Waterford GAA Thread - Mod note post #1

There are two Fitzgerald brothers playing for Clashmore-Kinsalebeg, two more Fitzgerald brothers (I think they are twins) playing for Kilrossanty, and two Fitzgerald first cousins playing for Ballygunner and Passage. Five of them played together in this year’s Waterford Under 20 team which, in my view, should have won at least the Munster title. And, of course, the manager is also a Fitzgerald. Maybe we should be shouting “Up the Fitzgeralds”, or perhaps the Fitzgerald battle cry (“An Crom Abú” – which happens to refer to Croom in Limerick) rather than “Up the Déise” next year!

I am glad to hear that Seán Walsh of Fourmilewater has been called into the county panel. With proper coaching, I think he could be a contender. He has the priceless ability to win ball in the air.

I was impressed by Dessie Hutchinson’s fortrightness in his interview which was all over the media. He made the point that Waterford should have celebrated their league victory and taken a short break before preparing for the championship. According to the RTE website, he said “maybe we didn't celebrate the league as we should have and reset it then towards the championship. We took no in-between. I know it was a short turnaround but sometimes you have to do that.

"I think it is important to come down off things. Give your mind a little break from the training. To be fair to us, throughout the league we were training very hard. We were fully focused on winning the league. After we won it, maybe you didn't feel like you won it because there was no change of mindset of what was happening the following day, no break. Straight on to the game against Tipperary.”

Hutchinson also seemed to welcome, or at least not be too pushed about, the departure of Liam Cahill. According to the report of the interview in the Examiner, he said: "Maybe it was the right thing, for that to happen [Cahill going to Tipperary], because we went as far as we could with Liam and things might have got a bit, 'What do we do next?'”

Interesting viewpoints (which happen to coincide exactly with my own) from a former professional sportsman and one of our leading players.

Agree with that but Cahill will have learnt too and now he's back with a lot of players he won underage All Irelands with

Best to get that league game out of the way early

Best of luck to Ballygunner, Ballysaggart and Ballymacarbry ladies today in Munster

The GAA have to take some of the blame with the timings of the league final and start of the championship

Great Performance by the Gunners

Good win for Ballygunner and now they move onto there biggest test of the year when they face Na Pairsaigh in Limerick in 2 weeks time.

Not the best of days for Ballysaggart in the Intermediate. Beaten 4-19-0-15 by Tipp champs Roscrea

Huge congratulations to Ballymacarbry on winning the Munster final and bringing home the 'Michael Ryan Cup'

Hard to see SOK, Barry Coughlan and Philip Mahoney coming back

SOK returning would be massive for us

Is it not fed ex rankings

Is that true about Seamus Power or just the urban myths of Waterford sports people where the 'oh they could of played senior for Waterford If they didn't choose xxxx' is always mentioned

That’s right he played a lot of handball too. He played hurling up until u14 then the golf had taken over but he was a brilliant forward could score from anywhere and killer instinct in front of goal too. Never said he’d play senior for Waterford who can ever tell that but he was a massive loss for sure

I would also ssay GAA were playing catch up the last year or 2 trying to condense the season so effectively trying to play a yesars worth of games in 46 weeks or whatever , thankfully this year,the club championship is over in the calender year ,so we will see it better spaced next year

Jan /Feb college comps /IC pre season comps

Feb/March league

April is club month

May-July Championship

August-Dec back to club season

no more of this 5 and 6 weeks between games and half your club players missing for most of the league

GAA HQ also deserve credit for not pulling players into multiple grades , so no one is playing minor/u21/senior all at once

These changes should see a reduction in burnout and make it easier to juggle club and county duties

It's a very interesting match for Ballygunner. They could give Waterford a huge shot in the arm if they win in the Gaelic Grounds. The fact of the matter is Limerick have beaten Waterford in every game that counts for 5 years. Waterford teams need to start winning in Limerick. No excuses. Its a big deal.The pitch is span new, beautifull. It ll suit Ballygunner. I think they've a better squad aswell. Na Piarsaigh have an excellent 15 to 18 but they don't have the 20 to 25 of Ballygunner.

Youd know Vinnie.

what a ridiculous comment

Did i Read somewhere that either kieran or shane had already gone to Australia and thats why they missed the intermidiate Final. Seen them both named in the team for ballysaggart last weekend