Sorry, Iād forgotten that Justinās brand of swashbuckling, off the cuff hurling with an emphasis on individual flair had gone down like a lead balloon with the more systems based, laptop orientated Limericks and any praise was likely to cause offence.
More silliness. We saw how far Justin dragged limerick back when he went there. Itās reasonable to assume that by the end of his time he massively holding back an incredible set of set of players in Waterford.
How many games did he win as a coach?
Justin was a great coach and coached great attacking hurling. Limerickās current 18 onwards set of forwards are as good as what Waterford had in the noughties talent wise, but clear them easily in terms of mentality and physicality.
See if they improve drastically next year under someone else, I donāt see it.
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They werenāt going to drastically improve with Queally in charge next year.
He won 1 game out of 8 in Robin Robin, the very first of those 8 against Clare last year. Won 2 out of 6 in Division 1A of the league this year which ensured relegation.
Has the dubious distinction as well from Division 1B last year of presiding over a first ever Waterford loss to Carlow.
Wins were very thin on the ground, league or championship
I thought he recognised they were carrying the ball into trouble too often in big games and tried to make them a bit more direct drawing a bit on what Pat Ryan did with Cork.
I get you feel they should be given the opportunity to improve under someone else.
He was very dour and uninspiring. They were slightly better this year and have had no luck but ultimately there wasnāt a whole pile to point to for keeping him on.
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Fair enough, I wouldnāt necessarily subscribe to the view he has holding them back though. Weāll see next year. Theyāll need the likes of Spain and those guys to come through quickly as the reality, to me, is that theyāve 8 or 9 players of the real standard needed.
The results against Clare and Tipperary sunk him. Both Clare and Tipperary in 2026 are useless. Waterford performed very credibly against the so called current Big Two of Cork and Limerick, pushing both nearly all the way. Clare and Tipperary were both beaten out the gate against both Cork and Limerick.
A manager worth his salt would surely have coaxed the requisite results out of those Clare and Tipperary games. Instead Waterford lost and drew in the games that mattered.
Sometimes it just does come down to results, particularly as you have highlighted if the style is so awful and itās all just very sour and uninspiring.
Do you think the personnel are there for drastic improvement? If ye could have everyone fit at once I think thereās a good team there, I think theyāre a better group than Tipp but behind limerick cork and clare. But yeāve been way short of having a full hand this year and yet were improved and competitive. Thought Queally had brought ye on enough to deserve another year and see what he could do if he could get everyone fit.
Youād have to wonder what sort of training and strength and conditioning work is going on when Waterford seem to have this permanent casualty ward of absentees. Injuries are a given in this microwave championship mini-blitz formula but the Waterford seems to be just permanently off the scale.
I wouldnāt say Queally was a disaster or did a terrible job but if a delegation of senior players go into a weak as piss County Board for an end of season whinge, only going to end one way.
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He may not have been a genius but he had them performing very admirably this year with one hand tied behind his back effectively between the injuries and the fact half his panel only came back into fold in early March after club commitments.
The reality is with the way the split season is structured and the bulk of the Inter County Season being run off in a blitz like fashion from February to May, Waterford are at a huge disadvantage when Ballygunner keep going so deep in the Club Championship. The hard work/preparation at a physical and tactical level is really front loaded now at Intercounty pre Christmas and early January so thereās not much time for Waterford to play catch up when their Ballygunner contingent eventually come back battered and bruised most years.
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Maybe if the county board come back and put someone really good in place with a good support team itāll be worth it, but ye havenāt the best record of appointments over the last while.
From the rumours Iād hear Derekās loyalty could to be to the large sums Doon are forking out for him.
Whoāll do a better job,especially when ye seem to have key players injured/ not fully fit every year?
Also waterford are just short of the high end quality of cork Limerick and clare.
Not sure what much more queally could have done.
Can you explain? Thatās their first team squad for the championship, I presume. Whatās their second team squad? And whatās the relevance of the 5 names moving to junior?