Austin Gleeson among the injury concerns for Waterford ahead of championship opener

Austin Gleeson receives medical attention during the win over Tipp. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Waterford were left counting the cost of victory over Tipperary with a couple of significant injuries.

Manager Liam Cahill was clearly worried about the prospects of key men Austin Gleeson, Shane Fives and captain Conor Prunty being fit enough to line out against Clare in the Munster championship.

“I would be concerned enough,” said Cahill, after the win.

“Two fellas (Gleeson and Fives) who don’t go down too easily. Both twists.

“A twist with Austin’s ankle and Shane Fives pulled something again in his quad which might be a recurring injury. We’ll just have to wait and see as the week progresses.

“That’s another concern (Prunty) for us. I won’t say a big concern but I didn’t like the nature of it either.

“I think we’ll need to do a lot of work on it this week to get a handle on it. Today was fine but we have our problems coming out of it with little niggles. If you’re not feeling right for two weeks time, you’ll get found out and if players aren’t fit they won’t be selected.”

Prunty injured a quad muscle in the first half: “Hopefully he’ll be fit for two weeks time (v Clare). It’s the same with all the injuries.

“If they’re not they can’t play and that’s the point of having tried 35 players in the league. We’re confident we’ve players to step in.”

Cahill confirmed also that the withdrawal of forward Jack Fagan had been “precautionary”, adding: “The workload of these players has been highlighted, the way the league is so condensed - coming near the end of the really hard work where you’re going to start freshening up fellas, I think we’ve seen signs of the workload catching up so we have to gear ourselves not to overload.”