Walsh in hot water after criticism of ref
The former Cork dual All-Ireland star has made no attempt to conceal his disappointment at the Galway official’s overall performance, accusing him of giving many decisions that he simply failed to understand.
“I am devastated, but more so for the players than anyone else”, Walsh said. “At times I wondered if the referee was aware that there were two teams involved in the game.”
Walsh said the referee gave many crucial frees against them, the last one of the game being particularly harsh. “Overall we played quite well, but moral victories are of no use to us, and I feel we should definitely have got something out of the game”, he said.
The Waterford manager said they have only the All-Ireland qualifiers to look forward to and they will be in action in those on Saturday week.
“Not a lot of time to set the disappointment of last Sunday aside but we just have to get on with it. A lot will depend on how the draw fares out for us.”
Last Sunday’s defeat was a fifteenth consecutive one for Waterford in the Munster championship. The county’s last win was against Tipperary way back in 1988 and no mainland county with the exception of Kilkenny, who don’t play at senior level any longer, has had to endure as extended a losing championship sequence.
“It’s a depressing situation to be in”, county board chairman Paddy Joe Ryan conceded yesterday.
“We haven’t always had the best of luck as exemplified against Tipp last Sunday, but the bottom line is the losing run has gone on and on and it really is time that we brought it to an end.”
He felt that last Sunday’s game was there for the taking, but they were at the wrong end of what he considered to be a few dubious refereeing decisions. “In the end however we have only ourselves to blame”, he said.
Meanwhile, Tipp’s man of the match, Declan Browne, has warned his Tipperary team-mates they’ll have to be so much better against Kerry if they want to tip the Munster scales on June 15th. Former All-Star Browne was the county hero again on Sunday and hit 0-11 of his side’s 0-18 tally. It was touch and go at times and the sides were level at three stages, the last of which came 10 minutes from time.
True to form, Browne tacked on two late converted frees to edge the tie Tipperary’s way.
Nevertheless, Browne admitted that the happiest man in the crowd at Walsh Park will have been Kerry boss Páidí Ó Sé because Tipp weren’t exactly world beaters.
“We have a lot of thinking to do and a lot of organising before the Kerry game,” said Browne.
“It was a dog-fight against Waterford and all we had to do was win. We didn’t care about how we did it. But it’ll be a lot more difficult against Kerry.”
“It’s difficult in your first championship game of the year. In many ways it was a no-win situation, because we were built up as the favourites.
“You train six months for this day, the league means nothing, and if you get it wrong then all that training is down the pan.
“Thank God we came through it, because we were wary that it’s always been very tight against Waterford in the past.”
Tipp boss Tom McGlinchey was keen to praise his star man Browne, but echoed fears that Kerry will represent an altogether different challenge.
“What more can you say about Declan Browne? He’s a genius and I have nothing but admiration for him,” gushed Cork man McGlinchey.
“He’s a great chap and a pleasure to work with, but at the same time he’s only as good as the supply that’s coming in to him.
“We’re a long, long way from the finished article,” added McGlinchey. “I think Páidí Ó Sé won’t have been too worried by what he saw.
Tipp veteran Peter Lambert was forced out of the game with a leg injury after 13 minutes and is a doubt for the Kerry clash.
McGlinchey confirmed: “Peter had an x-ray after the game and is going for a scan tomorrow (Tuesday).
“He’s been very unfortunate with injuries so hopefully for his own sake the news will be good.”
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