Waterford Minor team to play Kilkenny

The following is the Waterford Minor Hurling team to play Kilkenny on Saturday night next.

1.  Shane Forristal  Mount Sion

2.  Jamie Barron     Fourmilewater

3.  Damien Ahern    Ferrybank

4.  Colin Walsh       St Olivers

5.  Ian Kenny          Ballygunner

6.  Darren Foley      Clashmore/Kinsalbeg

7.  Jim Power          Butlerstown

8.  Shane McNulty   De La Salle

9.  Ray Barry           St Carthages

10.Jake Dillon          De La Salle

11 Gavin O'Brien      Roanmore (capt)

12 Donie Breathnach An Rinn

13. Peter O'Keefe     St Carthages

14. Stephen Bennett St Carthages

15. Cathal Curran      Dungarvan

Hope for Deise in Galway's Quarter Record

Galway in the Quarter-Finals

Over the years, many fancied Galway hurling teams have crashed out of the championship at the quarter-final stage. Here we take a look at some of their most disappointing losses at this stage of the Championship

2010

Tipperary 3-17 Galway 3-16

It took a late winner from hurler of the year, Lar Corbett to seal a narrow victory for Tipperary in a game that until the incredible final was billed as the game of the year. Galway stayed with the eventual All-Ireland champions for most of the game and with Eanna Ryan, Damien Hayes and Joe Canning all scoring goals, they led by two points with time almost up. However, Tipperary came with a late rally and points from John O’Brien, Gearoid Ryan and Corbett’s late effort were enough to put Tipperary through to a semi-final against Munster champions, Waterford.

2009

Waterford 1-16 Galway 0-18

At this stage two years ago, a late winner from John Mullane sent Waterford through to a rematch of the 2008 All-Ireland final with Kilkenny. Once again, Galway could be accused of collapsing on the big stage having lead by six points with only 13 minutes remaining. However, Waterford manager, Davy Fitzgerald brought Dan and Maurice Shanahan and Shane Walsh off the bench. With the game in the melting pot with two minutes remaining, big Dan claimed a long ball, off-loaded to Shane Walsh whose goal brought Waterford right back into the game. In injury time, Mullane scored a winner after being set up by Declan Prendergast. There was still time for Galway to draw level but Joe Canning’s late effort went wide.

2007

Kilkenny 3-22 Galway 1-18

Galway put up a spirited display against a Kilkenny team that was at their peak, before eventually losing by ten points. With ten minutes remaining, a point from Fergal Healy brought Galway level with the Cats but in the remaining ten minutes, Galway fell asunder and Kilkenny wrapped up the game. Galway were very much the architects of their own downfall. Eddie Brennan was left unmarked to score Kilkenny’s second goal and as Galway chased the game in the closing stages, they were hit on the counter-attack and Brennan’s second goal of the game wrapped up a comfortable Kilkenny victory. This game also marked the final appearances in the Galway colours of Eugene Cloonan and Kevin Broderick.

2006

Kilkenny 2-22 Galway 3-14

Galway looked a pale shadow of the team that had ambushed Kilkenny in the semi-final of 2005 and were beaten by 14 man Kilkenny. Galway were left to rue the concession of a soft goal when a James ‘Cha’ Fitzpatrick free was dropped into the net by Liam Donoghue, gifting the Cats an early goal. Kilkenny had a strangle-hold on the game by half-time with Aidan Fogarty’s goal helping them into a 2-3 to 0-6 lead. Galway did rally somewhat in the second half and although they did score goals through Niall Healy and substitutes David Tierney and Eugene Cloonan, it was too little too late and Kilkenny marched on eventually preventing Cork from winning the All-Ireland title for the third year in a row.

2002

Clare 1-15 Galway 0-17

Although they came into the game as favourites, Galway went under to near neighbours, Clare in a tight and tense All-Ireland quarter-final. The feeling in Galway was that they had played the better hurling in the game but they still exited the championship. Galway led for much of the game but Clare came back into it when Niall Gilligan goaled from a 21 yard free. Clare led as the game neared its conclusion but a point from Ger Farragher brought Galway back on level terms. In a frantic finish, Colin Lynch shot a late winner for Clare although Galway followers felt that referee, Willie Barrett blew the final whistle rather promptly after Lynch’s point and that they should have been given another minute or two to force a draw.

1999

Clare 3-15 Galway 2-18

(Replay) Clare 3-18 Galway 2-14

Galway fell to close rivals Clare at the second time of asking after failing to put them away on the first day when even a mammoth effort from Ollie Fahy who finished with a personal tally of 2-2 failed to seal a win for the tribesmen. However as so often happened to Clare under Ger Loughnane, they blew away the opposition in the replay when two goals from Niall Gilligan sent Clare on their way to a semi-final clash with Cork. The replay signalled the arrival on to the national stage of a certain Eugene Cloonan whose tally of 1-10 sent a message to the hurling world. How his talent was prevented from reaching its potential is one of the main questions surrounding the Galway hurling team of the last decade.

1998

Waterford 1-20 Galway 1-10

Waterford came into this All-Ireland quarter-final on the back of a thirteen point beating by Clare in an infamous Munster final replay a week previously. Galway were expected to end the Waterford dream but it was the Deise who prevailed. Inspired by a magnificent performance from the soon to be hurler of the year, Tony Browne at midfield, Waterford proved far too slick for a Galway side who once again flattered to deceive on the big stage. Once the returning Sean Daly goaled for Waterford, they never looked in any danger and Galway again limped disappointingly out of the championship.

1997

Kilkenny 4-15 Galway 3-16

This game will be remembered as one of the best games of the last 15 years and is certainly a game that Galway will feel that got away from them. Galway were tantalising in the first half and although two of the goals they scored in the first half, should have been kept out by Kilkenny goalkeeper, Adrian Ronan, the tribesmen deserved their nine point half-time lead. However, the game changed dramatically in the second-half as a certain DJ Carey took centre-stage. Carey finished with a tally of 2-8, almost single-handedly dragging Kilkenny into the semi-final. Kilkenny hit Galway for 1-5 without reply at the beginning of the second half and then a goal from substitute, Ken O’Shea proved enough to put Kilkenny through to a semi-final clash with eventual champions, Clare. 

  

Waterford Senior team to play Limerick

Waterford Senior Hurling team to play Limerick on Sunday

1.       Clinton Hennessy (Ardmore)

2.       Darragh Fives (Tourin)

3.       Wayne Hutchinson (Ballygunner)

4.       Noel Connors (Passage)

5.       Tony Browne (Mount Sion)

6.       Michael Walsh (Stradbally)

7.       Kevin Moran (De La Salle)

8.       Shane O’Sullivan (Ballygunner)

9.       Richie Foley (Abbeyside)

10.   Maurice Shanahan (Lismore

11.   Stephen Molumphy (Ballyduff Upper)

12.   Pauric Mahony (Ballygunner)

13.   John Mullane (De La Salle)

14.   Shane Walsh (Fourmilewater)

15.   Brian O’Sullivan (Ballygunner)

An interesting selection in many ways! There is a broad selection of clubs represented. The traditional powerhouse of Waterford hurling, Mount Sion have only one representative on the team while Ballygunner have four. Even at that, the word on the street seems to indicate that David O’Sullivan was very unlucky to lose out to the ageless Tony Browne for the number five jersey. The big talking point will be the omission of Eoin Kelly but his form when played during the league and in the club championships would indicate that he just did not have enough done. He is a very useful sub to bring on, and it is a long year yet.

There is no shortage of scoring forwards there either, and we can expect Shane O’Sullivan to switch with Stephen Molumphy either before the ball is thrown in or at some stage of the game.

The Limerick team has also been named;

1. Nicky Quaid
2. Damien Reale
3. Seamus Hickey
4. Tom Condon
5. Wayne McNamara
6. Brian Geary
7. Gavin O’Mahoney
8. Donal O’Grady
9. Paul Browne
10. James Ryan
11. Richie McCarthy
12. Niall Moran
13. Sean Tobin
14. Kevin Downes
15. Graeme Mulcahy

Waterford Intermediate team to play Limerick

Waterford Intermediate team to play Limerick on Sunday

1.Stephen O'Keeffe - Ballygunner
2. Barry Coughlan - Ballygunner
3. Ian Flynn - De La Salle
4. Mark O'Brien - Tallow
5. Brian Phelan - De La Salle - Captain
6. Chris Ryan - Mt Sion
7. Seamus Hannon - Ballyduff Upper
8. Eddie Barrett - De La Salle
9. Dean Twomey - De La Salle
10. Paudie Nevin - De La Salle
11. Stephen Power - Ballygunner
12. Paul Power - Portlaw
13. Adam Brophy - St. Saviours
14. Thomas Connors - Passage
15. Chris O'Gorman – Lismore

I have to say I think that this is a very strong team. I think the county board deserve a pat on the back on having the foresight to elect a selector from each of the county finalists (Mick Mahony – Ballygunner and Seamus Quirke – De La Salle) plus one from the West (Eddie Cunningham). The Intermediate team has been held back in recent years due to players not making themselves available and it seems that players seem to be willing to turn up for selectors that they know personally.

I know preparations haven’t been ideal, but who knows, a good performance here should set them up for another appearance in a Munster final, where they will meet the winners of Cork V Clare.

Timmy O'Keeffe wants changes to Football Championship

I see Timmy O’Keeffe has called for a radical change to the All-Ireland football championship in the wake of Waterford’s embarrassing 17-point defeat to Cork in the Munster semi-final last weekend. O’Keeffe has called for the football championship to be altered in such a way as to compare with the All-Ireland hurling championship whereby only a limited number of team compete for the Liam McCarthy Cup. O’Keeffe has hinted that the GAA should consider introducing a secondary competition along the lines of Hurling’s Christy Ring or Lory Meagher Cups for the weaker counties. He also went on to say that there would be promotion and relegation from the Sam Maguire competition to this new lower tier competition.

Since O’Keeffe’s comments appeared in today’s edition of the Irish Independent, Internet web forums have been awash with comment about this issue, with a mixture of comments both in favour and against O’Keeffe’s proposal.

One aspect of O’Keeffe’s idea which makes perfect, logical sense is where he states that this is the only GAA competition where the strongest teams and the weakest teams can meet each other. He points to the club championship where Junior teams and Senior teams do not play against each other, so why should All-Ireland champions like Cork play against relatively weak teams like Waterford.

There is probably a lot of merit in O’Keeffe’s idea but the GAA must be extremely cautious when attempting to introduce a secondary competition for weaker counties. When the Tommy Murphy Cup was introduced some years ago, there was not a lot of interest in it from the weaker counties, even though there was a Croke Park final up for grabs. However, the fact that the winner of this new competition would be promoted should arouse interest in all those counties who are eligible to participate.

Although I have gone on record to say that I am not in favour of the seeded draw in the Munster championship, I also tend to agree with Timmy’s idea here. As for the seeded draw argument – if teams are in the same championship, we should not attempt to say who is weaker and who is stronger. After all, the task of finding out the strongest team in a competition should be done between the white lines and not in a Munster Council boardroom.

If Waterford are not to compete in the All-Ireland series, then it would probably be a good idea if they were to play in a competition against teams of their own calibre. Perhaps, the GAA could call it the All-Ireland Intermediate championship with the winners getting promoted to play in the All-Ireland senior championship the following year.

Of course, there would be several stumbling blocks to bring through such a major revamp of the football championship. At congress, most counties are represented by a conservative bunch who will vote for the status quo, no matter what. Any change such as this would require a two-thirds majority and in the past, this has sounded the death-knell of many a good idea.

Another major hurdle to changing the current format of the Championship, would be what would come of the Provincial championship. Again, there are oodles of traditionalists in every county, who would rather cut off their right arm than get rid of the provincial Championships even if there would be a tangible benefit to the future of the game.

Waterford - Player Ratings v Wexford

Stephen O’Keeffe – 8 Another good performance from the teenager and another memorable save to deny Rory Jacob as well. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this lad could go on to become one of the all-time greats.

Darragh Fives – 8 This lad seems to get better and better with every game. He started off the year hoping to get a run in the Waterford Crystal Cup but at this stage he is in possession of the jersey and it is getting difficult to see who can take it off him.

Shane Fives – 8 For the second week in a row, he looked very comfortable at the edge of the square. Near the end when we were under pressure, he came out with a lot of ball and used it very well. It is early days but, he looks promising.

Noel Connors – 6 He was in big trouble on Rory Jacob in the first half and the Wexford man could have had 1-2 bagged by half-time. He did settle down in the second half and looked more like the All-star that he is.

Wayne Hutchinson – 9 A very impressive full debut from the Ballygunner man. He looked comfortable under the high ball, won a lot of low ball, came out of a few rucks with possession. He was also unlucky not to get a score.

Michael Walsh – 9 Man of the match for the second week in a row. He seemed to be targeted for some special treatment by the Wexford attack but he stood up to it well. Made one spectacular catch in the first half before being decked by a Wexford forward!

Jamie Nagle – 8 This was looking like a typical neat and tidy Nagle appearance until the last 15 minutes when he was the best player on the pitch. He had a succession of Wexford attackers in his pocket and almost grabbed a trademark long-range point.

Shane O’Sullivan – 7 He is rapidly becoming one of the key players on this Waterford team and one of its unsung heroes. He gets through a massive amount of work and takes a multitude of belts over the course of a game.

Philip Mahony – 7 He almost gets through as much work as his uncle beside him. He looked a little too keen at time yesterday, and gave away a couple of frees as a result. It could be argued that he would be more at home in the half-back line but he could well win a jersey in this position.

Shane Casey – 6 Shane tried hard throughout but besides his effort that led to Prendergast’s goal he never looked like scoring. He has looked sharper than in other years but needs to get on the scoresheet more in order to get a regular place in the team.

Richie Foley – 6 This was without a doubt Richie’s worst display of the year, coming on the back if his best display ever against Dublin. He missed two easy frees, failed to score anything from a 21 yard free and a penalty. To his credit, he didn’t hide and was still showing for the ball deep in stoppage time.

Pauric Mahony – 8 This lad has an old head on young shoulders. He has a hurling brain that defies his tender years. He scored an excellent point and got a scolding form his manager when he offloaded to Shane O’Sullivan when his own score was there for the taking. It says a lot about the trust Davy has in him that he finished the game in the key position of centre-forward.

Tomás Ryan – 7 This was a much better showing than his display against Dublin a week ago. He showed better for the ball, scored two points and was unlucky not to get a goal or two when the ball just failed to run for him. If he starts to win his own ball, he will be very dangerous.

Seamus Prendergast – 7 A mixed bag again from the Ardmore man. There was a ton of ball sent in to him and he probably won less than half of it. From the ball that he did win, he caused havoc as there is only one way of stopping him – illegally.

Stephen Molumphy – 5 This was probably the worst display yet in a Waterford jersey from the captain. However, he is not a corner-forward and never will be. He needs to be brought out the field quickly before his morale is damaged.

Subs:

Maurice Shanahan – 8 The introduction of Shanahan proved to be the winning of the game for Waterford. He notched three points after his arrival and took over the free-taking duties to good effect. He is sure to start next week and let’s hope this is the beginning of a good run of form for the Lismore man.

Shane Walsh and Stephen Power – Not on long enough to be rated.  

De La Salle - Player Ratings V Clarinbridge

Steven Brenner – 6 He possibly could have stopped Mark Kerins penalty as it was at an ideal height for a goalkeeper. He had no chance with any of the other two goals and his puck-out was long and accurate throughout.

Darren Russell – 7 Another good game from Russell who has had to change his style slightly after playing most of his career to date out the field. He has adapted well to playing at corner-back and uses his pace and hurling ability to full effect.

Ian Flynn – 6 He struggled to deal with the mobility of Alan Kerins in the opening stages and would have been relieved to see him moved out the field. He coped a lot better with Mark Kerins when he came in on him and cleared a lot of balls in general play

Michael Doherty – 8 De La Salle are in the luxurious position of being able to play Doherty in his best position of corner-back. He didn’t give Paul Coen a sniff for long periods and was probably out on his feet with tiredness when Coen got his two late points.

Brian Phelan – 7 He was a lot quieter than on other days but he really came into the game when it really mattered. He has a remarkable ability to do the right thing all the time, hitting it long when needed and off-loading hand-passes to Moran on occasion. He kept his head to score the point which forced extra-time.

Kevin Moran – 9 Once again Moran was immense. Since moving to centre-back in August, he has got better and better with every game. It will be interesting to see if Davy Fitzgerald sees him as a runner at centre-back. In my opinion, it’s worth a shot. Strong in the air, a brilliant point and wreaks havoc when he drives forward. Man of the Match.

Stephen Daniels – 8 Once again, Daniels did his bit for the cause. He has a fantastic ability under the dropping ball and almost always gets a good clearance in. He is bound to get a run with the county team in the remainder of the league and after that, it’s up to himself.

Conan Watt – 5 He was struggling with a back injury in the days leading up to the game and never really got going. He tried hard and battled all day but he simply wasn’t fit enough to make an impact.

Dean Twomey – 8 He did his burgeoning reputation no harm at all with another good display at midfield. He showed his ability to pick off scores from out the field but needs to stop drifting out of games. Sources tell me he may get a run on the county team which may do his confidence the world of good.

Paudie Nevin – 6 It wasn’t his best game and he only managed a point from play over the course of the game. He was up against a very good player in Micheal Donoghue and never got the opportunity to run at the Clarinbridge defence.

David Greene – 6 He battled hard over the game but didn’t get a lot of freedom off David Forde who was immense at centre-back for Clarinbridge.

John Mullane – 8 Once again, the De La Salle talisman stood up to the plate. Five points from play is more than pulling your weight and he was the go-to man yet again. He will be haunted by the missed free in the first half which proved critical.

Jake Dillon – 8 This guy is going to be a star. He was absolutely brilliant yesterday, grabbing three super points from play. The thing I like most about him is his ability to win his own ball which is a rarity amongst forwards but so important nonetheless

Eddie Barrett – 6 Barrett failed to make an impact throughout bar a superb early pass which picked out Mullane for his first score of the game. He looked very promising at underage level and needs to impose himself on games and take more responsibility.

John Keane – 7 Keane has been a useful acquisition for De La Salle as he has a great ability to pick off a score. He may not seem to be in the game for long stages but he only needs a sighting of the posts and the ball is over.

Subs:

Eoin Madigan – 9 Another excellent performance off the bench from Madigan and one may well wonder what might have been if he had been started. He is a huge man who can win ball but he complements that with a graceful touch as epitomised by his score-taking.

Lee Hayes – 7 He wasn’t on long enough to make much of an impression but he did score an excellent point which looked as if it had won the game for De La Salle