Waterford hurling boss Liam Cahill would like to see the Maor Foirne role reinstated.
The water breaks have been removed which means that Cahill and Mikey Bevans will miss the opportunity to communicate with the players mid-game. “They hurt us a couple of times and they worked in our favour once or twice as well. It’s so difficult now to get messages to players on the field. The water breaks did give you a little chance to get to certain players that you wouldn’t be able to without having the Maor Foirne access. We’ll have to do our best on the training field to work on how we’re going to communicate messages in from the sideline in some other format rather than having the Maor Foirne of old. It’s going to be the same for everybody so we just have to get on with it.”
Cahill first raised the issue of the Maor Foirne after the All Ireland qualifier win over Galway last summer. Limerick boss John Kiely recently voiced his concern after the Munster Cup final. “I’m glad that other managers are saying that. I felt at the time last year, when I highlighted it, I thought it was just me and maybe that people would say ‘these players are inter county players, they should know how to deal with that themselves.’ It seems to be a trend with all managers and coaches which is good. That’s what we do, we try to have our teams as well prepared as possible and try to give them as much support on the day. It’s tough. I know with the Maor Foirne role, nobody wants to see fellas running in and out across the field, that’s not good for our games. Incidents that have popped up in the past haven’t been good for the Maor Foirne reputation. It is a big drawback that it isn’t reinstated to be honest.”
Hear more from Liam Cahill on the Lár Na Páirce League Special from 6.10 on WLR.
