A Deise Double Looms This Weekend.

This weekend sees Waterford’s senior hurling take on Laois and the Senior Football Team take on Carlow for only the second time in a competitive game outside of the National Leagues and both will be looking to retain their 100% records.

The stakes could not be higher for both sides. Having lost their provincial openers, both after replays, from here on in, it must wins all the way if Waterford want to be in Croke Park come September.

A defeat for either team from now on it will mean that the year is over and there wont be any more competitive games until the new year when the Waterford Crystal Cup and the McGrath Cup starts, should Waterford decide to enter the competitions, failing to do so will mean another month without a competitive game till the National League’s resume.

Over the past number of years the fortunes of the county’s senior football team has improved but many may not agree and they still don’t give the players the recognition they deserve.

Waterford would have gone into the league this year confident that they can win promotion from the bottom rung of the National League Ladder. However despite putting in some good performances, promotion was again missed out on, with some questionable refereeing decisions possibly playing a part in this.

The side went to Ennis a few weeks back for a Munster Quarter Final for a clash with Clare.

It was again a game where Waterford had their chances written off even before a ball was kicked, but despite a slow start, Waterford put in a storming finish to win a share of the spoils and in doing so taking the Banner men back to Fraher Field to see which would advance to see who would play Kerry in the semi finals.

However, it was not to be for Waterford, despite the fact you always expect them to pull off a win in Fraher Field as again some dubious calls from the men in Black were to come back to cost Waterford. The home side were to loose both of the players that started in the middle of the field, Shane Ahern and Tommy Prendergast to black cards. To have lost one was a blow, maybe one that could be overcome, to loose both was a huge ask on any team.

Sometimes it is simple to blame the referees for having to make calls like these. We know that they are doing the job that is assigned to do. To be a referee to some would appear to be easy but its not. 

If they do not apply the rules of the game, then the assessor in the stand is there with his pen and paper knocking points off the referee’s overall performance. If the referee was to loose to many points for his performance, the chances are he will be taken off the elite referee’s panel.

Maybe it is time to have a look at the way referee’s do things. Maybe it is time to allow them to referee games once more using common sense, without fear of the assessor somewhere in the stand. Maybe it is time to stop marking a referee’s performance like a state exam and to do so when the likes of Dickie Murphy from Wexford who refereed games with a smile on his face and using common sense were on the National Scene.

Heading into Saturday evening’s game its hard to see where Carlow are.

In their last game they suffered a heavy defeat against Meath. This will have taken a lot from the team. However lets not forget, just twelve months ago, Kerry had a very easy win over both Tipperary and Waterford in the Munster Championship and while both would loose their next game in the qualifiers, both against Galway, they put in a very good performance and both were unlucky not to win. Could we see something similar from Carlow this weekend?

Last week thinking about the Waterford and Carlow game, I was remembering back to last year when I was suggesting that teams who play in the third and fourth division of the National League would not be allowed to play for the All-Ireland Championship. Instead the Tommy Murphy Cup would be re-introduced and they play for this.  My thinking at the time would be ‘what would Waterford, Tipperary and others get from being at the wrong end of a heavy defeat to the likes of Cork or Kerry?’

Later in the week, I was thinking maybe that all teams would be allowed to play in Provincial Championship, and if a team is beaten before the Provincial final, if you played in Division Four, or in Division three and did not win promotion to Division two for the following years league, then you were entered into the Tommy Murphy Cup instead of the All-Ireland Qualifiers.

But then both Tipperary and Clare put me thinking again after they put in good performances against Cork and Kerry in the Munster Semi Finals, which may suggest that the teams in the lower divisions of the league are not as far behind the top teams as we might like to think at times.

The game in Dr. Cullen Park is one that Waterford will feel is there for the winning and will be hoping them to get a favourable draw in the second round of the qualifiers.

Niall Carew’s men have already beaten Carlow already this year and will be confident that they can do so again.

The Kildare man may have a small panel at his disposal, more by choice than anything else, but he will also know that it is a talented one.

Stephen Enright, Thomas and Maurice O’Gorman, Dean Crowley, Oran Keevers, Shane Briggs, Tommy Prendergast, Shane Ahern, JJ and Wayne Hutchinson, Liam O Lonáin and Paul Whyte are players that have impressed this year and will look to do so again this weekend.

Management in Carlow will have a big job on their hands in the last two weeks to raise the spirits of their players after the loss to Meath recently, but remember that we would have said the same here in Waterford twelve months ago after Kerry beat Waterford in Killarney.

Waterford will go into this Saturday’s game with the favourites tag on their shoulders. But they will have to weary of the sting that Carlow could have. Will Waterford come through the game with Carlow? I think they will, but it could be a close call.

In Hurling, Waterford in the eyes of many will be the over whelming favourites to beat Laois in Walsh Park.

Since the loss to Cork in the Munster Championship, Laois is the game that most would have looked for in last Monday’s draw.

Many would have believed that the Mid-landers are the weakest team in the group, but I have my doubts. To me there are two or three other teams I would prefer to be playing against, but playing in Walsh Park will be a bonus.

Nobody will have to tell anyone involved in the team that the performance in the replay with Cork was a disappointing one. Was it a case that Cork were under-estimated for that game or was it a case that we over hyped Waterford after a good performance in the drawn game.

However since that game, I have no doubt that Derek McGrath and his team will have worked on what went wrong that day, and they won’t be just plastering over the cracks. I have a feeling the plaster work will have been hacked back and a fresh coat will be put on.

Challenge games have been played. It’s reported that Limerick and the Waterford under 21 team have been played against. In these games new things will have been tried and players maybe checked out in different positions.

Changes will have to be made the team for this weekend from the side which lost to Cork.

Brian O’Sullivan is suspended after TV camera’s picked up his strike on a Cork player early in the game. Colin Dunford was reported to be out of action for six weeks after the Cork game and Noel Connors who retired early in the loss to Cork is also reported to be doubt for the game this weekend.

Should Connors and Dunford be ruled out of contention, there could be ready place replacements available in Darragh Fives and Brian O’Halloran who are reported to be available for action again after injury. Another possibility should Noel Connors be ruled out is Padraig Prendergast who replaced Connors last time out and will feel he did enough to stake a place from the off this time out.

This is a game that Waterford should win, but Laois could well prove to be a much better side than most are giving them credit for.

Remember in the league they ran Cork close, but we should not forget that on that night it was a terrible night weather wise. In the league they also put up a good showing against Clare and recently ran Galway to two points, and many are talking up Galway after they ran Kilkenny close recently and have also beaten a Tipperary side in a challenge game, a side that many a few weeks back were considering favourites to win the Munster Final and to run favourites Kilkenny close for the biggest piece of silverware to be handed out this year.

Waterford should do a senior hurling and football double this weekend in the qualifiers, but they will know that should they come through, they will face a much tougher proposition next time out.

Patron’s thinking of going to the Waterford and Laois game should note that the game is an All-Ticket game. Tickets cost €15 but a discount is buying them in advance from any Centra or Supervalu. The usual rules regarding the purchase of tickets from these outlets I am sure will apply, so make sure you get them early. Tickets can also be got from tickets.ie and will be available for general sale in Walsh Park on Thursday from 11am to 2-30pm and in Fraher Field from 6-30pm to 7-30pm. These tickets cost €15 each.

Patrons are asked to remember, that there is free seeing in the stand. (A section of it could be reserved in the centre). Admission to the stand will be closed off after the first 4,500 or so have passed through the turn styles and after this patrons will only be allowed onto the back opposite the stand or the terrace behind the goals, and that there is no deduction for standing or sitting.