FORMER WATERFORD ALL-STAR Ken McGrath has doubled down on criticism on the current Waterford side and their manager, Davy Fitzgerald.
On Monday morning, McGrath was a guest on Damien Tiernan’s Deise Today show on WLR FM radio, and repeated some of the criticisms he tweeted on Saturday evening following Waterford’s meek 0-16 to 2-22 defeat to Clare that leaves them out of the race for Liam MacCarthy and Munster.
McGrath had tweeted various criticisms, including; ‘Serious question who in the name of god was Waterford’s hurling coach and who in the name of god was our strength and conditioning coach. Absolutely shocking.’
He added; ‘Won’t even start on our tactics,’ and ‘Of course players have to accept responsibility as well, we needed men tonight we got boys, not good enough , we are a shambles at this stage, so much wrong in our county it’s hard to know where to start.’
Serious question who in the name of god was Waterford’s hurling coach and who in the name of god was our strength and conditioning coach . Absolutely shocking
Of course players have to accept responsibility aswell, we needed men tonight we got boys , not good enough , we are a shambles at this stage ,so much wrong in our county it’s hard to know where to start
Speaking on the radio show, the Mount Sion man stated, “I suppose I grew up in the ‘80s when you had 3 or 4,000 going to championship matches for the one day out of the year and it was over.
“Unfortunately it’s getting back to those times and we have to be very careful. Look, I said a few things after the game on Saturday. You are watching this and seeing it unfold and we need answers, we need answers around what is going on.
“I was only thinking about what I said on Saturday and would I stand over what I said on Saturday, and 100% I would.”
He continued, “Because over the last three or four games… our hurling has been very, very poor. The mistakes we are making, the first touch, the fumbling, even the options we are going. That’s all coaching, Damien.
“You are looking at a team where, last year we were the second best team in the country. And this year we are at Joe McDonagh standard. And that’s the reality of it.
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“You can gloss over it whatever way you want and people would say you are being harsh. But when you are county player, you have to deal with criticism.”
McGrath insists a great deal of realism has to brought to the debate around Waterford’s record in the Munster round robin series, and their lack of underage success.
“There is no point in me talking and people saying I am giving out. It has to be confronted at this stage,” he said.
“This is the fourth year of the round robin and this is the third year of the round robin in four years when the last game doesn’t matter to us.
“So something has to be done about it and it is not good enough. Simply not good enough.
“Something drastically needs to happen. I understand as a player it is very hard to be criticised and you have to be able to take it. We are not performing and something has to be done about it.
“The way we are performing, the way we are playing, the way we are trying to go about winning games, we are in a very, very bad place.”
He then turned his attention to the team management and his former boss Davy Fitzgerald.
Waterford boss Davy Fitzgerald. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
“I am not privy to what went on, if we overtrained or whatever, but we were flat in the last two games and it fell short,” McGrath stated.
“Right now it’s a mixture of everything. But tactics wise, I will be honest, they are baffling. Davy has to be man enough to accept that as well. Conor Prunty was caught under three or four puckouts for us. You had Jack Prendergast our only outlet against Cork, won three or four puckouts, back into the full-back line for Saturday.
“Dessie Hutchinson, Stephen Bennett out the pitch, you have Dessie, our real star forward, he hasn’t played in corner-forward barely over the three games. He went in on patches, he got one fast ball went into him on Saturday and tapped it over the bar.
“The way we are playing is not beneficial to them. That’s the way it is. It’s what’s happening. And that’s comes down to tactics.”
Dessie Hutchinson. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
He added, “Every manager can have their own way of playing. But it has to be successful. At the end of the day, if it is not successful, it is not working, it has to change.
“We all like our own ways of seeing and playing the game. And that’s fair enough. But right now, it is not working.
“The players must be fragile at this stage. The core of this group was one of the best U21 teams in 2016 but these lads don’t last forever and an intercounty career doesn’t last long anymore.
“I think Davy was saying there is a three-year plan. If you are 27, 28, you don’t have three years to wait. They don’t simply have it.
“I would have no problem with a three-year plan if we were winning U20s, minors that were competing very well. But we are diabolical underage. We have won one game at U20/21 since 2016 and that was against Kerry.
“We have won two or three minor games in ten or twelve years.”
McGrath continued, “I don’t even know if lads can even play for themselves on the pitch anymore. They are looking across to the line so much that they are caught between a rock and hard place in playing the game anymore.
“There is a lot of overthinking in the game in general over the last number of years. I suppose we have Limerick who are absolute class and who have gone to another level. And everyone is trying to match them to compete with them.
“And that’s fair enough. But the fundamentals of hurling doesn’t change; good first touch, good movement, be aggressive, fight for your own ball, win your own ball, win your battle and your area.
“And if enough people on your team are doing that, you are going to be in the game. That’s just the basics.”
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Ken McGrath doubles down on Waterford and Davy Fitzgerald criticism
FORMER WATERFORD ALL-STAR Ken McGrath has doubled down on criticism on the current Waterford side and their manager, Davy Fitzgerald.
On Monday morning, McGrath was a guest on Damien Tiernan’s Deise Today show on WLR FM radio, and repeated some of the criticisms he tweeted on Saturday evening following Waterford’s meek 0-16 to 2-22 defeat to Clare that leaves them out of the race for Liam MacCarthy and Munster.
McGrath had tweeted various criticisms, including; ‘Serious question who in the name of god was Waterford’s hurling coach and who in the name of god was our strength and conditioning coach. Absolutely shocking.’
He added; ‘Won’t even start on our tactics,’ and ‘Of course players have to accept responsibility as well, we needed men tonight we got boys, not good enough , we are a shambles at this stage, so much wrong in our county it’s hard to know where to start.’
Speaking on the radio show, the Mount Sion man stated, “I suppose I grew up in the ‘80s when you had 3 or 4,000 going to championship matches for the one day out of the year and it was over.
“Unfortunately it’s getting back to those times and we have to be very careful. Look, I said a few things after the game on Saturday. You are watching this and seeing it unfold and we need answers, we need answers around what is going on.
“I was only thinking about what I said on Saturday and would I stand over what I said on Saturday, and 100% I would.”
He continued, “Because over the last three or four games… our hurling has been very, very poor. The mistakes we are making, the first touch, the fumbling, even the options we are going. That’s all coaching, Damien.
“You are looking at a team where, last year we were the second best team in the country. And this year we are at Joe McDonagh standard. And that’s the reality of it.
“You can gloss over it whatever way you want and people would say you are being harsh. But when you are county player, you have to deal with criticism.”
McGrath insists a great deal of realism has to brought to the debate around Waterford’s record in the Munster round robin series, and their lack of underage success.
“There is no point in me talking and people saying I am giving out. It has to be confronted at this stage,” he said.
“This is the fourth year of the round robin and this is the third year of the round robin in four years when the last game doesn’t matter to us.
“So something has to be done about it and it is not good enough. Simply not good enough.
“Something drastically needs to happen. I understand as a player it is very hard to be criticised and you have to be able to take it. We are not performing and something has to be done about it.
“The way we are performing, the way we are playing, the way we are trying to go about winning games, we are in a very, very bad place.”
He then turned his attention to the team management and his former boss Davy Fitzgerald.
“I am not privy to what went on, if we overtrained or whatever, but we were flat in the last two games and it fell short,” McGrath stated.
“Right now it’s a mixture of everything. But tactics wise, I will be honest, they are baffling. Davy has to be man enough to accept that as well. Conor Prunty was caught under three or four puckouts for us. You had Jack Prendergast our only outlet against Cork, won three or four puckouts, back into the full-back line for Saturday.
“Dessie Hutchinson, Stephen Bennett out the pitch, you have Dessie, our real star forward, he hasn’t played in corner-forward barely over the three games. He went in on patches, he got one fast ball went into him on Saturday and tapped it over the bar.
“The way we are playing is not beneficial to them. That’s the way it is. It’s what’s happening. And that’s comes down to tactics.”
He added, “Every manager can have their own way of playing. But it has to be successful. At the end of the day, if it is not successful, it is not working, it has to change.
“We all like our own ways of seeing and playing the game. And that’s fair enough. But right now, it is not working.
“The players must be fragile at this stage. The core of this group was one of the best U21 teams in 2016 but these lads don’t last forever and an intercounty career doesn’t last long anymore.
“I think Davy was saying there is a three-year plan. If you are 27, 28, you don’t have three years to wait. They don’t simply have it.
“I would have no problem with a three-year plan if we were winning U20s, minors that were competing very well. But we are diabolical underage. We have won one game at U20/21 since 2016 and that was against Kerry.
“We have won two or three minor games in ten or twelve years.”
“There is a lot of overthinking in the game in general over the last number of years. I suppose we have Limerick who are absolute class and who have gone to another level. And everyone is trying to match them to compete with them.
“And that’s fair enough. But the fundamentals of hurling doesn’t change; good first touch, good movement, be aggressive, fight for your own ball, win your own ball, win your battle and your area.
“And if enough people on your team are doing that, you are going to be in the game. That’s just the basics.”
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Davy Fitzgerald Ken McGrath stinging criticism