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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.'
Irish Examiner
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Final round of Munster hurling championship set to hit attendance record
This Sunday's Munster senior hurling championship final round is expected to be the competition's largest attendance total for a day with over 72,000 set to watch the games in Cork and Limerick. As of Thursday, almost 41,000 tickets have been sold for the do-or-die clash between Cork and Waterford in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh. A win for Cork will earn them a Munster final place, while a draw would be enough to send the hosts into the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals. Victory for The Déise and it's they who will go through the backdoor. Although it's a dead rubber barring a 26-point loss for Limerick and a Cork win, the reigning provincial champions' meeting with Clare in TUS Gaelic Grounds with the same 4pm throw-in time is set to attract approximately 31,000 as home supporters cheer on their team before an anticipated seventh consecutive Munster final appearance on Saturday, June 7. To date, the Munster SHC's best match-day for ticket sales was recorded in April of last year when a total of 70,316 people took in the Cork-Clare (36,841) and Limerick-Tipperary (33,475) Round 2 meetings. Whether next month's Munster final is in Limerick (Limerick v Cork), FBD Semple Stadium (Tipperary v Limerick) or Cork (Cork v Tipperary), the provincial council is in line to report another year of record-breaking attendances and possibly reach €8 million in gate receipts for the competition. This year's crowd figures for the 10 round fixtures are expected to exceed last year's combined figure of 270,750 by over 12,000. Read More Clock/hooter set to feature in remaining Sam Maguire Cup games
