Ballygunner begin their quest for six county titles in a row on Saturday afternoon when they meet 2018 intermediate champions Clonea at Walsh Park. The men in red and black are unbeaten in 27 Waterford SHC matches.
New Gunners boss Darragh O'Sullivan admits that it's been difficult to bounce back from the All Ireland semi final loss to Ballyhale Shamrocks eight weeks ago. "Losing a game like that, when they put so much into it, you nearly have to go through a mourning process. These guys dedicated their lives to get to that All Ireland final and unfortunately they didn't. So, it has been difficult absolutely. We gave them a good break after that, we're only back into it in the last three or four weeks."
He feels that the current GAA calendar is tough on club players. If Waterford reach the All Ireland final on August 18, the SHC could be on hold for four months. "The way it is at the moment isn't working. They're going to be playing one match now and another hopefully in August, hopefully Waterford have a long run in the championship. You're looking at four months of downtime for club players which is not fair to them and I don't think anybody could argue with that."
Listen back to the full interview with Darragh O'Sullivan and a full championship preview with Tony Ryan from Friday's Lár Na Páirce.
https://soundcloud.com/wlrfmwaterford/darragh-osullivan-ballygunner-lar-na-pairce-april-5
https://soundcloud.com/wlrfmwaterford/waterford-shc-preview-lar-na-pairce-april-5
