Official 2011 All Ireland Hurling Championship Thread

That’s more or less every venue for you.

True dat. When I am with mates, I am with mates.

As a wise woman once said to me: be where you are.

Plus 95% of women are absolute wankers. Would you believe I actually came up with that theory in the aforementioned PBH and indeed cicrulated it in there. I was even less popular with the fairer sex that night.

My positivity about waterford, was more related to the ‘grand scheme of things’. We have a very deep and young panel, and the talent there is immense.

It is very early in the year, but we will be at the business end this year and for years to come. I have seen watetford hurling at every grade over the past 20 years, and we are now in the best position we have ever been.

The average age of the Waterford 15 on Sunday was 24, and that incuded Tony and 30+'s Hennessy and Mullane.

I do agree though that the decision making on the line wasnt as sharp as it could have been, and it is an area of worry, WRT Davys media abilities, I could give a fcuk.

I agree.Year after year lazy journalists ask is there one last sting left in waterford when they have one of the youngest intercounty panels.BUT the players you alluded to above in their thirtys like Mullane and Browne are once in a generation players for Waterford.Ye have a lot of work horses like Molumphy,Foley,o sullivan etc but no real matchwinners coming through or inspirational players that can turn a game in a blink of an eye.But maybe thats down to the way Davy sets up the team.

The point is that because Davy is media friendly he gets a very easy ride and is over rated by them as a coach. You always hear these comments like “Waterford are a different team since Davy took over”. They’re a worse team.

i would disagree strongly with you here sid. when davy took over they were a shambles, notwithstanding the fact that they got to an all ireland semi final year before under justin. That year they peaked as a team, and were a shadow of that team the following year. Their marqee players like ken mcgrath, seamus prendergast and dan shanahan in particular where shadows of the players they were in 2007.

Davy Fitz, in my opinion has improved waterford each year he has being in charge. In fact he has totally dismantled the team he took over and the team he has now is his team and this is the team we should be judging him on.

noel o’connor is easily won of the best cornerbacks in the game at present. Foley, Fives and O’Mahony are serious young hurlers and may turn out to be the exact type of players you refer to.

Add Brian O’Halloran to that list, he will be a fine hurler in a couple of seasons time when he fills out

dp

agreed chewy, forgot about him.

I would argue that players coming through are going to be just as ‘marquee’ as Mullane, browne and Flynn. Brian O sullivan, darragh fives and jake dillon to follow are potentially as good as there predecessors in the same positions. Maurice is a better hurler than Dan, eamon Murphy, Shane Fives, Paudie Mahony, Brian O’Halloran, are all potentially top class players.

To say we are not better now than pre-Davy is just plain wrong. Justin allowed the team to stagnate in his last two seasons, we have rebuilt and are now on a stronger position than when Justin left.

Davy does have his faults, but he is a super coach, and the team are stronger, and fitter than ever before. The structures around the setup are very sound, and as a Waterford supporter I couldnt be happier…

agree strongly with all that

You can have Fives and Mahony but Maurice Shanahan is the most overrated young hurler in the country.

[quote=“HangBlaa, post: 591801”]
Maurice is a better hurler than Dan, [/quote]
big, big statement

Not really. Sure Dan only really hurled for one season.

I’m sorry but he just doesn’t convince me. Waterford may be fit under him and have structures in place etc but then so did the Loins under Sir Clive. Waterford have looked devoid of ideas in the majority of championship games they’ve played under Fitzgerald and it’s generally been the individual brilliance of Kelly, Mullane or Walsh that has got them through. Again if you take 2009 they were utterly dire against Limerick. They only kept in any sort of touch against Tipp due to Mullane and were outplayed against Galway for all but the last five minutes when Shanahan and Mullane somehow got them an undeserved victory. They were beaten much more comprehensively than the scoreline suggests against Kilkenny when again onlly the individual brilliance of Eoin Kelly, not to mention a lucky goal late on kept things respectable.

In 2010 they were effectively handed a Munster title once Tipp decided not to show up against Cork but they make bloody hard work of it. Realistically Waterford should have been beating both Clare and Cork out the gate last year but couldn’t do it. Cork were a shambles in the replay yet it was still level at half time in extra time if I remember right. All the talk here last year was that Waterford would have a great chance of beating Tipp because Davy would get them to keep it tight. Waterford never contended from about 10 minutes in.

Bringing through the youngsters that are clearly there in Waterford is the minimum you expect.

There are certainly worse managers out there than Davy but he’s clearly overrated.

[quote=“sid waddell, post: 591806”]
. Again if you take 2009 they were utterly dire against Limerick.[/quote]

the first day, they were excellent the second day and ran out convincing winner playing some fine hurling in the process but that doesn’t seem to suit your arguement seeing as you seem to have completely glossed over it. They completely outhurled Clare in the second half of last years match after trailing by 6 midway through the first half and played some decent hurling that day too

He was absolute class between '04 and '07 and while he went downhill after that still played vital cameo roles for Waterford in the '08.'09 and '10 seasons.

I was at Slane so I didn’t see that match. Look at the majority of Waterford’s championship games under him. He is weak tactically.

yet only Tipp and Kilkenny- who have far superior players to Waterford- are the only sides to have beaten them in his three and a half seasons in charge, in which they have played all the top tier counties in championship hurling apart from Dublin.