Why Waterford's veterans chances of an All-Ireland title are disappearing
Tipp's former All-Ireland winning boss Liam Sheedy fears Waterford's ageing heroes have missed their chance of ever winning an All-Ireland.
The Deise contested the 2017 and 2020 deciders but lost out to Galway and Limerick respectively.
And since then they have flopped in Munster - finishing fourth in 2022, 2024 and 2025, fifth in 2023, losing a quarter final to Clare in 2021.
Read more: WATCH: The Sunday Game's Joe Canning, Anthony Daly and Jackie Tyrrell highlight four possible red cards in Dublin, Galway game live on RTE
Read more: Waterford boss Queally 'irritated' as Ryan demands better effort for Cork's Limerick return
But that year there was a second chance offered via a structure that allowed them to navigate their way past Laois, Galway and Tipp to reach an All-Ireland semi-final.
That backdoor route has disappeared and the intense nature of Munster means the teams finishing fourth and fifth in the province are ruthlessly dispatched from the Championship by the end of May.
And Sheedy fears for the team now.
He said: 'For any manager going into the Munster Championship, success is getting into the All-Ireland series.
'For the second year in a row, Waterford managed to win their first game which is a big thing in the round-robin and you thought that might have given them momentum.
'They had chances early on in today's game to push on a wee bit more but they needed to open up a much bigger gap.
'For Waterford and for Clare when you don't get out of Munster, it is not seen as a good year and for players like Stephen Bennett, Tadhg de Burca and Conor Prunty, you just wonder if the best chance of getting to the very top is passing them out.'
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