Waterford GAA Thread - Mod note post #1

Counties getting a reward for it in the Football, Tyrone after losing 2 games and still in a position to Qualify

let’s just hope they show up in their masses so in 2025 in Super Valu Pairc Ui Caoimh and here’s hoping Davey is still at the helm!

just go back the way it was !!

Deflating end on Sunday but I think we all more or less expected it. Did anyone really believe we'd win it? I wasn't even disappointed at full time, I think I had used up all of it the weeks before where our championship was truly lost so Sunday felt like a formality more than anything else.

Fair play to the lads, they battled hard but they were never going to do it. Limerick are just such a nightmare to play against - go long and they clean us out in the air and then on the breaking ball. Go short and try run it through the lines and there are what seem like 3 or 4 Lk players swarming around our player on the ball which often results in a turnover. Although they didn't threaten our goal, it's death by a thousand cuts as they rifle over point after point to nullify any goal or momentum we build up.

Where to from here? Will Davy go again? He most likely will, even if he didn't or the players expressed a wish for change it's hard to know who else would be a decent choice to take over.

Positives I would see from the year:

• Some really good performances and our best go at this cursed round robin
• Plenty of lads who have enhanced their reputation - The three Fitz's (Patrick, Padraig and Mark), the latter who looks like he's a seasoned player despite only his second year?
• Tadgh looked like he was never away
• Stephen Bennett and Dessie kept the scoreboard operator working and contributed hugely to those 3pts we earned in the group (as well as the not-to-be Clare game)
• Shane Bennett is some man for efficiency and to pop up with badly needed scores - just had a look and he tallied 3-3 in about 115mins of game time
• Kevin Mahoney came good the last few games
• Paddy Leavey did well in his only championship appearance on Sunday, he's a good midfield option
• Monty, Kiely, Jack Prendergast and the two Lyons' had good campaigns. Combined with the above names there's still the spine of a decent team there

This year it was set up nicely to get maximum points in the two home games against the teams we would've fancied our chances against. We got 75% of the way there but in the end wasn't enough. Next year won't be easy, it'll be home games against Limerick and Clare and then away to Tipp and Cork. And that off the back of a league in 1B. Might be a good opportunity to blood a few that stand/stood out from the club championship and this years U20's, as well as getting more game time to the likes of the Fitz's (Padraig and Patrick) as I'm sure it won't be long before they're regular starters.

Is the solution not simply allow 4th place teams an opportunity back in like I mentioned? Finishing 4th in either province definitely merits a place over losing a tier 2 final imo.

I’ll go out on a limb and say 1 or 2 negative things before I get to the future. 1. Dessie Hutchison, in my honest opinion, his free taking, poor shot selection and his lack of hunger are the reasons why we found ourselves not qualified heading into the Limerick game. 2. The people of Waterford, the negativity, the cowards on social media who slated Davy left right and centre but yet failed to support the team when it mattered. Outnumbered vs Cork and Tipp in our own back garden, about 1500 in Ennis. All too late in Limerick.

The Future, 1. Davy needs to talk to Austin at the end of the Club championship and see if the hunger is there to do a heavy winter campaign. 2. Need to put the arm around Callum Lyons again and entice him back from Australia next January. 3. Do the same to Conor Gleeson and McNulty. 4. Davy needs to stay for at least another year or 2. This team is building nicely and are going to have a huge say over the next 2 to 3 years. 5. There should be no talk of retirements for key players, all showed this year that they have lots to offer. 6. Pending the draw for Munster next year (Dates and sequence of games) a national hurling league title is key to positivity/momentum and to a successful 2025.

your wrong on the support now, we outnumbered Tipp 3/1 for starters and the supporters that were there against Cork were brilliant and made themselves heard. You can’t blame supporters that were negative about Davy Fitz prior to the championship people can only make judgment on what they’d seen last year and the league this year,

I don't think so. Let's say Waterford lost to Cork, we would qualify with 1 point, that's kind of **** also.

If you allow forth place a few games could be dead rubbers.

Fourth place this year and what drama would we have had? We would just need to ensure we didn't get a hammering from Limerick and would make it on score difference even if Tipp won.

I think allowing four makes it pointless.

I've read some nonsense on here over the years but I think this tops it all and by a good margin too.

Our intercounty record this year:

Played 12

Lost 9

Won 2

Drew 1

2 wins in 12 attempts. We are by some distance behind all other munster teams. Tipperary, who came bottom of the round robin have won more under age games this year than we have won since 2016. We are in a crisis in underage. Abysmal. With a number of the senior panel the wrong age profile it won't be long before we are irrelevant as we were in the 80s and 90s. Offaly will replace us at the "top table" in the next few years. It could have been different but we sat on our hands and did f';#k all work on underage after the 2013/16 finals.

We've already been eliminated from the 2025 national hurling league. No pathway to win it from div 1b, which is division 2 in all but name. We can win division 1b (aka division 2) and in fact it's very likely that we'll end up in the division 1b (aka division 2) final against Dublin

there’s doom and gloom and then there’s you. Jesus man

Didn't mean to be doom and gloom, just a general question about do we have the same mental strength Cork seem to have. Twice they have got out of Munster after losing there opening 2 games, we were in a similar position a few times and our heads dropped in our 3rd game

I wanted to wait a few days to ensure my thoughts remained on the review of the year and Davy's two years.

The positives which have already been stated here, seeing some new players come into the team/squad, the form of some players and restoring pride and having the never say die attitude.

That said I feel not getting out of Munster has been a failure. I said it earlier in this thread this was by far our best chance to get out of Munster.

Home game V Cork

Tipp V Limerick while we have a weeks break

Home game v Tipp and they only had a 6 day turn around.

Before the campaign we probably all would have said Limerick 1 and Clare 2, with the other 3 sides battling it out. The fact we had both teams at home, with a weeks break we needed to take maximum points.

The cork game was a bit like the Tipp game last year, there was no pressure on us, everyone had cork as massive favourites.

The Tipp game added pressure as a win and we were as good as through, and we didn't cope with that.

A result in Clare and we were through and we didn't cope with that.

A result in Limerick and we were through, again we didn't cope with that.

The fact we had three attempts to make it and didn't is disappointing.

Next year will be more challenging, as one would imagine both cork and Tipp will be stronger and Limerick and Clare should still be strong.

Is Davy the man for the job, I still don't know, yea we had spirited performances, restored some pride but we still had a woeful league and still failed to get out of Munster although he has returned the most points from any Munster campaign.

I still can't help but feel not that long ago we were touted as the only side that could challenge Limerick but now we look a million miles off that. It's now that we should be going toe to toe with Limerick but we are not.

I honestly don't know where we go from here, I'm still not convinced with Davy, I don't know what the alternatives are.

It feels so long ago since the cork game and we could taste qualification.

Hard to disagree with that the fixtures as you say were aligned perfectly for us it will be a while before they fall like that again which makes it more frustrating.