Greene says Déise fitness and sharpness not up to the mark

Former Waterford defender Brian Greene has called his county’s fitness levels into question ahead of their crucial qualifier with Offaly tomorrow.

After watching his side’s defeat to Clare earlier this month, he was concerned by their conditioning and also noticed a lack of vibrancy in their performance.

“To be honest, I thought we looked a little unfit. I don’t mean that in just the physical sense, we didn’t look as sharp as should be for a Munster championship,” he said.

However, he remains quietly optimistic that they can turn things around within a short period of time.

“I would be confident in the respect that we are a lot better than we showed the last day. Whether we are fit enough or whether we are match fit or we are sharp enough to take them on remains to be seen.

“If not, maybe we need to take a look at the situation. We are well into the championship now and we should be sharp and we should be fit. If it was just some cobwebs getting out of our system the last day, I’m not too sure. We should be able to take Offaly if we are as good as we think we are.”

Greene was disappointed they failed to convert a host of scoring opportunities against Clare in a low-quality contest from his perspective.

“A lot of people are saying that we had a good first half, I don’t look at it that way. I think that we were the better of two bad teams.

“In the second half, Clare stepped up a gear and played their part in it. We had our chances in the first half and we also had chances early in the second half. You need to be finishing teams which comes with experience as well. I think at the moment we have a slightly inexperienced team and the man in charge is slightly inexperienced also at senior inter-county level.”

He felt some of the newcomers tightened up and became overawed by the occasion in Semple Stadium and views this weekend’s qualifier as a chance for them to bounce back.

“We had a lot of young guys, inexperienced guys, and I know we had a couple of experienced lads in there too. Maybe it was a bit of nerves. Munster championship is a big day. They are in the right position now as in they have it all to prove.

“I don’t think they will be half as nervous for this one. I think the whole Davy thing was hanging over lads who had nothing to do with it back then. Maybe a bit of nerves got to them.”