Who do Waterford turn to after surprise Peter Queally exit?

Donal O’Rourke was the coach in Peter Queally’s backroom team. He was the coach in Pat Ryan’s Cork backroom before that. Does he now fancy a crack at the main gig in his native county?

Donal O'Rourke with Pat Ryan. Pic: James Crombie, Inpho

There did not exist a clamour for change in Waterford. And yet here we now are, speculating and attempting to size up who might embody that change.

There did not exist dissatisfaction with how Peter Queally’s second year as Déise manager had gone. There was instead a sense that Waterford were getting closer to a first-ever top-three Munster round-robin finish.

There was a sense also that with a smidgen more good fortune, that first top-three finish could have been pulled off last month.

After the spectacular recovery that earned them a point against Tipperary in Round 2, crushing first-half injuries to Ian Kenny, Iarlaith Daly, and the in-form Stephen Bennett, not to mind a pair of black cards, ruined their chances of taking anything from a Cork game that they still led after 58 minutes.

And even in the subsequent away trip to Limerick where their route to Munster progression had been reduced to near-impossible status, they led the now provincial champions as late as the 60th minute.

Following that season-ending defeat at the Gaelic Grounds, Queally, when pressed on his future, said he would talk to the county board and “see what’s best for Waterford going forward”.

That he will not now continue for a third year, as was optional in the terms of his initial appointment, does not mean a view has suddenly taken hold of Queally not being the best man for Waterford going forward.

Disagreement on certain issues between him and a very small number of county board executive members is what precipitated his surprise exit.

A surprise exit is an exit nonetheless. There is a position now to be filled.

In reverse order to how these runners and riders pieces are typically sequenced, we’re going to start by removing from consideration names that would seem to be very obvious candidates.

James O’Connor oversaw Waterford’s run to All-Ireland minor glory last summer. He was subsequently appointed Waterford U20 manager on a two-year term, with the option of a third.

His first year in that new gig, while not delivering a top-three Munster finish, saw so many of those All-Ireland minor winners brought straight into the U20 set-up and exposed to the required standards of the higher age-grade.

Joxer, as he is known, is viewed as a future Waterford senior hurling manager, but that ascension to the main role is expected to coincide with the attempted jump from U20 to senior of the 2025 minor class.

With Munster and All-Ireland U20 titles the target in 2027, he’s not expected to be named as Queally’s successor.

The same sort of logic applies to Waterford minor manager Darragh O’Sullivan, who was also appointed on a two-year term, with the option of a third, ahead of the 2026 season.

Whenever O’Connor moves up, it is expected that O’Sullivan, who led Ballygunner to maiden All-Ireland club glory in 2022, will move up to the U20 role.

Donal O’Rourke was the coach in Peter Queally’s backroom team. He was the coach in Pat Ryan’s Cork backroom before that. He coached Galway to All-Ireland camogie glory in 2021. He managed the Waterford camogie team before that.

Does he now fancy a crack at the main gig in his native county? If he does, would any potential ticket include the aforementioned Pat Ryan, with whom he has worked so closely with?

Would Ryan, for his part, be willing to stand on a sideline in opposition to the Cork players he built such a warm relationship with during his three years at the helm?

Jason Ryan is another name that cannot be excluded from the conversation. Fresh from leading Ballygunner to their second-ever All-Ireland club crown, he boasts the experience of having already managed at senior inter-county level.

But does Ryan want back on the inter-county stage, or is the prospect of back-to-back All-Ireland club titles with Ballygunner enough to keep his managerial appetite sated.

Ballysaggart’s Pat Bennett - father to Stephen, Shane, and Kieran - finished his first year as Carlow manager with defeat to Laois in last weekend’s Joe McDonagh Cup decider. He was Waterford selector during Davy Fitzgerald’s second stint in the Déise.

Another former Waterford selector who is part of the reckoning is Stephen Molumphy. 

The 2010 and ‘11 Waterford hurling captain furthered his sideline education when serving three years as Kerry manager (2022-24) following his stint as a selector during part of Liam Cahill’s Waterford tenure.

The selection committee that was to be announced at Wednesday night’s Waterford county board meeting are certainly not shy of in-house candidates with fine credentials, meaning the likelihood of an outsider filling this vacancy is remote. 

Then again, nobody saw a vacancy having to be filled in the first instance.