Waterford GAA Thread - Mod note post #1

While no championship medals are handed out in April , and of course it’s important not to loose the run of ourselves . We damn well should be bullish about our chances . Yes there are at least 4 teams on the day that could win an all ireland this year , somebody has to be favourites to win the thing but I refuse to believe this team is far behind any of them if behind at all !!! I guess the first two weeks of championship will tell a lot .

Best of look to the minors tonight. 4 lads starting tonight also started last year. The two boys in the full forward line Cummins and twomey were very good last year, more of the same this year hopefully

Stiff enough breeze here. Fingers crossed

Great effort so far, let's hope we can kick in the 2nd half

Minors Lost by two points.

Start of the second half killed them but steadied the ship after that

McGrath is toxic at this stage. He has never had the b*lls to take on any other senior inter county team since he was in charge of Waterford because that would entail managing adults. In his time managing Waterford he had a majority of u21 lads, ex pupils and club mates that he could bring his influence to bear on. Since his exit as Waterford coach he has done everything to undermine and put pressure on the Waterford managers that have come after him. Now he is trying everything to stay relevant through bulls*itting in the media. He's yesterday's man. He's a parody of himself by now, people take no notice. Time to move on.

I’m just shocked McGrath went a full interview without referencing Philip Mahony….

on a serious note, Cahill will have it drilled into these lads about any outside noise being irrelevant. This guy dosent suffer any fools and people like McGrath and Mullane need to shoot their mouths off to earn a few quid in the media let them off

I think ye'll regroup. I think yourselves and Clare will be going for 3rd spot in Munster. They have a kinder draw especially with ye having only one home game.

I think any talk of Limerick not making it out of Munster is fairly foolish and if there’s anything I’d be willing to put the mortgage on it would be them doing just that. As good and all as we have looked up to now and the momentum we’ve built up, I don’t for a second believe we’re guaranteed to even get out of Munster ourselves, let alone talk of us going all the way. Limerick are still the team to beat by far and I don’t think any of us would be surprised if they do the 3-in-a-row this year. After blowing Cork away in last years AI final, not many would have given any other team much of a chance and I think the only thing that has changed since then that might give some the belief that someone other than Limerick will win it again is that they’ve had a poor enough league, while we won the thing looking impressive. Still not convinced if that bridges any big gaps but it at least gives us good momentum and belief. I think all other teams would be hoping Limerick being a bit off continues into championship.

As mentioned above (and without doing a PTH2009 on it!) but getting out of Munster is certainly no formality for us. All it takes is one or two poor performances, a bad refereeing call or red card that could put us in big trouble. Tipp on Sunday week is no gimme, I feel it’s really the ultimate banana skin as everyone will be fully expecting a routine victory. Tipp will surely have learned a bit from the hammering they took off us a few weeks ago and come out with all guns blazing. Even a Tipp side in transition and missing Callanan will pose a big threat, there’s never a poor Tipp side.

I really wouldn’t want to be having to travel to Limerick a week later desperate for a result. The reality is we’ll be heavily targeting the two home games (Tipp and Cork) for wins but I think we’d still be needing a result somewhere else to guarantee qualification. Ennis on the final match day it could come down to and it’s a place we haven’t done well in the last few years.

I’m just fairly cautious and bit anxious as our championship opener in the last few years have been very underwhelming. Last year, I would have been fairly confident of beating Clare having contested the AI final a few months prior and having beaten the same opposition in that years AI quarter final but they dumped us out on our arses. 2019 was another similar tale, did well to get to a league final, faced Clare at Walsh Park a few weeks later and again surprisingly beaten in a game I would have been fully expecting us to win.

Go back 12 months again, same opposition in Cusack Park after being a puck of a ball away from an AI the previous September and they killed us. That was the infamous game where the wheels came off with a rake of injuries which practically ruined the rest of our championship.

Go back 12 months yet again and I recall coming up against a Cork side we were fully expected to beat and found ourselves dumped out to the qualifiers.

We seem to be consistently poor starters in championship and I hope that trend doesn’t continue Sunday week.

Hard luck to the minors last night, a bit more composure in the second half might have got them the win but they'll have another bite of the cherry against Clare up in Sixmilebridge in two weeks. A win there will guarantee a Munster semi final spot.

Really good game in the Fraher field last night, thought it was a good standard, particularly the first half, minors were a little unlucky to lose out. Some really good prospects in that team and wouldn't be too critical of these young lads who gave their all, but some of the scores given away from passing the balls around in their own full back line was not great, hopefully management sort this out for the next game as this team has good players who can still make an impact in the championship.

Tough luck on minors last night, some basic errors cost us dearly which happens especially with young lads, and the width of a cross bar, and that's hurling! Considering that Tipp were so hotly fancied, it was good to be so competitive and we are not out yet. Thought we showed grate character to bring it to the death when at times against the wind in the second half we looked to be going totally out of the game.

Going back to seniors - Limerick are by far and away the team to beat - end of story - and it is conceivable that in order to Win an All Ireland we may well have to face them three times, Round robin, Munster Final and the All Ireland Final - that would be some task. Qualifying in Third place avoids a Munster Final but puts you into the qualifiers and on course for a succession of quick games if you are to progress, Qualifying but loosing a Munster Final puts you up against the likely Leinster Champions, and a win puts you back on course to face them again in an All Ireland Final.

I agree 100% with many posters on here, no game is a give in, there will be very fine margins and it will be as easy to go out as it will be to qualify. Hoping for better starts than previous years , but definitely Cahill has the panel grounded and in a much better place this year - remember last year there was no league to prep the team and we were short some really big names when meeting Clare in the first round - this year we have a more experienced panel with a better range of game plans - so fingers crossed for a better start and a bit of luck|

I don’t think too many are dismissing Tipp. To do so would be foolish in the extreme.

Limerick without doubt the team to beat and are rightfully favourites.

Don't think Cahill will be talking to the media about how the players enjoyed the league win with a few bonding pints etc

Tipperary 1-22 Waterford 0-23

It was very frustrating watching this game, which Waterford should have won comfortably but still managed to lose. Waterford started very well, winning a lot of ball with good blocking and tackling, good passing movements and excellent shooting (with the aid of the strong wind) to go 0-6 to 0-1 ahead after ten minutes. If Jack Twomey’s shot after a typical strong run in from the left had gone under the crossbar rather than hitting it, Waterford could have been almost out of sight.

Tipperary gradually worked themselves into the game, boosted by a soft goal in the 10th minute. Waterford, by contrast, moved in the opposite direction as performance levels dropped and the error count mounted – fumbles, misplaced passes, poor decision-making and deliveries. Waterford had a full forward line (including two of last year’s stars, Jack Twomey and Peter Cummins) very capable of scoring goals, but the kind of angled or weighted ball required to give them possession was simply not coming in. Tipperary, by contrast, were able to get good deliveries into their dangerous full forwards, Damien Corbett and Tom Delaney, and they looked much better coached than Waterford.

At half-time, Waterford were just three points ahead (0-14 to 1-8) which looked very inadequate given that Tipp would have the assistance of the strong wind in the second half. And the visitors made full use of the elements, raining long balls down on a defence whose naivety in terms of positioning and tackling was, at times, shocking. And when Waterford did get possession at the back their attempts to move it forward were frequently very poor, with players running into trouble or hitting aimless balls down the middle against the wind which were gobbled up by the Tipp half backs.

When Tipp took the lead in the 40th minute, a heavy defeat for Waterford seemed in prospect, but to give them their due, they stuck to their task, while bringing Twomey out to the half forward line gave them extra possession. At this stage wing forward Gearóid Power also provided excellent leadership, winning some good ball and sending in good angled deliveries. In addition, the one big plus in the Waterford performance was the accuracy of their shooting as, in my recollection, they did not hit a single wide shot in the entire game in the process of amassing a total of 23 points.

In the end, Waterford lost this game due to the concession of far too many soft scores. For example, in the 40th minute, instead of letting a long Tipperary shot, which was going well wide, out over the end line, the Waterford goalie attempted to catch the ball and duly dropped it over the line. The resultant pointed 65 gave Tipp the lead for the first time. Then, with just two minutes of normal time left and the teams level, the goalie hit a terrible pass to a corner back with the ball going out over the sideline. Damien Corbett (who scored 1-8 in all) duly cut the sideline over the bar to put Tipp back into the lead. These two errors alone cost Waterford the game, and don’t include a disastrous series of unforced errors by the full back which cost a further 1-4 in soft scores for Tipperary.

On the positive side, the fact is that Waterford should have won this game and, if they learn from their errors, should be even stronger in their remaining games. And, despite the many errors, there were also good performances, led by full forward Jack Twomey who confirmed the big impression he made last year and is a marvellous prospect, big, strong and a fine hurler. He hit 0-12 here, three from play and nine from frees (several of which he earned himself). He had 100% success with his frees, demonstrating an excellent striking action. And, apart from hitting the crossbar, Twomey was also desperately unlucky when, in the dying moments, he connected with an excellent incoming Conor Keane free but his goal-bound shot was deflected out for a 65 by a Tipp defender on the line.

Another player who caught the eye was corner forward Conor Tobin who, after a somewhat hesitant start, stormed into the game and hit three excellent points. Unfortunately, he was starved of possesion after the change of ends. I have already mentioned Gearóid Power, while on the other wing Michael Morrissey had some good moments and shot two fine points. In fact, Waterford had eight scorers in all, which is good at this (or any) level.

Waterford now play Clare away in two weeks time and, regardless of results, all three teams in the group will remain in the competition, with the top team going straight into the Munster semi-final and the other two playing quarter finals against the second two teams in the other group (Cork, Limerick and Kerry).

More awards to come !!