Waterford GAA Thread - Mod note post #1

Doubt O’Sullivan would be interested…..maybe Ken McGrath/Dan and Co would give it a go following their involvement with the u20’s this year..assuming davey fcuks off

I felt really sorry for Shane Bennett as he walked off. How can any of the players enjoy playing in an environment like that? We have a group of really expressive, adventurous, attacking players like Jamie Barron, Jack Prendergast, Mark Fitzgerald, Calum Lyons on the pitch. And yet our manager decides he needs to re-invent the wheel with tactics. I disagree with those who say we have no plan, for me we have multiple plans that are so rigid and confusing that any sense of freedom is taken away. Players are visibly second guessing themselves as they go against natural instincts and try to conform. Just some of the nonsense today was

• The role of Billy Nolan. For a series of puckouts we pushed our centre back onto the Wexford sweeper opening up space in our defence. On one occasion the man Billy should have been marking was then free on our 45.
• Paddy Leavy was excellent against Cork in midfield. So our management decide today he'll play behind the half back line and miles away from where he can influence things.
• Leaving Calum Lyons on after the clash with Michael Kiely. He did make one great catch after it which led to the goal chance for Monty but aside from this he didn't look right. Player welfare should take priority and even if Calum wanted to play on, he had a head injury only a month ago against Offaly and we can't take risks like that.
• When we need a goal at the end, we must be the only team that withdraw players so the one member of the full forward line is surrounded by defenders. We had some wides and a few fell short from out the pitch but the players taking the shots had no other option.
• We bring on Dessie and he spends some of the time in that role surrounded by defenders and the remainder playing somewhere between midfield and half back.
• Our long puck out strategy is to hope Kiely wins it. And he had a huge first half before the collision. Hopefully he's ok, he looked really shaken coming off but he seemed better after. But as against Cork when he wasn't on the pitch our attack fell apart.

A few players didn't have good days but I wouldn't be too harsh on individuals, it can't be an enjoyable set up when you're not allowed to go out and play. Worse than that, despite all the players being brought back the field, we still look like we can be opened up with a simple overlap. His second term was poor before today but that showing was worse than anything so far. It is very very hard to see any progress that has been made or where it will be made in the next month.

It’s looks more and more like nobody else wanted the job after Cahills departure……above poster says there are definite strategies at play but if there is only Davey knows what they are …..there were a number of occasions today when a wex player had the ball in the half forward line and the closest wateford player to him turned his back and seemed to be leaving it up to one of the full back line players to challenge him…..and as said above despite handing 90% of players behind the 65 line wex players were able to cut through the ‘defence’ like a knife through butter……😡

Were our subs been recorded at HT before the kids came onto the pitch ?

We also have the youngfella whos always next to Davy on the sideline, cant recall him been part of past Clare and Wexford setups

The season ticket f#%% up with no championship matches am sure has a lot to do with it

Doesnt look a very exciting prospect for 2025, one 'big league game' with Clare and Limerick been the home games in Munster

Subs being recorded doing what…..continuously warming up…..?

The young lad that is always in Davey’s shadow is a mystery alright…..Peter queally was visible today before the game but Eoin Kelly from Tipp was nowhere to be seen….? I thought These are supposed to be the ‘hurling men’ of his back room team but it’s only that young lad that we ever see in his vicinity……very strange…..I wonder does davey have a clause in his ‘package’ that if he was to get the ‘ sack’ before his ‘contact ends’ he still gets whatever ‘fee’ that was negotiated at the start…..including everything for his back room team also…??

Put yourself in a waterford fans shoes. Would you turn out week after week to witness beatings and poor performances with no sign of any success/progression…..? Cahill had something going with this group of players until that home game v cork in 2022 followed by probably the most humiliating defeat in recent times the following week…😡…….since davey took over the downward spiral has continued bar the win last year v Tipperary which kept him in the job…..if he gets another year after this one the supporters will dwindle away further and it’s hard to blame them

Mainly because you play a nice brand of hurling, and are going toe to toe with Limerick.

Pay €20 to watch no player inside the 45 and have Tony Kelly operating in midfield and the numbers would dwindle.

2 or maybe 3 years ago there were 9/10k in Walsh watching Waterford V Wexford, Cahill had us playing a nice brand of hurling and even if you lost you know they had a right go at it.

Today and chasing the game resulted in aimless balls being pumped into a one man forward line, it's not the kind of stuff that gets the heart pumping and supporters are less likely to pay €20 to watch it when they can turn on the telly.

I am not the one to have this conversation with as I always follow my team regardless. I have been there for some bad beating and utter rubbish from Clare but it never stopped me from going again and again.

You can’t claim to love me county but walk from them when moral as low regardless of any distain you may have for the manager.

With regards Fitz, the dogs on the street could see it was the wrong appointment from the get go. He was already spouting excuses pre your first championship game of his tenure.

Its not entirely his fault though as your county board have made a massive error in appointing him only compounded by continuing this madness by letting him continue this year.

When ye let him go, I can’t see him getting a top tier job in the future.

Just guessing it was monitoring something with the subs

That tech didn't come free anyway

we are led to believe that it was davey who did the best interview for the job..,,,but it’s easy to win when you are the only candidate

I've been to to about 95% of games since i got into hurling, aged 11 in 98. Really had to drag myself to last years championship games. There have been many horrible defeats in those times, but honestly the past couple of years have been so demoralising.

I'm currently planning on going to all championship games. But I am at a stage where I'm really not enjoying it so it is hard to know.

Davys constant calls to "get behind the team" are also very frustrating. They didnt even look like they backed themselves for the most part last year. He doesnt seem to realise that it works both ways,its very hard to "get behind" a team thats constantly shooting themselves in the foot, like today where they were chasing the game and the best forwards sat between mid field and the halfback line.

I wonder how hard it will be to get tickets for Walsh park championship games . Obviously strong away support more of a factor then league but guess wait and see .

The 'tactics' did get a lucky All Ireland title in 2013