Waterford GAA Thread - Mod note post #1

decies

Feel so inadequate as a Waterford supporter after that .

Jjjjjjjjbarry

Good interview with Liam Cahill and Wooly during the week. Liam was very respectful towards Waterford players and county board. Wooly asked about Jimmy McGuiness and Cahill confirmed there were sessions but said they were not a factor in what happened after (in relation to the rumours that the players were over trained)

decies

It was always a miracle

Jjjjjjjjbarry

So did that draw make it better or worse for us?

KevIRL

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120563857#Comment_120563857

Better. If we won our last 2 we are more likely than not to go through now.

It's a huge if for us to win the last 2 mind

carq

If we beat clare and tipp - lol

we need limerick to beat tipp, and cork to beat clare. Result of lim/ cork may not matter.

cork 5

lim 4

wat 4

tipp 3

clare 2

If tipp beat limerick and clare beat cork

tipp 5

clare 4

waterford 4

cork 3

lim 2

cork v limerick would be a shootout to see who goes through, could come down to points difference.

Jjjjjjjjbarry

One game at a time. We just need to beat Clare and then anything is possible.

JD. 60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120563931#Comment_120563931

Exactly.

Not impossible but does anyone here (apart from Gardner maybe) think Waterford are likely to win the remaining two games

decies

i am one of the more positive people on here and just reading tonight other fans from other teams going through the scenarios and most presuming everybody will beat Waterford to be honest I think that’s now the most likely future results , be only too damn delighted this team will prove me wrong and go out and win the next 2 but I just can’t see any other way this plays out any different .

loves_me_county_boy

Been given a bit of a lifeline with that draw today. Have to just keep the faith now we know there’s more in this team than what they showed against cork. Coming in as the underdog suits us better anyway everyone will have us written off . Hopefully these boys can pull it out of the bag and give us something to shout for !

windy shepard henderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120564279#Comment_120564279

well said , if say clare lost next week and we beat cork , ye beat tipperary it both of us could go through pending on the limerick games between tipp and cork

but i imagine you lot would like us to lose all our remaining games jus to be sure 🤣

914

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120563909#Comment_120563909

The ultimate definition of "Don't Stop Believing"

Dammo

Couldn’t give a shite about anyone else except Waterford. I just can’t see it but if somehow a miracle happened, I couldn’t care less who else got out with us.

carq

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120564201#Comment_120564201

Beating clare is possible.

Would need Limerick to do a big softening up job on tipp and who knows .

We cant play as bad again as we did in cork.

lim4ev

Some lifeline for ye lads it's a tall order but it's doable

cbwfd

Clare game is basically like an old qualifier round for us. Beat them and set up a winner takes all versus Tipp. We must stay positive!

JD. 60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120565173#Comment_120565173

The dream is alive for another week.

KevIRL

Mt Sion beat ballygunner in division 1 feile semi final earlier today

PTH2009

----

Deskjockey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120565483#Comment_120565483

Oh Bore off PTH

eigrod

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120557882#Comment_120557882

It’s farcical and they only need to look at the results in Leinster this weekend to prove it. Galway & KK would qualify from Leinster with their second teams. Literally the Dublin v Wexford game decides who joins them. Compare that to Munster and the imbalance is stark.

Only in the GAA would you come up wit a seeding where you put 5 of your top 7 in one group and 2 in the other. To see Dublin getting to a QF while 2 of the Munster 5 won’t, is ridiculous.

Rosita

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120559439#Comment_120559439

12 teams? So you'd not only have Westmeath (beaten by 33 points yesterday) but would also bring a Joe McDonagh team into the competition and force them to endure severe bearings regularly just in order to have a "League" format? Where anyone gets the idea that there are 12 teams fit for such a competition when the Leinster championship annually proves otherwise is a mystery.

Mastermcgrath

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120564968#Comment_120564968

If we don’t come out fighting against Clare like our lives depend on it then we deserve to be at the bottom of the pile. I would also give us a chance against Clare, on paper. but there needs to be a massive turnaround from what we’ve seen in the league and championship so far.

From looking at Cork against Tipp last night they seemed a bit off it from last week and it made me think maybe our lads emptied the tank against Limerick the week before and were leggy against a fresh Cork team hopping off the sod. This Munster championship is gruelling for everyone. Maybe I’m clutching at straws but we’ll finally see what this team is made of for once and for all next week

Cake Man

I don't think we'll play as poorly as we did against Cork (surely we can't, right?) but I still see Clare coming out comfortable enough winners, maybe 6-8pts. A win would be great and at least we'd go into Tipp still in contention for but I'm so conditioned to us losing that a win seems like some far-fetched notion.

If that is the case, the Tipp game would be a dead rubber from our perspective but in a petty way, if Limerick beat them Sunday week we'd have the opportunity to drag Cahill down with us if we were to beat them...

JD. 60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120568196#Comment_120568196

Not petty at all !

randd1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120565731#Comment_120565731

You'd have the 5 Munster teams, Kilkenny, Galway, Wexford, Dublin, Antrim, Westmeath and (for the sake of it), Laois. I see nothing wrong with that. In every competition, there's going to be teams that simply get beaten badly repeatedly. Whatever system is in play, the gap between the top teams in hurling is just too wide to the next level which will result in regular beatings. At least the 12 team league system above would see regular games between the top 9 teams, while the three teams outside the top 9 would effectively be playing each other to avoid relegation (or as in the case of Antrim over the past two rounds, getting a result or possibly a few wins).

The only alternatives to what you're saying is to either keep things as they are (which we can all agree is somewhat flawed and imbalanced), or have a system that effectively cuts off the likes of Antrim, Westmeath, Laois et al from competing at the highest level, effectively shutting them out of the sport. How does that help hurling?

And if regular beatings are the hallmark of meaning a team should be excluded for Liam McCarthy, it's worth remembering Waterford's record in the round robin isn't particularly good on that front either. In fact, Westmeath have the same rate of success as Waterford in terms of points accrued.

Combining the league and championship into the one competition, with a separate cup competition, would be the best overall, regular games between the big teams, promotion and relegation, it's balanced compared to the provincial system, and there's still plenty of knockout competition via the cup and latter stages of the championship.

upthedeise16

You always hear from these counties, that the only way they will improve is by playing the top teams regularly to improve. A 12 team championship would be great, fairer & would bring great excitement. Imagine local derbies between Waterford Kilkenny, Tipp Kilkenny, Galway Tipp, Clare Galway, it would bring huge excitement. And who’s to say that the likes of Laois, Antrim and Westmeath couldn’t get a few shock wins, it’s not so long since Laois beat Dublin and Antrim, especially in Corrigan Park can be very dangerous. The fact that they would have 2/3 winnable games as well would be a positive for them. Obviously there would be some hammering dished out but over this weekend in the current format, we saw 2 hammerings in Leinster.

I think down the line, the provincial football will separate from the actual championship but it may take longer for the hurling. Unfortunately, Waterford are probably the county with the biggest issue with the current format. The Munster council must be delighted with it as the crowds are very good. 29,000 at Cork Waterford and 36000 at Cork Tipp and they’re expecting a huge crowd for Tipp Limerick and a sold out Cusack Park for Clare. They won’t want to lose the link between the Munster championship and the All Ireland as they would lose huge money.

Rosita

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120568641#Comment_120568641

I never mentioned any alternative. All I'm saying is there are not 12 too hurling teams capable of competing meaningfully in a round robin. At a stretch there might be 8.

randd1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120568876#Comment_120568876

Agreed. But that would be shutting teams out.

There's 35 county teams competing in hurling, if you include the 3 UK based teams. We have to account for all these teams. A 12 team league system where the league and championship are amalgamated into one competition would see a senior (12), intermediate (12) and junior (11) championships where there's plenty of games for each county, and then there'd be the Cup competition on the side as well.

As to the standard, well that requires investment, development and promotion of hurling. The Munster council does this emphatically, and the reward is there to see in a hugely competitive Munster championship. The Ulster, Connaught and Leinster (in the main) councils, not so much as outside of about 10 counties, and a hand-full of clubs in the rest, hurling is pretty much dead and ignored. Unless a tradition of regular competition is developed in these counties, the standard is pretty much going to be a continuous problem. So too is money. The top teams pull in the biggest sponsors, which allows them the professional backroom teams that the smaller counties just don't have and can't compete with.

Either way, no team should be shut out from the top table if they get there on merit, and a league based system offers the more balanced method of merit. The smaller teams will take beatings*, but teams always have.

*On the beatings, I think the openness of the modern doesn't help. Games are just so open, and lads can score from 100 yards, that a massive run of scores can be put up in mere minutes. If the sliothar was slightly heavier and with thicker rims, the bas regulation size, the handpass rule changed to combat the throwball, and county team expenditure limited to 150K per county would go some way to evening in competition on and off the field.

Rosita

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120569314#Comment_120569314

But teams are already shut out since not all teams compete for the McCarthy Cup. If that's the issue that ship has sailed.