Archive for the ‘GAA Hurling’ Category
Curtain Closes on Season to Forget
Munster Senior Hurling Championship
Waterford 1-20
Cork 1-23
Brian Flannery at Semple Stadium
Waterford’s miserable senior hurling season drew to a close with a three-point defeat to Munster Final- bound Cork at Semple Stadium on Sunday last.
Of course, Waterford’s fate in this year’s Championship was already sealed with earlier defeats to Limerick and Clare, with nothing but pride [...]
Pride Despite the Fall
Eighty minutes after Sunday’s final whistle, Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh was still in his match fatigues, stood on the sideline, signing hurleys, shaking hands and posing for photographs. His record breaking 74th Championship appearance may have ended in defeat, but whatever disappointment the Stradbally clubman was feeling was completely and utterly concealed. The consummate professional in [...]
Early Exit Cannot Conceal Success of New Format
Brian Flannery Reports
First things first and despite Waterford’s early Hurling Championship exit it’s fair to say that the new format in both Munster and Leinster has been, in overall terms, a massive success.
The quality of the games, the level of competition and the sheer drama of it all has had us all on the edge [...]
Blown Away
Waterford Bow Out of Championship Following Heavy Defeat to Limerick
Criticism and praise are the equivalent of the short distance between a pat on the back and a kick in the posterior.
Legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, whose philosophy has dropped into the narrative of this newspaper’s coverage of the Derek McGrath era, left behind a [...]
McGrath Insists “We Must Move On”
Derek McGrath wore the look of a man who’d made every hook, block, shot and save in the 76 minutes of breathless hurling that had concluded only minutes earlier.
A best Championship display against Tipperary in a decade failed to yield that elusive summer win over the Premier, as Waterford saw a 12-point lead evaporate in [...]
Ecstasy & Agony
Controversial goal denies Waterford a massive win
Full-time at Waterford’s adopted home ground beneath Gallows Hill. The atmosphere is as hot as the June air and an outbreak of anarchy reigns, admittedly for no more than a few seconds, as match stewards dash to circle referee Alan Kelly akin to angsty US Secret Service [...]
Pride for McGrath in Defeat
By the time Paud O’Dwyer sounded his full-time whistle, just five of the Waterford team that played in last September’s All-Ireland Final were left in active service at Cusack Park. Had Derek McGrath engineered a win in such circumstances, it might well have represented the greatest result of his term as Deise manager.
“It’s one of [...]
No Home Comfort for Deise
Brian Flannery Reports
My, oh my, that was a difficult opening start to the Munster Championship for Waterford. Losing Austin Gleeson and Pauric Mahony to injury before we even started and then to see Tadhg de Burca, Noel Connors, Darragh Fives and Barry Coughlan all fall in battle you couldn’t but have sympathy to all involved.
But [...]
Deise Set for Longest Road
Munster Senior Hurling Championship
(Clare v Waterford, Cusack Park, Sunday, 3.30pm)
My eyebrows adjusted into Roger Moore-like territory when Derek McGrath made the following claim roughly halfway through our interview at the Granville Hotel on Friday morning last. “At the end of the day, you’re judged by what you do on the field with the players, [...]
Debatable Call Helps Dunhill Over the Line
Eastern Intermediate Hurling Championship
Dunhill 2-17
Ballyduff 0-22
A superlative display by Dunhill’s Shane Casey, in addition to a contentiously awarded 22nd minute Darryl Swift point, ultimately proved the difference between these neighbours at a sun-kissed Kill on Saturday evening last.
On a thickly sodded pitch, Dunhill and Ballyduff produced a terrific hour’s hurling, a game whose competitiveness [...]