Injury crisis forces Waterford to delay selection
The management team of Justin McCarthy, Colm Bonnar and Seamie Hannon had hoped to name their starting 15 after training on Tuesday night. However the selection has been deferred until later this evening.
County Board PRO Paddy Dunphy confirmed the side will be named after tonight’s final workout.
“The selectors want to give those carrying injuries every opportunity to prove their fitness”, the PRO said.
“The delay is causing problems, not least because of the urgency about producing the match programme, but obviously the selectors have a dilemma that is not of their making,” he added.
Brian Greene, Peter Queally and centre back Fergal Hartley are the causes of most concern, with the latter’s damaged knee proving painfully slow in responding to medical treatment.
To compound the situation, versatile James Murray has a picked up a flu virus.
“The selectors want to give the players every possible chance to prove their physical wellbeing and that’s the reason for a further deferral in the naming of the team,” Dunphy said.
Eoin McGrath, who has missed the last three NHL outings through injury, has fully recovered and is strongly tipped to regain his place in the starting line up.
There could also be a return for towering full forward Seamas Prendergast who played for less than ten minutes of the entire league campaign after a catalogue of illness and injury, from which he has now fully recovered.
However, there’s considerable speculation that McGrath, a younger brother of Allstar Ken, might be named at wing back in the absence of Eoin Murphy who sustained a fractured jaw in a league game against Derry last month and will be sidelined for at least another three weeks.
To date, his county duties have placed him most often in attack but occasionally also at midfield.
His versatility is one of his strongest attributes.
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