversation by saying we had whoever we had in the qualifiers in 2 weeks and where i thought the match would be ,wasnt 30 seconds and the lads were gearing up for the next day.

i will never forget that, no matter what, we regroup,we go again

Billy Ocean · 18-04-2022 7:11pm

I think the 'free hit' narrative for your game next weekend is you'd have to fancy to loser to recover and finish in the top 3 in Munster compared to the Tipp/Clare and Wexford/Dublin games where the losers will be under big pressure, nobody is thinking Waterford won't go full blooded into the encounter.

seananigans · 18-04-2022 8:41pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118943822#Comment_118943822

no one is saying that , this is a must win game, ok in theory we dont but in practice,we need it,we need to prove we can mix it with limerick

Pudz2180 · 18-04-2022 9:19pm

Well that was nerve wrecking yesterday and a game where we most certainly got out of jail. We were all over the place in the first half and were blessed to be only 4 points down. O’Brien save from forde was huge. In fairness to the management they weren’t shy in making the changes and the ten minutes after half time was the winning of the game for us (you would feel sorry for young cathrach and monty not nice when you are subbed off at half time. Hopefully their confidence doesn’t take too much of a hit and actually come back stronger from the experience) it looked like in the second half we might pull away but Tipp weren’t having any of it and they made it quiet an uncomfortable last few minutes. What yesterday did show was the character of this team as bad as we were in the first half they managed to stay in the game and even when Tipp Came back at us in the second half we didn’t panic and managed to see out the game. It was also great to see injured players Jamie, iarlaith and Peter get valuable minutes into them. Hopefully we will have a full panel to pick from for next weekend. I am thrilled for Patrick Curran great to see him playing so well and finally starting to fulfill his huge potential, fair play to him for sticking at it because for a few years it looked like senior hurling might not work out for him.

as for next weeks game I think it’s a huge game as if we are well beaten by limerick it probably means we haven’t gained any ground on them whereas if we give them a game and either win or lose by a small margin it will give the whole squad the belief that we can beat them. Also lose and the cork game becomes huge as we don’t want to be losing that and then be going to Ennis needing a win to qualify ( Ennis has been a disaster off a ground for us down through the years)

limerick looked like themselves yesterday (tho cork were woeful) cork did have some good goal chances but failed to take most of them but you would hope if we get same next Saturday night we will capatilize (think back to last years semi final and we had 3 or 4 decent goal chance but unfortunately took none) as far as team selection goes Aussie and Jamie will come in for monty and cathrach. I think iarlaith daly could start as well. I am wondering will jack fagan move back to the half forward line for this game to Counteract limerick’s big physical half back line.

Mastermcgrath · 19-04-2022 1:56am

Dont think Fagan should move out of half back now particularly if Kyle Hayes is operating from the half forward line again. For me Iarlaith Daly has to be in the team he was arguably the winning of the game in the final 10 mins and was one of our standout players in the league and was really only dropped because he got injured and didn’t get his place back automatically.

I lad start Jamie in place of Darragh Lyons, I like Darragh Lyons energy and work rate but I think he’d be better coming off the bench with the likes of Peter Hogan and Shane Bennett. I know if I was a Limerick defender and the game was in the balance with 15 or 20 mins to go Id hate to see these lads running at me fresh and hungry. However we’ve got to put ourselves in that position to take Limerick down the home straight and need the our best 15 in from the start for that to happen

TheScoringGoal · 19-04-2022 8:56am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118944863#Comment_118944863

If I could hijack your post slightly, I'd suggest starting Iarla in place of Calum Lyons. Calum hasn't hit his heights since his return where Iarla was very tidy when he came on. Iarla would also have the physical presence needed against Limerick while the pace of Calum off the bench would also be a boost.

PeggyShippen · 19-04-2022 8:59am

Let's talk about the Gaelic Grounds. I wonder what size of Waterford crowd will go on Saturday night. I hope its a significant one and people enjoy the city and county overnight. Its a great place. I know Waterford people see it as a stadium where they have had zero luck but its about time Waterford got over that especially with this team. Probably about 25 to 30 I would say. Is it true that Sundays game v Tipp want a sell out?

JD. 60 · 19-04-2022 9:27am

I've only bad memories of the Gaelic Grounds so perhaps it's better that I'm 'out of the country' and will have to watch Saturday's match on the box.

How manic were Limerick on Sunday last .... Cork players looked shellshocked and could barely get the ball out of their own half at times.

It seems like Hayes might not be playing this weekend. I wonder who will be assigned to mark Hegarty.

As suggested above, Iarlaith might start ahead of Callum Lyons ; maybe Cahill might shake it up a bit more by, say, starting Hogan and/or Shane Bennett (the latter for his aggression and fearlessness).

Even if the season won't hang on Saturday's result both teams will be laying down a marker. Limerick, in front of a home crowd, will try and put Waterford 'back in their box' while Waterford will want to test their AI credentials, in a hostile environment.

PTH2009 · 19-04-2022 11:31am

Wonder did the person controlling the speakers the other day sort out there phone call lol

Only in Walsh Park

blueflame · 19-04-2022 11:52am

As I predicted Tipp were always going to put us to the pin of our collar, and they made us work very hard for a result. Delighted to get a win under our belts and 2 points in the bag.

Regrading the multiple comments, about our lack of a short puck out strategy, this can often be dependent upon the set up of the opposition. If they push up on you as a unit, short puck-outs can be a disaster, ask Cork!!! Wexford and Cork both sat off us and invited short puck-outs to be taken without applying pressure, hoping instead on breaking down the play by having superior numbers in their half the field. Tipp having watched those two games were never going to allow us that latitude, so we had to vary it up. What disappointed me last Sunday was out failure to win secondary breaking ball - Tipp were quickest to react for the vast majority of the game, we must improve in that regard.

Looking back at the game, a number of our bigger players were well off the pace, Prunty and DeBurca, made numerous unforced errors that cost us dearly on the score board, roughly eight points from memory. Quite simply you cannot afford those basic errors down the spine of the side, so they need to tighten up next day, which i am sure they will. Many of our players looked nervous and leggy, and at times we did not take the opportunity for goals that has been a big trait of our play to date, Prendergast and Curran both took handy points when passes inside to Kiely and Hutchinson respectively could have yielded goals, but pressure and the big occasion can do that to you. Catharac Daly had huge expectations on his young shoulders after the League final, but he is a very young lad and last Sunday will stand to him big time, and i am sure Monty felt the pressure of Gleeson being on the bench, but that will also stand to him

Have no doubt last Sunday the expectation and nerves of trying to win your first round robin game, against a team like Tipp who despite changes had buckets of experience and All Ireland Medals at different levels to go with it, was always going to be a massive challenge, and i honestly believe despite Cahill trying to make it a fortress, Walsh Park does not really suit our style, preferring the wide open spaces of bigger fields. For me is was mission accomplished, a return from injury for Hogan, Barron and Daly, a long awaited return to Championship Hurling for deBurca, a positive response from Aussie to being benched and most importantly a first win under the belt.

Looking to Saturday, we must be prepared for a mighty battle, Limerick I feel will want to encourage us to go short and try and turn us over, in our own half,, but we have to be prepared to mix if up, and take opportunities to go long with puck outs, especially if they push up on our backs. No point in going short and saying we won 15/ 20 puckouts, if we repeatedly give it away with the second ball - Big thing in going long, will be rather than trying to compete for clean possession in the air, is we will have to we have to have lots of clever movement and also be prepared to break ball where necessary, but we must compete for the breaking ball ferociously and get numbers around it. There is no soft way to beat Limerick, you must compete physically when necessary, but you must also move the ball fast to try and avoid repeated physical confrontation, hesitate for a second and you will get nailed simple as that. Whatever our starting 15 on Saturday, I have a feeling our bench will again play a big part if we are to have any hope of success. Really looking forward to a right battle and see where it takes us. Being within a couple of points at full-time bet it plus or minus will not be a bad nights work and see where we go from there