Who will the Waterford players blame for this.

[Bud Wiser]

At the risk of nitpicking, Eddie Brennan had a few words of encouragment for Eoin Murphy after he put him out over the endline

Heffo, what did he say, was he slagging him?  Was it not Murphy that was hopping off Eddie before the game started? I was close enough but I was in the Hogan at the end of the line and I had Michael O'Muircheartaig plugged into my two ears so I coulkd not hear.  Go on, tell us what he said for the craic.

[Louth Exile]

Daithi Regan didn't spare the boot on the Waterford players and wee Davy on the last word programme tonight (Newstalk 106)

[Shamrock Shore]

Jazes. I heard Daithi repeated on 'Off the Ball'. Not too many Christmas cards with Waterford or Clare postmarks will land on his doorstep.

Said Davy was just interested in his media profile and that some Waterford players felt Justin McCarthy didn't give them the 'star' treatment that they felt they deserved

[slow corner back]

The Waterford performance yesterday, or lack of it, reminded me greatly of Antrims non appearance in the 1989 final. Antrim at the time were a strong experienced team who had gone close in a number of semi finals before finally making a  breakthrough. They were up against a better team in the final but still believed genuinly they had a punchers chance. On the day however anything that could go wrong did go wrong. Reliable free taker missing scores, a top class goalie throwing one in the net missing a penalty just truly dreadful stuff. A few weeks later I was talking to a clubmate of mine who played in the match. He was the most laid back nerveless player I ever met, nothing fazed him. He was well used to croke park and big games by that stage of his career and said he felt fine all day leading up to the match, got changed no probs no nerves, ran down the tunnel and the wall of noise hit him and his legs went to jelly.
It is hard for people from KK or Cork to appreciate but the all ireland final is way bigger and way different from quarters or semi finals. The clamour for tickets the press intrest all the hype is way beyond anything any of the aterford players will have ever dealt with before. The weight of history was huge for waterford yesterday and they choked. It did not help that KK were right on top of their game, no team would have got within 10 points of them yesterday but at least Cork would have been competitive for maybe 40-50 minutes. As for Waterford they may bounce back like Offally in 1984 or they may go the way of antrim and have to wait another 20+ years for a return to an all ireland.

[Gnevin]

In fairness while this Waterford team took one more step this year, i believe lasts year team was better , more creative , dynamic and had a stronger mentality

[INDIANA]

thats it in a nutshell gnevin. one thing that struck me today is how out of form many of the waterford players are and they still got to the final. But who did they beat to get there?
antrim?
wexford
offaly
a tipp team playing crap.

in retrospect they never had a chance and people simply got carried away with the hype. Justin Mc Carthy has plenty of faults as a coach but he's a decent individual at heart. His book is the best GAA book ever written in my view. Humphries is on the money , the most distasteful thing about the Mc Carthy issue was that the players themselves never looked at the mirror and blamed justin repeatedly for the whole debacle. The hardest mirror to look in is the one that bears your own reflection. They simply were no nowhere near last year's level and the players know that themselves in their heart of hearts. And there isn't any point in blaming mc carthy or fitzgerald for it.

[Minder]

I dont think i have ever seen a player regress as badly as Shanahan from last year to this.

[Louth Exile]

In fairness while this Waterford team took one more step this year, i believe lasts year team was better , more creative , dynamic and had a stronger mentality

On the money, with the one notable exception of John Mullane, who gave his all no matter what manager was over the team and finished th championship with a total of 2-22 from play

[bottlethrower7]

In fairness while this Waterford team took one more step this year, i believe lasts year team was better , more creative , dynamic and had a stronger mentality

I don't think they were stronger mentally. Mental toughness got them through the Tipp game. Last year's team were better hurlers, but as with Waterford teams over the last 5/6 years, I feel they would have imploded that day.

Waterford's inhouse troubles this year came back to bite them in a big way. If Shanahan isn't on form early in the year, hes unlikely to find it during the season. Likewise Prendergast. I think Davy did the best anyone could do with that bunch of players, all things considered. I don't think Justin would have brough them to the final. With Davy it was too little too late. He took a huge risk during both Offaly and Wexford games by not letting up on the intensity in training, affecting their performances, but doing so knowing that if he didn't, they wouldn't have a prayer later in the year.

Perhaps Davy was a little tactically naive in the final, but its only with hindsight that we can say that. Perhaps he could have packed his backs a little more (Galway style), but that would only be damage limitation. I don't think the game plan existed to beat Kilkenny last sunday. People can have a go at Davy all they like, beit Daithi Regan, or Tony Considine, or whoever, and fair enough, he knows to expect that. Neither Daithi or Considine showered themselves in glory during their respective involvements with inter-county teams. Davy achieved more in 10 weeks than either of them.

[orangeman]

I dont think i have ever seen a player regress as badly as Shanahan from last year to this.

Karma ! 

[heffo]

At the risk of nitpicking, Eddie Brennan had a few words of encouragment for Eoin Murphy after he put him out over the endline

Heffo, what did he say, was he slagging him?  Was it not Murphy that was hopping off Eddie before the game started? I was close enough but I was in the Hogan at the end of the line and I had Michael O'Muircheartaig plugged into my two ears so I coulkd not hear.  Go on, tell us what he said for the craic.

I was gonna preface my comments by saying that Murphy got his just desserts by kicking Brennan before the start of the game, but I thought that was a given.

I didn't quite catch the exact comments, but he wasn't enquiring of his health anyway..

[bottlethrower7]

I dont think i have ever seen a player regress as badly as Shanahan from last year to this.

I think for anyone thats watched Shanahan over the years, the last 3 seasons were the anomaly, not this year. He was always no better than an average hurler (remember he never even got a championship start for his first few years on the panel), until one year he obviously trained his hole off over the winter, came back lean and determined, managed to keep it up for 3 years, and bagged himself a couple of allstars and a hurler of the year award (though I'd argue he didn't deserve that). This year we saw the Dan of old. I'd be surprised if we ever see the Dan of the last 3 years again.

[orangeman]

I dont think i have ever seen a player regress as badly as Shanahan from last year to this.

I think for anyone thats watched Shanahan over the years, the last 3 seasons were the anomaly, not this year. He was always no better than an average hurler (remember he never even got a championship start for his first few years on the panel), until one year he obviously trained his hole off over the winter, came back lean and determined, managed to keep it up for 3 years, and bagged himself a couple of allstars and a hurler of the year award (though I'd argue he didn't deserve that). This year we saw the Dan of old. I'd be surprised if we ever see the Dan of the last 3 years again.

[/b]


What age is he ?

He seems to have a lot of weight on - maybe the manner of the defeat will spur him onm to shed a few pounds.

The player of the year award lat year took its toll - too many presentation dinners.

[heffo]

I dont think i have ever seen a player regress as badly as Shanahan from last year to this.

I think for anyone thats watched Shanahan over the years, the last 3 seasons were the anomaly, not this year. He was always no better than an average hurler (remember he never even got a championship start for his first few years on the panel), until one year he obviously trained his hole off over the winter, came back lean and determined, managed to keep it up for 3 years, and bagged himself a couple of allstars and a hurler of the year award (though I'd argue he didn't deserve that). This year we saw the Dan of old. I'd be surprised if we ever see the Dan of the last 3 years again.

[/b]


What age is he ?

He seems to have a lot of weight on - maybe the manner of the defeat will spur him onm to shed a few pounds.

The player of the year award lat year took its toll - too many presentation dinners.

He's 31. My missus is from Dungarvan and he's a friend of one of her mates down there - nice bloke and I've never seen him have more than a few pints.

[orangeman]

I dont think i have ever seen a player regress as badly as Shanahan from last year to this.

I think for anyone thats watched Shanahan over the years, the last 3 seasons were the anomaly, not this year. He was always no better than an average hurler (remember he never even got a championship start for his first few years on the panel), until one year he obviously trained his hole off over the winter, came back lean and determined, managed to keep it up for 3 years, and bagged himself a couple of allstars and a hurler of the year award (though I'd argue he didn't deserve that). This year we saw the Dan of old. I'd be surprised if we ever see the Dan of the last 3 years again.

[/b]


What age is he ?

He seems to have a lot of weight on - maybe the manner of the defeat will spur him onm to shed a few pounds.

The player of the year award lat year took its toll - too many presentation dinners.

He's 31. My missus is from Dungarvan and he's a friend of one of her mates down there - nice bloke and I've never seen him have more than a few pints.

It's the big dinners that have done the harm ! 

He probably is a real nice lad - I wonder foes he regret the public humiliation of Justin when he was taken off ??