Ryan insists there’s no reason why Waterford can’t shoot down Offaly
The panel resumed training last night with Ryan putting a particular emphasis on shooting after clocking up 15 wides in their Munster quarter-final defeat to Clare.
“We’ll look at all the issues, we’ll look at the last game and see where we went wrong,” Ryan told WLR FM. “There were certain aspects of our game that we’ve got to improve. We’ve got to take our chances. We made some very good chances against Clare up in Thurles so we’ll work hard on our shooting and various other aspects of our game.
“We’ll prepare very, very well and there’s no reason why we can’t go up there (to Offaly) and win the game.”
Waterford have won the counties’ two previous back door meetings but having seen Offaly fire four goals past Kilkenny in their defeat on Sunday, Ryan anticipates a close encounter.
“It’s a tough draw, there’s no doubt about it. Offaly played very well against Kilkenny and scored 4-9. They’re a formidable side with a great tradition of hurling. There are a lot of proud people in Offaly and you must remember the Leinster club championship has been won by two different Offaly clubs over the last couple of years so there is a lot of potential there.”
Ryan said there were no serious casualties following the weekend’s club championship action. “Hopefully we’ll have Shane Fives, Shane Walsh and Richie Foley back in contention and fighting for places. Brian O’Halloran is the only one who’s struggling and it’s going to take a bit of time. Whether he’s going to available or not I don’t know. As far as I know everybody else should be okay.”
ALL-IRELAND SHC PRELIMINARY ROUND QUALIFIERS, Saturday June 22 (first team has home advantage): Offaly v Waterford; Dublin/Wexford v Antrim; London v Westmeath. ALL-IRELAND SHC PHASE ONE QUALIFIERS, Saturday June 29 (first team has home advantage): London/Westmeath v Offaly/Waterford; Wexford/Dublin/Antrim v Carlow.
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