Waterford GAA Thread - Mod note post #1

I don't buy this Waterford were not pushed about winning narrative..no intercounty hurler goes out disinterested in winning..If he does He should not be there..I know Waterford were missing plenty but surely the lads that were playing would try twice as hard to claim a jersey.

A full Waterford team is probably marginally ahead of kilkenny at the moment but to claim they didn't care is or should be wrong..

I was at the game in Nolan Park, and only last night got the chance to watch it back in full. I also listened into to Daly's podcast, and other than enjoying the chat and the banter these lads can make serious mountains out of molehills. I heard them talking about KKs game plan changing and highlighting a great score from a diagonal cross field ball unlike their "traditional style " - as if they have never played that kind of ball before !!!!! Cody has gone direct when it suits him, or is in trouble, he has also played running games when it suited them, they have been masters at picking out space and runs with good ball for years. Yes they are evolving and adjusting slightly, and mixing it up more, but anyone who thinks or implies that KK were always only about humping the ball down the filed and insisting lads had to win their own ball, probably also believe in the Tooth Fairy

So now to turn to reality, it was one game, where there was little or nothing between the sides with injury time starting. Both teams are still finding their feet and Cody probably needed and wanted the win more. Their championship starts with Westmeath and Laois with their first big outing the first week in May against Galway!! By that Stage we will already have faced Tipp and Limerick, so realistically KK need as many competitive games as they can get as part of their preparation.

Looking at the game itself we did started brightly, and should have been ahead by a lot more, but were not, basically down to poor individual and mainly unforced errors. Mr Murphy was his usual self with the whistle, unpredictable and inconsistent. Dessie got blown for over carrying when bottled up, even though he tried releasing the balls as soon as he got it and did so within a couple of seconds, no way was it an over carry. Darragh Lyons, lost his free for sticking his chest into the KK player having won his free, whereas a couple of minutes later Michael Kiely was penalized for what i felt was a legitimate shoulder, but when the KK player got up and shouldered Kiely into the back , Murphy did nothing, inconsistency!!!

Agree on DJs performance,, whatever he is doing in training, his confidence looks completely shot on the field,. First ball he got, he was in yards of space, a really handy introduction to the game, but he dropped it, failed to recover the ball and handed Walter Walsh a gift of a score. Second ball come his way another mistake and and another KK point and then he got hooked when he should never have been - a handy three point swing. DJ is a far far better hurler than this, so it must be totally a confidence thing, but unfortunately last Sunday he was a liability,

Comparing Blanchfield and Dalton, based on this one game is a bit premature to say the least. Dalton was playing on Walter Walsh a seasoned and very imposing campaigner, who when he is on form imposes himself physically and KK targeted him all day. I though personally Dalton did very well and better than expected in the circumstances. Love the way they talk about Blanchfield being a tall and rangy a typical Cody hurler, - just like Tommy Walsh, Jj Delany and Noel Hickey !!!!!

Lets face it, it was an end of League Game, with two experimental sides, in Waterford's case, being far more experimental with 11 realistic potential starters missing - KK need the win more and they had home advantage. Against these facts, this loss in my view was insignificant.

Is there a Royal Box in Nowlan Park?

Or will Camilla be cheering from a horsebox 😁😁

O Brien

C gleeson

I Daly

McNulty

Fagan

De burca

C Daly

D Lyons

A gleeson

Montgomery

Prendergast

Curran

Hutchinson

Kiely

Dunford

Heard he's gone off the panel and taking up an aquatic sport

Dalys podcast will

Your team selection screams to me no point risking anybody with a niggle and understandably so. They mentioned on the our game podcast rumours Barron could be touch and go to make easter weekend don't know how true they are.

What date is the league final ? What date is our first championship game ?

Hopefully Fagan goes well tomorrow, we could really use his ball winning ability and physicality in the halfback line and it would free up Iarlaith Daly to strengthen the fullback line if needed. I thought Tom Barron was playing well himself early in the league, surprised he didn't get more starts recently.

Our full forward line hopefully can get more quality ball in to them, they were starved against Kilkenny. If they do I'd be more confident of a win even without the quality of players we're missing.

Kilkenny are showing up how vulnerable the Cork backline are, especially fullback line. Limerick won't be overly worried about their trip to Cork in a few weeks time. I think Limericks bench is quite strong. Difficult to gauge some of their newer players as they were playing on a team that struggled throughout the league. They'll probably look a different prospect when Limerick get back to normal come championship.

They did but I'm talking about Cork. Waterford had about 7 starting against Kilkenny that will start in championship imo. The backline started against Kilkenny was (1)Nolan (2) Wadding (3) Daly (4) McNulty (5) Fagan (6) de Burca (7) Dalton.

In championship I would expect something like (1) O Brien (2) I Daly (3) Prunty (4) Kenny (5) C Lyons (6) de Burca (7) Fagan.

You might disagree but I think Waterford have a stronger backline than Cork.

That's fair enough, personally I'd disagree that Cork are better everywhere else but I've got my Waterford tinted glasses on. We'll find out soon enough which team is best equipped to take on this Limerick juggernaut.

Up the Deise

Best of luck to the team in the semi final, great day for hurling

Some nice passages of play from us but still lots of mistakes. Aussie playing very well

We need to keep the heads, Wexford will come out flying in the 2nd half

Some soft red, wexford lad should be ashamed, no force whatsoever, look where he was holding the hurl