Waterford GAA Thread - Mod note post #1

That's true... But sometimes there can be friction within a club paying an outside manager when there is someone eminently qualified within the club to do the job. And then especially once you start paying outside managers then, it might discourage the inside man for doing it for free within his own club - "If Johnny last year was getting X per training session, why am I getting nothing" - so that person might be nearly more open to managing another club.

But the lack of bias is a good point, particularly when the prospective manager has a son or nephews on the team.

Married someone from the Ballyhale and has been living there and playing for Ballyhale for a good few years now

Jesus lads will it be our year?

Feargal Horgan is getting a bit carried away with those red cards !

Didn’t even think the incident merited a yellow ; though that Lynch was having a poor enough game by his standards ; then again, NUIG didn’t score after his dismissal.

He’s married to a Fennelly

All ireland odds . 9/1 !! Get on

Don’t get the fascination with Fitzgibbon…..mixture of players from different counties some house hold names and some not. The only thing ‘gelling them’ together is that they happen to be attending the same 3rd level institution at the same time. Some interesting line ups but not sure 🤔 if these games come close to matching club or inter county games for passion and rivalry etc

Still don’t get it…if it’s all that you say above then why is it so poorly covered and attended and you can barely see any footage other than you tube streams and a few token highlights in RTE…?

your last paragraph is really stretching it…….doubt many of the Ballygunner players would swap an all Ireland club medal for a fitzgibjon one so that could celebrate without pressure and have more nights on the beer etc …??

So it gets about as much coverage as it deserves….would any player rate a Fitzgibbon medal above a local club county medal or inter county provincial/ all Ireland medal…?

Does it not akso heighten the risk of inter county players getting injured…..Im sure there are plenty of inter county managers that are holding their breath until the competition ends….. star players like cian lynch playing competitively on predominantly Shite/soft/pitches….,I wonder is their any ‘incentive’ given in order to lure some of the players or is it all based on the ‘honour of being selected’ …?

As opposed to the pitches they’d play on in the National League? It’s the same conditions, all pitches are soft this time of the year. If more intercounty managers could take a similar outlook to Kiely with Lynch & leave him train & play solely with his college for that period then they might have less injuries to worry about.

Of course it has to be acknowledged there is a big difference in being Hurler of the Year & a lad just called up to a county panel trying to secure a place on the panel / team.

Incentive-wise, most of the big colleges would offer sporting scholarships of some sort. Some big players possibly have expenses of some sort covered to entice them to choose one college over another also. Certainly used to be the way, I’d imagine it still is.

Great documentary on GAAGO about the 2004 Munster final

BBC NI showing a football match so that’s two matches in a row no live coverage , league of ireland manages to cover all the premier and first division games . The GAA need to up their game .

The Fitzgibbon has always been interesting from the perspective that it gives a "first look" at many players coming through that may go on to represent their county at senior level (assuming they're not already part of the senior set up at that stage) and gives those players a platform to put in some good performances that may get noticed if they're pushing for inclusion with their county. Also nice to look back to Fitz teams from years gone by and picking out names that went on to bigger things. Probably not many know the likes of Henry Shefflin, JJ Delaney and Tommy Dunne were with WIT back in the late 90's/early 00's when they won a few Fitz Cups, amongst other star names. Agree though that county managers would prefer having the access to their players and reducing the risk of burnout. In saying that, it's run off fairly quickly in the space of a few weeks and most teams would play an average of maybe 3 or 4 games in that time I reckon.

On the topic of player availability, it would seem now Cahill & Co. finally have a full panel back in training together and available for selection. Having this weekend off and a relatively handy game against Antrim next weekend should provide a good opportunity for getting in some solid training and easing back in the familiar faces. With Tadgh back as well as the Ballygunner contingent (with their tails up and an AI club medal in their back pockets) should see us field a more settled side in the coming weeks. It'll be interesting to see where the BG lads fit back in (if at all). Dessie and Peter Hogan should slot back into their usual roles - corner forward and half forward/midfield respectively. Ian Kenny may get one of the corner back positions but hard to see if Pauric Mahony will claim a spot in the half forward line.

Someone will have to lose out but Tom Barron has done well and should keep his place. Is Calum Lyons fit or carrying an injury? Would have to think he's an automatic starter if available. Carthach Daly being out injured will free up a midfield spot - possibly Conor Gleeson or Kieran Bennett to go in there with Ian Kenny back to the corner? Patrick Curran is also carrying on his good form from last year and it would be hard to bench him.

Ciaran Kirwan has also done well in the chances given to him but Fitz Cup match winner Michael Kiely will rightly be pushing hard for a start in the forwards also after his exploits during the week. Then there's the headache of trying to squeeze in the likes of Jack Prendergast, Patrick Curran, Jack Fagan, Aussie, Stephen & Shane Bennett, Colin Dunford, Darragh Lyons and the aforementioned Hogan, Mahony and Dessie.

Certainly not a bad headache to have and there will be savage competition for places.

3 hurling matches on now Tipp / Dublin exclusive on GAA Go .

A local media bloke posted this on Facebook ( public post )tonight . Bad form what this was about !!

I simply cannot believe that a young boy who played a soccer match for his school last Wednesday has been removed from the Waterford Minor Hurling panel for doing so. He is heartbroken as is his father. My God this is unbelievable. I thought the infamous BAN was demolished many decades ago ! It's so very very sad.🤥