Dan Shanahan hits back at critics

Dan Shanahan last night took a swipe at some of his former team-mates who have been critical of Waterford’s tactics.

The Déise selector did not name anyone in particular, although Ken McGrath suggested earlier in the week that the players were being held back by the sweeper system.

Shanahan remarked: “We are disappointed we didn’t win, delighted we didn’t lose. Let’s be honest, no-one gave us a chance coming up here, only the belief we had in the dressing room. That hasn’t gone away.”

Shanahan admitted the camp were motivated by being written off. “When you’re being criticised in your own county by a lot of your so-called greats... they’re entitled to their opinion; you don’t have to agree with it.”

Pushed to explain the criticism, the Lismore man explained: “A lot of talk about the sweeper system. People telling you how to sweep. Telling you how to play the game — we played the game to the best of our ability. You saw that the work-rate was unbelievable. It’s just disappointing we didn’t win but we didn’t lose.”

The replay will take place in Semple Stadium next Saturday at 6.45pm.

Shanahan expects Kilkenny to be hurt by how Austin Gleeson impressed in the air against them. “Austin was great, don’t get me wrong, but if I start saying Kilkenny were dominated, next thing they’ll come out next week and dominate the air battles. I’m not going to give them any ammunition. Austin had a great game as well as many other players. To pick out one man is very harsh on 14 lads and the three or four others that we brought on.”

At the same time, Shanahan agreed it was one of the best Waterford displays since he came on board with Derek McGrath.

“I think it is. It’s up there anyway. Today’s game shows just what work can do for you. People will say about sweeper this or sweeper that for next week in tomorrow’s papers or whatever or locally at home but we just went out there today and they dropped Richie Hogan deep so Tadhg (de Búrca) was sitting deep. It’s disappointing, don’t get me wrong, it’s disappointing that we didn’t win the game but, by God lads, we didn’t lose the game either.”