Latest news with #Kilkenny-Waterford
The 42
25-05-2025
- Sport
- The 42
'Every football team is still in Championship' - Queally calls for change to hurling structure
WATERFORD BOSS PETER Queally has called for a change to the hurling championship structure after his side suffered another early exit from the Liam MacCarthy competition. In what is the sixth edition of the round-robin format, Waterford have failed once again to qualify for the All-Ireland stage. The Déise needed a win over Cork to advance, but lost out by six points in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Speaking to the media after their defeat, Queally initially said it was 'hard to put a finger' on why Waterford have struggled to figure their way out of the round-robin system before he was asked if the current structure has been a contributing factor. '100%,' he replied. 'Clare are the reigning All-Ireland Champions. Remember, they were out of this Championship two weeks ago because [of] the results last week. [It's] the start in May. Every football team is still in the Championship. Advertisement 'We've been training in all the winter months. Now the ground is hard. We want to be hurling and we're gone out of the Championship. Clare are gone out of the Championship and every other team is nearly still in the Championship. 'I would like to see a change in structure where we're afforded a little bit of a chance to hurl during the summer when everyone wants to hurl and everyone wants to watch hurling, not in December, January and February.' Elaborating on his desire for change, he continued by offering a suggestion as to what that new format could look like. 'Maybe it's following suit with our football counterparts where you have your provincial championship and then you have your All-Ireland Series. I'm sure if you had a Championship [with] two groups of whatever, and you were across provinces, you can imagine the crowds that would go to a Wexford-Waterford game or a Kilkenny-Waterford game. 'I've had conversations with fellas who have decided to opt out because, 'I can give all this and I might not be able to hurl in the summer.' 'People are deciding not to play because of the amount of effort and training that's asked of them all through the winter months. Then you come up against three awesome hurling teams and you're putting away your hurley in the summer evenings when all you want to do is hurl.' Reflecting more closely on the match against Cork, Queally questioned some decisions in the first half which went against his side. One such call occurred in the seventh minute when Stephen Bennett was fouled after breaking through on goal. However, referee Johnny Murphy ruled that it was not a goal opportunity and did not award a penalty. Related Reads Goals from Hayes and Horgan help Cork storm into Munster final as Waterford exit Pat Ryan is walking a tightrope - and Cork's hurling year hangs in the balance Start spreading the news: New York hurlers are on their way for the Lory Meagher 'We'd have been very disappointed with a lot of the decisions in the first half that didn't go our way,' said Queally. 'Not making excuses about it. We had a strong breeze. We needed to be ahead in that game by five or six points. 'I know the way Johnny refs the game. He likes to let it go, but at the end of the day, in my opinion, a foul is still a foul. Whether you want it to be a man's game or not. There were times when I thought our lads were fouled. We didn't get the frees and we wouldn't be happy with that.' The first of Cork's two second-half goals arrived just after throw-in as the hosts turned over possession after a block down on Paddy Leavey which resulted in a Brian Hayes finish. Queally admitted that the score was a 'killer blow' but commended his team for how they responded. Waterford were eight points down after conceding the second goal to Patrick Horgan but reduced the gap to three at one stage before the contest petered out. 'That goal straight away had us four points down. It was a very, very strong breeze. 'But I never saw a head drop. They just kept plugging away. They kept working hard. Kept getting the scores. One or two more breaks if they went our way, it could have been a different story.'
Irish Daily Mirror
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Ryan hits out at 'twisted' narrative on Cork, Queally calls for format change
Pat Ryan has hit out at 'twisted' commentary surrounding Cork as they booked a Munster final spot. Needing a result to stay in the Championship after suffering a 16-point beating from Limerick seven days earlier, Cork eked out a six-point win over Waterford to keep their season on track as they return to Shannonside to face the holders in the provincial final on June 7. They went there as All-Ireland favourites last time around but Limerick now hold that status and Rebels boss Ryan suggested that the hype surrounding Cork going into that game may have got to his players. 'I don't know,' he said, 'but it's hard not to get drawn into the hype and some of it was stupid stuff altogether and a lot of it was coming from outside the county. 'You heard people writing off Limerick, some of our own people, are they off their game or what?! 'From my point of view, look, that was very annoying – I think, sometimes, fellas would be building you up, hoping that you'd get a kick in the ass. 'I thought there was a lot of twisted stuff around it, to be honest with you. If I could find a better word I'd find it, but I thought there was a lot of twisted stuff around it. 'From our point of view, we just knuckle down, try to be the best team we can and try to represent the jersey and the Cork people as best we can.' Meanwhile, Waterford manager Peter Queally called for a change to the Championship structure after another premature end to their summer as they failed to emerge from the Munster group yet again, pointing out that 'every football team in Ireland is still in the Championship'. He said: 'I've had conversations with fellas who have decided to opt out because of, 'Well, I can give all this and I might not be able to hurl in the summer'. 'People are deciding not to play because of the amount of effort and training that's asked of them all through the winter months. Then you come up against three awesome hurling teams and you're putting away your hurley in the summer evenings when all you want to do is hurl." He added: "We all want the cut-and-thrust of Munster Championship. We don't want to take from that. Maybe it's following suit with our football counterparts, where you have your provincial Championship and then you have your All-Ireland series. 'I'm sure if you had a Championship, two groups of whatever and you were across provinces and stuff, you can imagine the crowds that would go to a Wexford-Waterford game or a Kilkenny-Waterford game or whatever it is. Maybe there's something there in that.'
Irish Examiner
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Waterford boss Queally questions referee decisions in defeat to Cork
Waterford manager Peter Queally questioned a number of decisions made by Johnny Murphy as the county again failed to emerge from the round-robin staging of the Munster championship. In all six years of the format, The Déise have fallen short and Queally has called for a change as Joe McDonagh Cup finalists Laois and Kildare enter the championship and the likes of Clare and Waterford drop out. Asked if the structure was unfair, he responded: '100%. Clare are the reigning All-Ireland champions. Remember, they were out of this championship two weeks ago because the results of last week. Every football team in Ireland is still in the championship. 'We've been training since October. Don't say that too loudly because we're not meant to be. We've been training in all the winter months. It's now the ground is hard. We want to be hurling and we're gone out of the championship. Clare are gone out of the championship and every other team is nearly still in the championship. 'I would like to see a change in structure where we're afforded a little bit of a chance to hurl during the summer when everyone wants to hurl and everyone wants to watch hurling, not in December, January and February.' Queally revealed some players had turned down the chance to play for Waterford because they were not guaranteed to play in the best weather months. 'I've had conversations with fellas who have decided to opt out because of, 'Well, I can give all this and I might not be able to hurl in the summer.' 'People are deciding not to play because of the amount of effort and training that's asked of them all through the winter months. Then you come up against three awesome hurling teams and you're putting away your hurley in the summer evenings when all you want to do is hurl. 'We all want the cut and thrust of the Munster championship. We don't want to take from that. Maybe it's following our football counterparts where you have your provincial championship and then you have your All-Ireland series. 'I'm sure if you had a championship, two groups of whatever, and you were cross-provinces, you can imagine the crowds that would go to a Wexford-Waterford or a Kilkenny-Waterford game. Maybe there is something there in that.' Queally contested calls made by Murphy in the opening half such as a penalty not given to Stephen Bennett. 'We'd have been very disappointed with a lot of the decisions in the first half that didn't go our way.' He continued: 'Look, I know the way Johnny refs the game. He likes to let it go, but at the end of the day, in my opinion, a foul is still a foul. Whether you want it to be a man's game or not. There were times when I thought our lads were fouled.' Still, Queally took great pride in the performance given by his men. 'People are coming in here wondering about Cork's credentials. I'd like to think that we tested Cork's credentials today and we gave everything we had.'
