Kilkenny Vs Waterford

[thejuice]

Strange that the Div 2 football is getting more talk than this. cant wait for this game. Hopefully the Deice give the Cats a beating. Should be a great game, although on the form of the Cats i dont see them losing, even with out Sheff

but heres hoping.........

[Bacon]

Waterford need to win this more than Kilkenny. A win for them will set them up nicely for the championship and show they can take the Cats in a big game. I hope to hell they do it.

[dodo]

Funny one this. Waterford have won the national league only once (1963 when they beat a strong New York team in the final). To win a national title would be a great boost for them approaching the championship. The Munster title would be considered a more prestigious achievement but having won it twice in recent seasons (2002 and 2004) and still not having performed to their limits at national level, a NHL win could be the making of them. Having De Le Salle win the colleges hurling title last weekend when beating Kilkenny CBS is no harm to them either and also massively encouraging for the future.

Kilkenny have won 13 NHL titles, a little surprising really when you consider they have won the Liam McCarthy on 29 occasions. They have a huge range of options in team selection. It is frightening really how seamlessly they can retire players and find others to fill their position. Take for example Peter Barry, he was being touted as the unsung hero in many of their victories and then heaped with praise for a few years. He retires and straight away John Tennyson takes over, possibly to hold the no. 6 jersey for the next 8/9 years. Having such resources guarantees them to be constantly in the reckonig, this along with a ruthlessly competitive manager like Brian Cody in charge keeps everybody on their toes.

Kilkenny will have to start as favourites but Waterford are in with a great shout. The Blaas are a big physically imposing team and if it is a tight game, as I predict, they could do it. It would be great after Donegal being NFL champions last week for the first time that the Decies could shake up the hurling status quo and claim a second NHL for themselves, and leave us all looking forward to the championship ahead with great hope for the GAAboard's favourite hurling county.

[Roashter]

Looking forward to this one alright,
Waterford are about 2/1 which is definitely worth a small flutter. A win for the them will really set them up for the cork/clare game. It'll be interesting to see how the Cats do, Galway & Wexford nevere really put it up to them and Waterford will be a far bigger challenge

[thejuice]

just read shefflin has been named in the kilkenny team,

[tayto]

Strange that the Div 2 football is getting more talk than this. cant wait for this game. Hopefully the Deice give the Cats a beating. Should be a great game, although on the form of the Cats i dont see them losing, even with out Sheff

but heres hoping.........

This is a football site really.

hope the deise can do it but it's really more hope then expectation.

[Armagh4SamAgain]

Looking forward to this one alright,
Waterford are about 2/1 which is definitely worth a small flutter. A win for the them will really set them up for the cork/clare game. It'll be interesting to see how the Cats do, Galway & Wexford nevere really put it up to them and Waterford will be a far bigger challenge

I put £3 on Waterford to win at 2/1 just for a we interest when im watching the match. I always like the underdog anyway & Waterford have some real heros like Ken McGrath & Mullane.

[slow corner back]

Is shefflin definitly starting Juice? I heard he was on the bench although I may well be wrong on this one.

[deiseach]

I think it'll be close - it's usually close when Waterford are playing, we rarely hammer teams and rarely get hammered. But Kilkenny are bound to be up for it (it's a neighbour thing) and they see the League as being more important than the Leinster championship, in contrast to Waterford for whom this would mean less than another Munster title even though we've been there and done that recently.

Kilkenny by four.

Edit: and before anyone says I am being blasé about the League, I'd love to win the League. I've had the oul' noggin fried on AFR with the memory of how we lost to Kildare and Roscommon back in 1985 on our way to Division Three. So it would be GREAT to crawl all the way back to the top twenty-two years on. But a smidgin less effort from a Justin McCarthy-led side versus a Kilkenny team putting a smidgin more effort in than they normally might for the League equals a two smidgins swing in favour of the Cats.

[Bord na Mona man]

A win for Waterford would really set them up for an all Ireland tilt.
Kilkenny are the only team that they haven't beaten in a competitive game in recent times and there is still a bit of baggage that needs to be overcome.

However Kilkenny like nothing better than to keep Waterford in check. They would be a bit of dislike that wouldn't necessarily be purely about hurling. The more rural and reticent Kilkenny hurling folk don't really like the more townie Waterford hurling fans.
The simmering rivalry between them would really erupt if Waterford started to beat them regularly.
The matches would be played to the roars of exuberant Waterford fans and the sounds of Kilkenny farmers in their Sunday jumpers gritting their teeth. 

[AZOffaly]

I'm heading over and I expect Waterford to win it, assuming two things.

1) Justin doesn't make lunatic changes for the sake of making changes, just picks his best players in their best positions and lets them get on with it.
2) Waterford are hungrier for this than Kilkenny will be. Waterford strike me as a team that need to be confident, moreso than a lot of the others. Kilkenny and Cork can hang in there and pull out victories playing badly. Waterford usually need to be flying. I think Waterford will want this to set themselves up for a run at the All Ireland.

I am not a fan of Waterford when the red mists descend, but in fairness to them they rarely bitch and whine when they are caught, and Mullane's behaviour a couple of years ago was in direct contrast to other people's handling of a well deserved suspension.

I'm not mad about Justin McCarthy either, but for Mullane, Paul Flynn, Tony Brown and Ken McGrath, as well as the blaa eaters fans, I hope they win tomorrow, and Liam....assuming they don't play Offaly.

[darbyo]

Will be going to the match tomorrow and I think Waterford will do it, though listening to Justin you'd almost think the league final was an inconvenient challenge match.IMO if Waterford don't win tomorrow then it's hard to see them winning the AI they deserve.

[Guillem2]

I've a lot of time for Justin McCarthy. He's alway ready to travell north for a bit of coach etc but I'm surprise to hear him down playing the National League final! Waterford have only won it once before and you can be dam sure Cody isn't down playing the importance of this match. A couple of years ago Waterford played Galway in the NHL final were well beaten; then stuffed Clare the next weekend in Munster. This year Waterford aren't out in MSHC until mid June so there's no reason to take it easy. Maybe Justin's saying something different in private? I don't know.
KIlkenny are hard to beat at the best of times and if there's doubts in the Waterford camp about the importance of this game they won't be up for it when the going gets tough. Kilkenny to win by 3 pts.

[thejuice]

Is shefflin definitly starting Juice? I heard he was on the bench although I may well be wrong on this one.

Kilkenny Squad Announced:
PJ Ryan; N Hickey, B Hogan, JJ Delaney; J Tyrrell, J Tennyson, T Walsh; D Lyng, W O'Dwyer; E Brennan, M Comerford, R Power; H Shefflin (Capt), J Fitzpatrick, A Fogarty.

[Guillem2]

Waterford team: C Hennessy; E Murphy, D Prendergast, J Murray; T Browne, K McGrath, A Kearney; M Walsh, S Molumphy; E Kelly, S Prendergast, S Walsh; J Mullane, D Shanahan, J Kennedy.