Waterford senior hurling manager Peter Queally will be without a number of players for the opening stages of the National Hurling League.
The Deise begin their campaign on February 2nd away to Carlow followed by a home clash with Laois and a trip to Antrim.
March will then see Waterford face Dublin and Offaly at home either side of a clash away in Westmeath.
Speaking after Waterford's 1-15 to 0-10 defeat at the hands of Cork on Saturday, Queally said they will be without Austin Gleeson, Tadhg de Burca, Conor Prunty and Darragh Lyons for most of the league campaign.
“He has had a few setbacks in the last few months so it could be March before we see Austin. Conor is still recuperating from his shoulder. He’ll probably be March. Darragh is looking at the end of March as well. Tadhg, probably March. Tadhg has had a lot of injuries in the last few years so he is slowly coming back. He picked up an injury with his club at the end of the year so he is just recuperating from that. Darragh had a bad injury on the groin going back to the Clare game where he came off after ten minutes. He still isn’t right since that.”
Queally admits he has been working with a depleted squad since taking over from Davy Fitzgerald, but says that offers an opportunity for new players to stake a claim for continued selection.
“You saw it today. We had 24 fellas togged out. We could have named 30 on the panel but we didn’t have 30 to name. We’ve a lot of injuries. We’re a bit hampered at the moment but we’re hoping that they’ll be all good come the end of April. Supporters came along here today not to look at Jack Prendergast or Shane Bennett or Jamie Barron. They’re looking to see have we any good young fellas coming along and I thought they adapted very well."
The Waterford manager was impressed with the attitude of some of the debutants on Saturday last.
“I thought young Seamus Fitzgerald for his first game at corner back was very good. He wouldn’t be the biggest man in the world and it wasn’t a day for small hurlers. Finbarr Reaney got his first taste of inter county hurling at wing back. We’d be pleased with some of the new guys. They’re going to get plenty of game time in the next few weeks. We’ve a few more good games lined up against Kilkenny, Wexford and Limerick.”
