Former Waterford senior hurling manager Michael Ryan says while he is a fan of the new format of the Waterford Senior Hurling Championship – break weekends must be introduced next season to lessen the potential for serious injury and make it a more level playing field for the smaller clubs.
Many teams will be facing into a seventh successive weekend of action next week, and many are feeling the minutes in their legs as they cannot call upon some of their leading lights at the most crucial moments in their campaign.
Ryan says the old structure was “no way to improve Waterford hurling” but admits there is room for improvement going forward.
“First of all, new structure this year. That is absolutely the way forward. I mean it isn’t too long ago when we had four groups of three – you had two games, you were either in or out, you were either qualified after two games or else playing relegation. That’s no way to improve Waterford hurling. You need more games”, said Ryan.
The former Déise and Westmeath boss was displeased with the attitude displayed when highlighting the issue recently.
“The structure is really, really good. I mean, for the clubs next weekend, a lot of them are playing their sixth game. However, I spoke about this to a board official during the week and the answer he gave me was unbelievable. He said, it’s the same for everybody. How can anybody give a reply to an answer like that? It’s not the same. It might be the same for everybody, but that doesn’t make it right.”
“We need to learn from mistakes, not necessarily mistakes, we need to learn and improve things. It’s all about giving players, club players, a chance to perform at their very, very best. If we’re asking them to play week in, week out, that’s going to drop and you pick up injuries and the competition is so intense now that sometimes players have to line out with injuries.”
Ryan feels the championship has been rushed, considering no Waterford club will play at provincial level until early November.
“Maybe start at a week earlier, maybe run it a week or two longer and two or three more weeks won’t make any difference to the actual championship because the Munster club isn’t on until early November. So learn from it. Certainly the system is working. It’s the way forward. But learn from it, tweak it and improve it.”
Much has been made of the number of injuries picked up at Cappoquin Logistics Fraher Field in recent weeks. Gavin Fives was the latest player to be carried off the pitch on Friday night having picked up a serious injury – following on from the likes of Conor Whelan (Brickey Rangers) and Nicky O’Donovan (Modeligo) in weeks prior. Ryan says it’s simple – if it isn’t safe, don’t play on it.
“I’ve spoken to a number of players from different clubs and they’re all saying the same thing, that the pitch is dangerous. There was a decision made to do work with the pitch and they were a little bit unfortunate that the weather conditions didn’t allow for that pitch to develop. That can happen – but when it did happen, then don’t put games into it. We have loads of pitches around the county. I mean, you go to Kilkenny and there’s a lot of matches played in club pitches. Play it in Walsh Park or Lemybrien or somewhere else, don’t force players to play in dangerous conditions.”
“There’s three or four serious injuries now and they may be related to the condition of the pitch”, conceded Ryan. “So certainly, that’s not on. And we have a magnificent surface in Walsh Park. If the pitch is dangerous, don’t play there.“
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