Players deserve more respect from supporters

I strolled down to the square in Thurles before the match yesterday, expecting to meet the supporters from both sides, have the usual bit of craic. The only crowd I met was coming out of Mass.

Where have fans gone? Clare and Waterford always had great support in Munster, in the past few decades especially, and this was promising to be a decent game — where were those supporters yesterday? Where was the glamour, where was the atmosphere? It’s very unfair on the players that they’re not getting that support.

These guys are putting their lives on hold to play inter-county hurling, surely they’ve earned at least that bit of respect from their own fans? The same applies to the management teams, they too are putting in a huge effort. Let the supporters criticise and complain all they want, that’s their right after all, but at least they should turn up to support the team.