Déise hurlers defy board training ban

The Waterford senior hurlers have trained in secret this week, defying the ban imposed by county board chiefs.

Derek McGrath’s squad assembled on Tuesday night, 24 hours after the Waterford County Board took the decision to cancel all of the hurlers’ training until after the May Bank Holiday weekend.

Tuesday’s session was their final gathering until the Déise are permitted to return to training on May 6, cutting to 21 the number of days they will be idle as a unit.

It was believed last Thursday week’s challenge against Wexford would be their last collective session ahead of the beginning of the local championship, but management called a private training on Tuesday before releasing players back to their clubs.

The Waterford County Board insisted yesterday that they are enforcing a prior arrangement, approved by both senior managers at the start of the year, instead of introducing a ban. They have confirmed that after receiving correspondence from clubs, they moved to ensure that the manager’s charter was being adhered to. This charter was also subscribed to under Michael Ryan’s management.

The board also stated that the senior hurlers have taken part in 19 weeks of training to date, along with a warm weather training camp in Portugal earlier this month.

A spokesperson for the county board added yesterday that financial concerns did not play a role in the decision. However, with training sessions estimated to cost approximately €2,000 per session according to a source close to the senior hurlers, the county board will make considerable savings by not having any training sessions for approximately one month.

Former Waterford hurler Eoin Kelly believes the boards’s debt, which stands just shy of €500,000, is a strong factor in the training hiatus.

Kelly revealed a two-week reprieve in training was the norm at this time of year to allow the club championship take centre-stage, but said a month-long ban was highly unnecessary and will have a seismic impact on preparations for Waterford’s opening round fixture of the Munster championship against Cork on May 25.

“The ban for three or four weeks of training could be angled at their financial difficulties,” he surmised.

“Why they are playing four rounds of championship over four consecutive weekends I don’t know, when they could have easily played the first two rounds of the football earlier in the year. There is no need to have them on top of each other.

“To ask Seamus Prendergast or Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh to play four weekends on the hop and separate themselves from the county scene when, let’s be honest, the county scene is not going well, just baffles me.

“They have three weeks to the Cork game when they return and you are not going to do anything the week before the game. So really they have two weeks to prepare and you need a month to prepare for Munster championship. With a new manager and a young team you want a month to be heading into that Cork game in peak condition.”

With just 12 teams competing in the Waterford SHC, Kelly said April’s congested schedule was ludicrous and that weekends could easily be found later in the summer to play off the various rounds.

“There is no need for such extremities. There are only 12 teams in the football as well. There is no cause to have four consecutive rounds fixed in April. They could easily find the time over the summer.

“If I am not mistaken they play Cork on the May 27 and then there is a round of club hurling on the following Sunday which is not fair on the club players.

“They have to play a tough game on the Sunday and then go out the following week with their club, that isn’t on. It is not fair on the players or the club.

“This is all the county board’s doing."