Waterford GAA Thread - Mod note post #1

Gluteus_Maximus

Séan Moran preview

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/2022/11/19/weekend-gaa-previews-crunch-time-as-ballygunners-all-ireland-goes-on-the-line-in-limerick

PTH2009

'AIB Munster Club Junior Hurling Club Championship Semi Final

Full time 

Colligan (Waterford) : 0-10(10)

Ballygiblin (Cork) : 1-19(22)

Hard Luck to all involved with Colligan GAA in today's game!'

decies

This limerick crowd mean business out Ballygunnering Ballygunner at half time . Waterford side have to win the first ten mins of second half to stay in it .

JD. 60

Not looking good for Gunners. Struggling to get the ball into Dessie & Fitzgerald. 6 Wides vs 2 for Pairsigh.

PTH2009

Ballygunner like the champions they are battling and now winning with about 10 mins of normal time to go

decies

come on gunners keep going till the end

JD. 60

Very happy to be proven wrong !

PTH2009

What a comeback by Ballygunner and finally a bloody win up there for a Waterford hurling team

Need to back it up now for the final against Ballyea. All the pressure on Ballygunner. I'd imagine game will be in Thurles

Ballyea and potentially Ballyhale to get back to Croke Park

deisedude

Fantastic second half from Ballygunner. Pauric Mahoney was outstanding. He has always had an exceptional reading of the game to find pockets of space and get himself free

decies

My god what a game keep it going gunners .

lim4ev

fair play ballygunner better team won no complaints whatsoever beating nap at home in second half by 10 pints is no mean feat.

I hope they go on and win the whole thing out now. It'll take a good team to stop them

PTH2009

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119899950#Comment_119899950

Think Ballyhale are a sleeping giant and are gunning for revenge on Ballygunner

On paper Kilmacud the only team in Leinster that might catch Ballyhale on the hop. Naas and St Mullins not strong enough traditionally against Kilkenny sides. The rest of the Leinster Championship been in Croke Park is a huge advantage to Ballyhale

Ballygunner still have an obstacle too go against Ballyea who have such a game changing player in Tony Kelly

Billy Ocean

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119900030#Comment_119900030

Think you can leave the word sleeping out considering how close Ballyhale were to 3 all irelands in a row, personally I'd put the house a Ballyhale Ballygunner AI semi final, only thing stopping it is a massive under performance from 1 of the 2 in the next few weeks, Ballygunner destroyed Ballyea last year and although Kelly was missing for that game i don't think he's an 18 point swing, that 2nd half today is arguably the best 30 mins Ballygunner have produced in the last decade especially when you factor in opposition and venue.

fuinneamh

Interesting (but long) Twitter thread in the context of Cahill leaving Waterford and the overtraining between league and championship. The most interesting take away from it is that there is research from the NBA that a hardass/disciplinarian coach can have a permanent adverse impact on players even once he's left the coaching position.

https://twitter.com/stevemagness/status/1593986564580904960

Asdfgh2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119902423#Comment_119902423

I honestly don’t think many if any parallels can be drawn between professional NBA players and how they are trained/managed vs inter county Gaa players……most are Millionaires and probably the most egotistical/narcissistic/arrogant/spoilt sports stars on the planet

Ian OB

Remind anyone else of Fitzy?

Cake Man

Different sport I know but watching the Argentina fans looking shell shocked after their loss to the Saudis in the World Cup yesterday, it had me thinking that we as Waterford fans know that feeling only all too well! Coming into a tournament in great form, having won a trophy just beforehand and many tipping them to go all the way...only to fall apart on the big stage. Sound familiar?

Both blue and white, both having won two major honours in their history, both always hyped up and tipped to do great things only to underwhelm, both having a mercurial talisman that can do ridiculous things with a ball when they feel like it, both haven't won that major title they've been chasing for decades......are Waterford the Argentina of hurling or Argentina the Waterford of football? 🤣😅😭

Asdfgh2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119909779#Comment_119909779

The only comparable result for Waterford would be the defeat to Kerry in the 1990’s…….where are the Saudis ranked in the world. I would say as low as London in hurling…??

Asdfgh2020

Came across the link below the other day while looking through previous Ballygunner Munster final appearances. It’s a full video of the 2009 final which ballygunner lost by a point to Newtownshandrum……..they were well behind goin into the last 15 mins but came right back into it and could have sneaked a victory. Probably one of the last big games played by Paul Flynn and Fergal Hartley…….it’s a pity about the moronic commentator though……has to be one of the most biased/blind one ever we may find Kieran O’Connor hard to listen to at times but don’t think he would ever carry on like this flute…… scroll / fast forward to roughly 7:20 mins for an example, Andy Maloney got a serious belt to the head yet the clown commentating maintained it was a complete accident and didn’t even merit a yellow card

https://vimeo.com/553965358

PTH2009

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119909779#Comment_119909779

Belgium football and Waterford Hurling have more in common

All the talent but can't get over the line

Dunmoreroader

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119913077#Comment_119913077

Jesus, Maloney got some flake! Yer man didn't look very remorseful and he was lucky not to see red(would today) but Flynners was holding his hurley under his arm which released like a coiled spring across Maloneys forehead!

Asdfgh2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119915438#Comment_119915438

Flynn was barely restraining the guys ‘hurl’…..the way he forcibly ‘released’ the ‘hurl’ was totally reckless……the absolute ‘absolution’ of any wrong doing by the commentator is unbelievable

PTH2009

Apparently Aussie is not going back training yet

Asdfgh2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119917262#Comment_119917262

Heard he was gone to oz with the Bennett’s until march 17

Giveitfong

You would fear that this web page is on its last legs, given how poor the reaction has been to one of the great Waterford hurling performances of modern times in Limerick last Sunday. Ballygunner’s marvellous victory over Na Piarsaigh was very similar, in many respects, to Waterford’s All-Ireland semi-final win against Kilkenny in 2020 in the way the team reversed a poor first half by producing a powerful second half performance which saw them cantering to victory at the end.

Ballygunner have always been vulnerable to teams who have been physically superior to them and who also have had lots of good hurlers.  Such teams have been able to deny Ballygunner primary possession and to force them into playing a long ball game which does not suit them, while working the scoreboard regularly when in possession themselves.  I am thinking in particular of Ballygunner’s  defeats to Ballyhale in the 2019 All-Ireland semi-final and to Borrisoleigh in the Munster final later that year. Na Piarsaigh are very much in this category. Like the Limerick county team, they are big and powerful physically, very skillful and well drilled. They obviously have a superb recent record in the club championship and showed, in their county final against Kilmallock, that they were back to something like their best, with some promising new blood on show.

Last Sunday they started off really well, dominating the middle third with ferocious physicality and work rate and, playing with great confidence, shooting some superb scores. Ballygunner appeared to steady the ship in the middle of the first half, but Na Piarsaigh roared back to go in at half time five points to the good. My hope at that stage was that Na Piarsaigh’s big men would be unable to maintain the pace and work rate which they had displayed in the first half, and that this would allow Ballygunner some space to play their normal game after the change of ends.

However, I did not anticipate how totally the Gunners would dominate the game after the restart. It was clear that they got a lot more than an orange segment from their management in the half-time dressing room, as they upped their work rate very significantly in the second half. It may also be that the three yellow cards dished out to Na Piarsaigh, and especially to William O’Donoghue, may have caused them to curtail the ferocity of their challenges.

Whether or which, the fact is that Ballygunner produced a display for the ages in that second half. Paddy Leavy powered into the game while his midfield partner improved on a good first half to produce probably his best game in a Ballygunner jersey. At the back, veterans Barry Coughlan and Shane O’Sullivan provided tremendous leadership while, up front, Peter Hogan put in an enormous shift. Fair dues also to Patrick Fitzgerald who, in what was his first really serious senior game, scored 1-1 and provided the assist for Dessie’s clinical finish. Like Dessie, he has a great awareness of scoring possibilities and the ability to follow through on them.

The cream on the cake, of course, was Pauric Mahony’s seven points from play. He has always had the ability to get into space to receive passes for a shot at goal and his hit rate from anywhere inside the 65 metre line is very high. Ballygunner have become expert at giving Pauric the ball in these situations, unlike the Waterford teams he has played with, for the most part.

This raises, for me, the question as to whether the Ballygunner management were even sounded out when the County Board were looking for a replacement for Liam Cahill. While Ballygunner do have a big advantage in terms of the size of their playing membership, their senior mentors have done a superb job in terms of instilling skill and work rate in their charges, along with a game plan suited to their particular characteristics. What might they achieve if they were put in charge of the players who are in the county senior panel? Their win in Limerick last Sunday was an enormous achievement, and they have produced perhaps the first Waterford team in modern times with a built-in winning mentality.  They are improving all the time, and while this may not be good news for the other clubs within the county, it is surely good news for Waterford hurling in general, and we could see seven or more of their players appearing in the county shirt in the coming year.

Gardner

Mod Edit

Warning issued.

Billy Ocean

Serious lack of self awareness from you, weren't you making childish remarks about football a few weeks ago? I think you can add your own name to that list.

JD. 60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119919219#Comment_119919219

Hear Hear.

JD. 60

Maybe there is begrudgery on behalf of some supporters !

I would be a Mount Sion man but have great admiration for what Ballygunner have achieved. Okay, they have been helped by population demographics, in contrast to the an ageing populace in the old city areas and an influx of people who are not from hurling strongholds.

If memory serves me right, there were 7/8 Mount Sion players on the ‘59 team. When (not if) Waterford win their next All Ireland, don’t be surprised to see a similar number from Balllygunner. When you produce hurlers like Dessie and Patrick Fitzgerald, success will inevitably follow.

fuinneamh

Where else do people actually discuss hurling? Reddit seems to be dead; Reservoir Dubs seems active but with a major Dublin focus. Can't imagine the discussion on Twitter, Facebook or TikTok is that illuminating. Only place that used to be properly active was An Fear Rua but that's now closed.