Waterford GAA Thread - Mod note post #1

A little off topic but the throw in rules need to change to just 2 men contesting and the rest of players need to be a few yards away

Most throw in these days just result in more rucks of 10-12 lads

Funny had the same thought earlier. At both throw ins at each start of the half, you had players way beyond the 65 so by the time the ball was thrown in, you had about 14 players in a group and a rush for someone to sit on the ball. It seems to be the thing to do over the last few years that no one gets a clean possession anymore if at all possible.

The young lad loved being out on the pitch at half time today. Same again next week please Waterford CB!

As for the match, poor weather, terrible surface and a terrible ref means it's difficult to take a lot from it. Altho despite all that it was entertaining fare especially in second half. Tom Barron impressed and prunty was his usual colossus type self.

Cahill was patrolling the sideline in front of where we were sat, he isn't shy in giving players a piece of his mind. Game definitely matters to him anyway.

Black card is ten mins off the pitch, given for a deliberate foul that prevents a goal scoring opportunity inside the 21.

Not a great game.

Some positives Tom Barron played well whole game. DJ showed scored a few nice points. Cathrach played well the last 10 minutes when we needed someone. And obviously got a draw when for a lot of the game we were not looking getting anything.

I expected Ciaran to launch a few missiles.

Cake Man suggests that Tom Barron and Ciarán Kirwan made their senior debuts for Waterford yesterday. Barron made three appearances for Waterford in the 2020 National Hurling League, twice as substitute (against Cork and Westmeath) and once as a starter (against Limerick). Kirwan came on as a late sub for Waterford in their championship game against Clare in the same year.

Stephen Molumphy would want to calm down with the interviews as Kerry manager. He is doing about 3 x interviews a week this last 4 weeks.

Keep the head down and get a few results in the league first.

No I just watch on my iPhone but in saying that I usually don't watch them live with the awful time difference where I am (throw in times 1/2/3am) but watch them when I wake up. No VPN or anything needed. Go to the GAAGO website, purchase the game (or season pass I guess, if you have that) and the stream loads up. It can be a bit of a pain as the first 20+ or so mins of the stream is just blank screens of fan pics with elevator type music so you need to fast forward to the start of the game and be very careful not to touch anything else! Made the killer mistake three years ago when we played Limerick in the league final, I was playing around trying to skip to the start of the game, went too far and tried rewinding back but it bloody took me to the end of the stream where I saw the Limerick captain on the steps of the Hogan stand accepting the cup....

Which would be?

Are all the tickets gone for Saturdays club championship final at croker ? All I could see is juvenile tickets !!

All sorted for tickets thanks to the mystery man the very obliging mystery man sorting me out .

I travelled to Parnell Park last Sunday with a certain feeling of trepidation regarding Waterford’s chances against a highly-committed Dublin team playing on its home ground and with an amount of wind in their sails following their success in the Walsh Cup. Apart from Liam Rushe, they had what looked like a full deck on the field, whereas Waterford were short nine or ten of what I expect to be their regular starters and/or finishers come championship time. This meant that Dublin would be a settled side with a well-practised game plan, whereas the Waterford team was largely experimental with several players in unfamiliar positions.

Once the game started it became clear how far ahead of Waterford Dublin were in terms of hurling preparation. They looked better organised and their first touch and decision-making were better. Their game plan, like Limerick’s, was built around flurries of short hand passes designed to get players in space. I counted 42 hand passes in all compared to Waterford’s 20. They had by far the best player on the pitch in Danny Sutcliffe, with Eoghan O’Donnell also superb in an excellent full back line, midfielders Chris Crummey and Conor Burke not far behind and Donal Burke giving a free-taking exhibition. Conor Prunty was the only Waterford player to come near this level of performance.

In the circumstances, Waterford did very well to get away with a draw. Given that Dublin had put 3-29 on Galway and 2-29 on Wexford, holding them to 0-21 was an achievement. Dublin did not help themselves with some poor shooting with wind assistance in the first half, but ultimately it was two pieces of hurling excellence which saved Waterford’s bacon. The first was Colin Dunford’s excellent take, turn and burst of acceleration which left his marker in his wake leading to the first penalty. The second was the best passing movement of the game, with Dunford again involved, finding Tom Barron with a good pass with the ball being moved on to Austin Gleeson who in turn sent a superb no-look pass to the unmarked Jack Prendergast in front of goal, leading to the second penalty which Stephen Bennett was lucky enough to get over the line.

Even then, Dublin passed up three opportunities to seal out the game in the last minute. First Sutcliffe chose to pass when a handy point looked to be there for the taking. Then Davy Keogh dropped a shot short into Billy Nolan whose overhit attempted stick pass to Stephen Bennett gave Donal Burke a last-gasp potshot which, luckily, he put well wide.

Waterford did not do themselves any favours with a second-half tactic of hitting long puckouts into the Dublin goal area. Billy Nolan struck eight of these, six of which were gobbled up by O’Donnell & co. Waterford would have been better served by trying to work players into space in the midfield area, from where it was relatively easy to hit scores with the prevailing wind (as DJ Foran showed). Wexford tried the same tactic, with an equal lack of success, against the outstanding Limerick full back line in the second half of their match on Sunday. In their case, they did manage to be ahead at the finish, thanks mainly to a clearly illegal goal and some poor Limerick shooting.

Most of the Waterford team had their moments, but few performed consistently over the 70 minutes, with Conor Prunty and Iarlaith Daly honourable exceptions. Tom Barron frequently caught the eye going forward, but he was also the player who was supposed to be marking Danny Sutcliffe. On the other wing, the experiment of playing Jack Fagan at half back did not really work, although again he made some good contributions moving forward late in the game.

Jack Prendergast had a very good first half, and while he faded after the change of ends, he still managed to get forward (to more familiar surroundings) to earn the second penalty. Cárthach Daly had little enough impact at midfield but, crucially, played the key role in setting up Waterford’s last two scores. Once again, DJ Foran had little impact as a ballwinner but certainly paid his way with three well-taken points. Patrick Curran also put in a hard-working shift, albeit far from goal where some would consider his potential contribution is greatest.

Good point, hard to know really and more of a personal choice. I'm from the city and would support any Waterford club from Waterford getting this far and it's an opportunity that doesn't come around too much for a Waterford club to be lining out in Croker.

Ardmore winning in the AI Junior in 2017/18 was a great occasion for the club and Waterford hurling and by god did they make work of it.

Best of Luck to the Gunners tomorrow, 100% behind them to bring home an All Ireland trophy to the Deise - really hope they do their club and their county proud.