Hurling Championship 2020 - The Year Limerick Blitzed

Davy and McGrath never let teams flow, they were afraid the players might steal their limelight. As I said previously, Waterford never came near a performance like the 2nd half last night under McGrath. Before McGrath, yes.

Right, I’m a gonna stop right here.

He knew he had the legs on KK I’d guess and trusted they wouldn’t be as wasteful on 2nd half. They were creating plenty chances in 1st just hit some bad wides and conceded the goals.

Waterford were a joke under McGrath. An embarrassment. He had them playing with containment and fear on their minds. What Cahill has done to deprogram them is extraordinary. People will thank Cahill in years to come for his services to hurling and showing that Davy and McGrath were 2 snakeoil salesmen.

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Ah that’s very very harsh. Waterford put in a few cracking displays against a superior Kilkenny side under McGrath. I think lads are getting a little carried away. That’s a really bad Kilkenny team they beat last night.

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Ah this is gas altogether. Lads have short memories

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It’s not harsh it’s the truth. Any waterford person I’ve met thinks he is a spoofer. They despised his brand of hurling and the negative press it got. He wanted to be everyone’s friend. Do you think he would have dropped Shanahan or Connors or hook a lad after 17 mins of an AI semi final. He would in his fuck.

That isn’t really the point. He got a Waterford team to an all Ireland final too. He had a different way of doing things to Cahill. A lot of the best players last night were given their debuts under McGrath. He stayed a season too long and has conducted himself poorly since but I think lads are re writing history a little.

Waterford beat a really bad Kilkenny team last night.

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Would the Tipp lads be so animated if Waterford were playing this type of hurling under someone like Anthony Cunningham or Ger Cunningham?

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There is no such thing in hurling as a really bad Kilkenny team. On their day they can beat anyone and have proven that countless times down through the years. They beat a highly fancied Limerick team last year and Galway this year.

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Since 2018 Kilkenny have been beaten by tipp, limerick, Galway, Wexford and now Waterford in championship. They are not good.

Last night was brilliant to watch but I don’t see the need to knock McGrath off the back of it. His Waterford team beat a superior Kilkenny team. You might not like the brand of hurling his sides played but you can still respect the achievement.

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Nobody is disagreeing with you here. It’s that there just wasn’t the same flow or attractiveness to it. A bit like the Limerick ‘Transformers’. Optimus Hegarty and co bashing there way to success, it ain’t pretty but it’s effective.

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If McGrath was there on the sideline last night do you think he’d have got that result or would he still have Gleeson playing centre back taking pot shots from 100 yards. They stumbled to an AI final under his watch. Only a poxy goal you’d hardly see in a camogie match kept them in the game. Galway were vastly superior to them and were never losing that game. Honest question but why do people think Waterford county board got rid of McGrath. What has he done since besides use his expansive vocabulary on the Sunday game?

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The difference being Waterford were able to turn things around and secure victory after the early ambush by KK. Something Limerick were unable to do last year. It would make your question Limerick’s stomach for a battle

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He did that to Deegan. I thought Waterford targeted Deegan’s win a fair bit in the second half.

Waterfords players were far cooler under pressure last night than limerick the previous year. Kilkenny couldn’t cope with their running game at all. Last year limerick continued to play long ball into Gillane who was marked out of it.

Limerick panicked last year, you’d hope that they’ve learned from it. Waterford stuck to the game plan

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I dunno did they panic tbh. They kept trying the same thing over and over again and it was clearly not working. If the same thing happens today id hope the management will cope with it better anyway.

He’s above in Longford or wicklow or some similar shithole training an underage team

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He was very poor; it was down his wing that Fagan kept catching ball too. I know Waterford’s movement was good but there’s a responsibility to at least break it. Distribution also poor.

Surprised he lasted so long.