New Waterford football manager Paul Shankey believes that there are plenty of talented players in the county.
The Meath All Ireland winner, who will be put forward for ratification at the next county board meeting, can't wait to get started. "Every time you listen to somebody talking about football, they're always complaining or whinging. At the end of the day, it's a great national sport. I have watched a lot of Waterford footballers over the years. If they were living in Cork, Dublin or Meath, they would be on those panels. There's loads of talent. The key objective is to listen to the players and enhance what was good in the last few years. Ephie Fitzgerald and his management team did a fantastic job. I watched them last year and they were very impressive."
The Portlaw clubman is currently putting together a panel ahead of 2024. “There will be loads of new players looked at, that’s high on the agenda. It’s key to keep the core of the team from previous years in the squad and proactively look at new guys. That will be a key action over coming weeks. Collectively, we can’t train until the 24th of November. I’ve been to a lot of matches over the last couple of weeks and I’ve been identifying guys, particularly guys that are keen to come in. I’ve got some great messages from clubs around Waterford asking what can they do to help."
Mikey Cronin from Carrick Davins will assist him as coach. “Mikey brings a strong strength and conditioning background. The backroom team is still very open. We have identified a strength and conditioning team. We have some guys that are staying on from previous years in terms of medical care and logistics. There’s still some open positions that we want to address quite quickly.”
Listen back to the full interview from Friday's Lár Na Páirce show.
