@Big_Dan_Campbell has it in for her ever since.
More so when she first came to my attention for this beautiful piece of analysis
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Must have touched a nerve alright
They got a bye in 57 or 58. Not sure of exact year. Only know as I was reading a Tipp/KK program other night and previous meetings stated they were fixed against each other in a semi in one of those years
I’m sure the leinster and Munster champions also got byes in these eras. Only right the connacht champions are treated with the same equality.
She ticks all the right boxes.
Are there currently any black players playing inter county camogie? Possibly trans too ? They’d be running the country in no time.
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Cork
See Davey is up in Antrim GAA at some business event today. Strange behaviour the day before a huge match for them tomorrow.
The all ighty ollar
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Man has to earn a living
Plenty tickets available, might make the journey if I’ve nothing planned.
Blue hair a bonus
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He was in kilkenny yesterday giving a talk on mental health to my young uns class
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Derek McGrath: Junior B hurlers? Déise must channel the hurt and Davy must let it go
It’s all on the line for the under-pressure Waterford camp this weekend.
TRUE COLOURS: Waterford manager Davy Fitzgerald reacts to a missed opportunity for his side against Limerick. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
FRI, 12 MAY, 2023 - 07:10
“Those who are victorious plan effectively and change decisively. They are like a great river that maintains its course but adjusts its flow”. - Sun Tzu
Hard to completely sync Sun Tzu’s thoughts with the current Waterford hurling situation but ahead of a must-win clash with an ultra-confident Banner outfit on Saturday evening the need to “change decisively and adjust the flow” was never greater.
Clare’s perceived dominance of the landscape at minor and under 20 has served to pump their current structures with deserved confidence. It also highlights the paltry nature of Waterford performances in the various codes over the last number of years.
Ensuring both tangible and intangible solutions are agreed and acted upon might be more valuable now than constant reminders of our record at this level. Not that we are ignoring it, nor that it shouldn’t act as an epiphany moment, but more so that it’s time to act rather than talk.
In a week when the populists (me included) got it right by wholeheartedly agreeing with Dónal Óg’s GAAGO address, the Cloyne man’s forthright assessment of Waterford as resembling a “Junior B” team left us all with mixed emotions. Frustration was the overriding feeling as we know we are so much better than we showed. Cusack’s conclusion that Waterford has been “a land of eternal hope” is more accurate. This hope must now be combined with action to keep us alive after tomorrow evening:
- The mid-season curveball
In the 2013 All-Ireland quarter-final, Davy Fitzgerald’s positioning of Pat Donnellan as an extra defender on the edge of the D not alone negated Joe Canning’s influence but acted as a strong launchpad to supply regular ammunition to the the dual offensive threats of Podge Collins and Conor McGrath. In the final and replay of that year Davy threw some tactical and selectorial curveballs. Despite commentary at the time that Clare had returned to a conventional shape, Davy and Paul Kinnerk had anticipated that Tony Kelly would be tagged from 11 and more specifically that Podge and McGrath would also be followed.
Instructing all three to come deep into their own halves at times allowed an ocean of space to present itself for the curveball that Shane O’Donnell presented in the replay. It also allowed the backs to operate in condensed space. In many ways it was the template that Limerick now are widely praised for.
Given that Clare have had to listen to many observers remark that “the way to beat Limerick is man on man, 15 on 15” and wax lyrical about their performance, Davy may consider a change of shape and approach. It may cross his mind to withdraw four of the six forwards to the warzone and leave the Ballygunner duo of Patrick Fitzgerald and Dessie Hutchinson inside. He will probably identify that Tony Kelly and Shane O’Donnell need all-day taggers, so perhaps matching up Jamie Barron with Cathal Malone rather than Ryan Taylor might allow Jamie to hoover behind the half back line. An extremely “deep all day” half forward line of four to supplement perhaps Carthach Daly in a man-marking role on Taylor would enable the backs to hold their shape.
The possibility that Clare will feel that “man on man” and the same again approach should suffice against Waterford may well play into Davy’s planning. A change to a slightly more conventional formation with early deliveries inside may well be beneficial to Waterford. There was evidence from early that Clare were on a war footing against Limerick. This game is a whole different puzzle and expect Waterford to present themselves in an angry but focused mindset.
- Austin Gleeson at 11
Has any player in the country been subjected to as much lazy commentary over the years as Austin? The worst of all the laziness presented itself through the ‘If he’s fit enough for a half, he’s fit enough for the full game’ brigade. It seems easier sometimes to ignore highly qualified medical professionals, sports scientists and a management team that have won All-Irelands as players and coaches and just run with the negative incorrect angle.
The hope is that Austin will have benefitted greatly from 39 minutes in Páirc Uí Chaoimh and will have gotten two more good weeks training on board and be able to start. During my five years it was more than interesting listening to the outside debate surrounding his positioning. I always felt that his best position was going to centre forward initially then using the halfway line as his guide and playing as an extra midfielder coming into the attack as opposed to being there already. The benefits of this were twofold. Firstly, he would be followed by a man marker which would indirectly ensure that there was a two-on-two situation inside. Secondly, the opposite centre forward was often attracted to his area which ensured that a “sitting 6” became an immediate probability.
Austin, once fully fit, can put this team up on his back and light up Thurles. A tremendously giving and kindhearted young man, he now needs to channel his frustration and anger at an injury-ravaged season with a controlled savagery. When he balances the anger and the want, he is unplayable.
- Fitzgerald from the start
The way Patrick Fitzgerald has adapted to the senior intercounty scene has surprised nobody in De La Salle College. Performances in the various White Cup, Dean Ryan and Harty matches as well as his underage and now senior outings with Ballygunner, have signposted his rise from a long way out. If he gets the expected start he may lock horns with a formidable foe in Adam Hogan who has been detailed as his shadow at U20 level and twice last year with Tulla. It’s been honours even thus far. In three years’ time, Fitzgerald will play at 11 for Waterford, will be our free taker and our best player. The future however is now, and this young man has the temperament to deal with anything that’s thrown his way.
- Na Dalaigh (The Dalys)
Davy all but confirmed that Iarlaith Daly will be available to start. He is a class defender, remembered for a brilliant performances as an early substitute for the stricken Tadgh de Búrca in the All-Ireland of 2020 and for his man-marking job on Aaron Gillane in last year’s Munster Championship before he himself was ravaged with injury. Crucially, he is adaptable and has a brilliant ability to give the perfectly weighted pass and dictate the play. He is the closest we have to the type of security that Tadgh normally provides.
Early promise shown by his younger brother Carthach dissipated somewhat as last year progressed. However, his pace, fight and doggedness and ‘No Surrender’ approach may see him selected. Playing the Dalys will provide Waterford with both a smarter and a harder edge.
- Use the anger
This group of Waterford players are extremely proud men. With nothing but the team at the heart of their thinking, there is more than a sting coming. Sometimes it’s better to strip it back and listen to the pundits call you “absolutely hopeless, abysmal, atrocious, clueless, brutal, Junior B”. It will have hurt and should ignite a ferocious approach. All will argue, perhaps justifiably, that were “only calling it as we see it" and psychologists will consistently argue that an approach based on hurt, disappointment and anger is not sustainable. For me, as a one off, that’s what the boys need now.
Interestingly, Cork and Tipperary’s draw suddenly summoned a change of heart from hitherto critical voices. The change to “it’s after opening up for Waterford and the Déise were the big winners last week” reminded me of Harry Truman’s famous musings about Richard Nixon as “one of the few in the history of this country to run for high office talking out of both sides of his mouth”.
- Davy: Let it go, be yourself
Davy’s comments that Clare’s management were “four years into the process and have won nothing” allied to the negativity directed his way after five months, suggests this game sees him on a war footing.
Those that know him better have pointed to a more mellow, introspective and thoughtful Davy this time round, but perhaps the time has come, not for unnecessary histrionics or animation, but for his passion to present itself. I think this group of players will benefit from “seeing” Davy go all-in on match day.
I have watched him closely in previous encounters against Clare and there is no doubt he has not been himself. From a hurling perspective, the oft-used accusation that Waterford need to “throw off the shackles, take the handbrake off” may hold little or no substance inside the walls of a dressing room, but it may well be the case that on a personal level Davy needs to really go for this himself. Expect a passionate, pumped-up Davy, an angry Waterford and a result that will make May 28th in Thurles an even bigger day than tomorrow.
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Sun fuckin Tzu
The last refuge of the spoofer.
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Is he really that insecure of his intelligence he has to quote Sun Tzu?
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Liam Toland writing on rugby in the Irish Times was another great man to quote Sun Tzu and the Art of War. In Liam’s case I suspect it was drilled in to him in Cadet School in the Curragh.
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Derek loves the phrase “perceived dominance”