Waterford GAA Thread - Mod note post #1

That Laois panel was an awful lot better than people actually gave them credit for, they just needed a different approach than what they had with Cheddar Plunkett. Brennan got all the credit but Plunkett did the hard work and got things in place. Yeah, he did well with them but he’s not the right man for Waterford. He hasn’t been in the running for any jobs since Laois, I don’t think the way he operates would work well in Waterford. Plus, the man absolutely despises Waterford. If he ever came down here it would be all about him even more than what we see with Davy Fitzgerald.

Anyway lads we won the primary game on Saturday night, all is not lost… 😁

I should have added that Stephen Molumphy did not give an answer about if he was looking to stay on with Kerry now his term is up. If he could get a David Franks or similar hurling coach with him, he's the one I'd like to see if a vacancy comes up.

Coming out of Thurles on Saturday evening was as demoralised as I think I have felt as a Waterford fan. We have walked out of games a lot over the last 20 years or so heartbroken after close defeats in titanic tussles but Saturday was quite simply pathetic and tough to take.

Starting with the Manager, he simply has to go. He is trying to play a brand of hurling that does not work and I can see more of our better players calling it a day over the close season instead of going back to train under his dinosaur tactics. Watching the way we set up in Thurles on Saturday was crazy and our lads really did not know what to do once they got the ball in the middle third of the field. You watch good teams and the way they get the ball efficiently to their effective shooters who can take scores. We found our weakest shooter Montgomery three times who had three poor wides to go with his terrible shooting in Cork. We have the likes of Dessie and Stephen who can score for fun and our manager cannot work out an efficient game plan to get the ball to them so they can cause damage.

Driving home, I could have guessed that Davy would turn his post match interview into a soap opera all about himself and that he did as ever by saying he did not like the way people were laughing at him from Clare. He is completely out of his depth as an inter-county manager and I would genuinely give the job to anyone ahead of him next year!

The players have to take responsibility as well for the way they seem to have given up. Going back to the league last year, we played some sensational hurling and were scoring goals for fun. Three games in, no goals scored and a lot of our big players looking like they just don't want to be there anymore. Amazing to see how bad have we become and considering we played poorly and still beat Tipp last year, it is incredible to think we genuinely have no chance of beating them in a fortnights time.

The county board clearly are doing a poor job. U17, U20, Senior teams in both Hurling and Football losing every single game this year is horrendous and with our team coming to the end of the road, there is nothing behind them to give us any hope.

Unfortunately, we are further away than ever in our quest to finally win the big one

Looking at the performance of our team since Davys' return - there is only one word for it "abysmal" - nothing else. Our league form was desperate, our set up was mind boggling, we struggled desperately against Laois and Antrim (who had 13 men for much of the game), while the games again Dublin, Tipp and Kilkenny were at best worrying. Our discipline was pathetic, and our playing strategy was slow and cumbersome, with other teams looking like that had robbed Davy's playbook before the game.

I am fed up listening to lads saying that "we don't have the players and look at last year" - well lets look at last year, we won a league playing a beautiful brand of fast moving, flowing hurling while missing a large portion of our marquee names. Yes we were sluggish again Tipp in the opening game but we won playing poorly, we then went to Limerick and were playing very comfortably until Daly's injury and Cahill made a mistake firing Tom Barron in as a replacement full back - but we still had Limerick defending their goal line at the death to hold out for a win. We then played Cork and were flat, remember we were on top for periods of the game but ending up losing by four points, and then there was our collapse in Clare - which everyone is focusing on. The team were coming off the back of a game where they knew they had blown it! - we had injuries starting the game and then lost TDB after 10 minutes, - and there is the question of what went on in the weeks between the Limerick and Cork game - this team of players are being judged on that one game not the season.

Davy has come in with his usual circus and a 3 year plan, to make himself comfortable - this is a side who under Liam Cahill were knocking in goals and running up 24 points a game on top, cannot now buy a goal now and are barely tipping 20 points in a game. I seem to remember Derek McGrath telling us all we did not have the players and we didn't understand how we needed his system, and then Liam Cahill comes in and breathes belief into players and low and behold we are all of a sudden second best team in the country. And now we are back with Davy trying to dismantle and build it his way so we can survive!!!

Davy has to go and go now !!! I am a season ticket holder and have been following Waterford hurling for nearly 50 years and I have seen many a bad beating, but I am genuinely at a crisis point - do I go to Thurles and support our players, lads who put in a huge effort training every week and putting their lives on hold, or will this give Davy and our County Board belief of support in them!!! An awful position to be in and I am sure i am not alone in this quandary. Quite simply Davy has to go and go now - no waiting around to see what happens against Tipp - and our county board should have a seriously strong look at themselves - so many people predicted this outcome at the start of the year - this simply cannot be ignored.

County board said they wouldn’t come on WLR as still in the championship . Bunch of spoofers !!

I think Donncha O Callaghan is a complete disgrace. Takes the few pound but doesn't bother going to the game. What does that say about the management setup? Just makes a laughing stock out of the county.

What is Eoin Kelly actually doing, I mean the narrative is that Clare won in 2013 because of Kinnerk. No harm to use that same narrative to question our coaches.

Davy is just a mercenary. Deflecting in the interview after the game by talking about some Clare people laughing at him. It would be comical if not so sad. He doesn't care about Waterford, only about himself.

For a start we need a management team that cares about the county. The underage structures then need to be examined, which is a longer term project.

Maybe I dunno would have talked to Laois players and they said once he went they haven’t had a good set up like it! He is hard nosed which is what Waterford need.

Derek isn’t the answer in my opinion.

I am outsider so who do ye want if Davy goes? Ballygunnar manager??

They have gone back as previous years they were knocking on the door for promotion. As I said I'd want a hurling coach with him, which is what I understand O Rourke does though I don't know a lot about him bar that he has worked with the camogie side, DLS and now Cork.

But that seems to be the model that successful counties are employing where they have a manager and then a hurling coach. With the right hurling coach I'd support Molumphy as manager.

Though of course there is currently no vacancy.

The Davy experiment has backfired. It was probably worth a punt and most people were willing to give it the benefit of the doubt until the championship came around. However, the performances have been underwhelming, putting it mildly.

There was a fair bit of Waterford support on Saturday evening and for a while it looked like a competitive match might break out but it all went south fairly quickly. As the game went on, I think most (Waterford) supporters were simply numbed by what they were seeing.

I imagine if a poll was conducted on whether Davy should stay or go, it would a landslide "leave". The people who oversaw the appointment should now man up and call time on the current management, no matter what happens in the final match. Some low key announcement over the summer when most people are on holidays might suffice.

Anyone got a black pot or kettle laying about

??

Aha.

Was going to say understandable given we have a weekend off but didn't realise you're talking about last week

Always seem to be rumours of this kind of stuff. In 2019 and 2022 saying players out drinking instead of training

Surely not. Panel players?