Waterford GAA Thread - Mod note post #1

Yeah was thinking with him having secured a club AI with Ballygunner, there's not much left in the club game for him to achieve at this stage. Ten-in-a-row county titles next year probably the last item to cross off the list and that will more than likely be a formality. Back to back Munster's and AI's would be a huge achievement but don't think any of the the BG lads would lose too much sleep if they fell short of either of those. Hopefully all of that might entice him to give the county setup one more tilt under a fresh regime. As you said, he probably won't but no harm asking him.

Michael Ryan also on the same page:

“I don't think there's ever been a better goalkeeper in Waterford” Michael Ryan on Stephen O'Keeffe | WLRFM.com

It maybe only September but when will the county hurlers preseason start , strength and conditioning even ? Let’s be honest going by the way the Munster championship ended up we have a lot of catching up to do .

I do not believe that Strength and Condition were our issues in Munster Championship remember we beat Tipp, while in the Gaelic Grounds we were on Limerick's goal line at full time searching for a goal to give us a draw, the Cork game was a flat performance and we were still in it up to the last couple of minutes, and the Clare game, well we just downed tools - it was not about our strength and conditioning it was about where we were mentally at that stage. Likewise it was not about our league win, we played the league giving fringe players plenty of game time, which was the ideal way to go about it, we didn't win it by going full out and playing our strongest team every week!!

I do not know for definite what went on between the Limerick and Cork Games but there is seldom that much smoke without fire - if the rumors that have emerged are even half true, management by all accounts made a bad call with some really savage training sessions and rather than sending us fresh into Cork after the break, sent us in totally drained and Cork took full advantage. Lets be honest the game was gone after Cork , it is hard to pick yourself up to hope for a miracle when you know in your own heart and soul you have blown it like we had, that effects belief and morale. Most importantly if it happened as a result of a bad call the blame game starts from all sides and the ghost is gone.

Sometimes coaches overthink and over react to situations, in my opinion the two week break was an ideal opportunity to recover and sharpen up on finer points and details such as game plans etc and give lads a chance to go in really fresh - by all accounts we done the opposite - it was a mistake, it happened lets move on and learn - i believe we should be approaching next year in the same manner, taking the league serious, but giving your full panel plenty of game time by putting out reasonably strong seasoned teams but integrating fringe players into the side - not putting out a full reserve team for a game or two and asking them to sink or swim. Give lads a chance to impress as part of a fairly settled team.

This panel has not became a bad panel overnight, we are still in my opinion in the top three in the country and we can take heart from our performance in the Gaelic Grounds and also with how close KK went to toppling Limerick - BUT WE MUST LEARN FROM AND NOT REPEAT OUR MISTAKES.

Can you give a name maybe….?

Look at ballygunners dominance in two ways, 1) positive is that it will drive other clubs on to raise their standards to try and compete

or

2) negative is that players at other clubs will think they haven’t a chance of winning anything (at senior or intermediate) and will find it hard to stick at it

Suppose might create options for us post Davy II

Yeah and then the other side seeing Tipps Eoin Kelly wearing a Waterford top

Surreal times

Would Tony be the first time in modern history that a Waterford man is involved in a senior set up of one of the “big 3”?

Donal O'Rourke is with Cork.

Sorry yes you’re indeed correct. Same question again, apart from those two lads have we ever had any involvement in a senior set up of the big 3 before those? Suppose the point I’m getting at is that it’s at least encouraging to see some of our own are deemed good enough to be involved with set ups of the traditional hurling counties. In years/decades gone by it seems like that would never happen. Can only be a good thing as I’m sure some of these guys would be more than happy to answer the call to Waterford if/when the time comes and having gotten good experience in those set ups.

James ‘joxer’ O’Connor coached/managed a very high profile club did he not….? There are more waterford explayers / coaches involved with Other counties than you think

Joxer was in charge of the u21s about 15 years ago and Fintan was a selector under Derek McGrath for a while… or was it Michael Ryan..

the club scene can be quite lucrative for some top coaches, much more so than managing a team of u17s or u20s, so it’s very hard to draw these guys back into underage county setup once their out of it

Nicky Cashin

Cahill the cute bastard getting his ‘foreign’ scapegoat in ….. I admire it really!

Managed kk minors to an AI in 02/03. Don’t think he was ever involved with the senior setup