A man behind the wire not a crime at all for Davy

Waterford boss Davy Fitzgerald disagrees with efforts to move a member of his backroom team 

Neil Montgomery of Waterford in action against Ross King, 17, and Ian Shanahan, 9, of Laois. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Allianz HL Division 1B

Waterford 2-31 Laois 2-19 

Waterford boss Davy Fitzgerald was frustrated with Michael Kiely’s sixth-minute red card in their 12-point win over Laois on Saturday night. 

Referee Sean Stack dismissed the Abbeyside attacker for an off-the-ball incident after consulting with his umpires.

“Annoyed,” Fitzgerald summarised. 

“So what Sean Stack is saying is he just dug him for no reason. That doesn’t make sense to me, that he just dug him for no reason. That doesn’t make sense. Like to make that big a decision that early and talking to Mikey, he just said your man was absolutely stuck into him and he was trying to shake him off and push him back. 

"I think he said he actioned his elbows back which appeared that he used the hurley, he says he didn’t. I can only take Mikey at his word, on what he said. Mikey was very upset at it and I honestly believe the umpires need to have a good look at themselves and think can you really do that to someone after a few minutes? Very harsh I thought on Mikey.”

Like the draw against Dublin, a member of Fitzgerald’s backroom team stood behind the Waterford goals in both halves. “It’s not for puckouts, I will totally refute that completely,” he remarked. “To get messages to the far side of the field is nearly impossible. So I can get a message from behind the goals to the corner back, he will give it out to the wing back, we are able to do stuff.

“I can’t understand why a steward is trying to move him, I just don’t understand that. They want me off the field, not coming on trying to make switches. All I’m trying to do is be innovative and come up with different ways around it so if you want to make a change you can make a change. Yeah, there is an odd puckout here and there we might have a call on but that is just telling him something we see from the stand.

“Normally a maor foirne would run up to the goals and say ‘listen, we need to get the ball here and here.’ We can’t do that anymore. I don’t think it is any bad thing to tell you the truth. In effect he is passing a message on and just making a change, that’s it.”

Despite Kiely’s early dismissal, goals from Neil Montgomery and Dessie Hutchinson, along with 11 points off the subs bench gave Waterford their first win of the campaign. Man of the match Montgomery finished on 1-3, league debutant Padraig Fitzgerald struck 0-7, substitute Austin Gleeson shot six points in an impressive cameo, while Calum Lyons chipped in with four.

Laois led 2-12 to 1-13 in the 46th minute after Ryan Mullaney netted his second goal. The hosts struggled however after Aidan Corby’s straight red for a high tackle on Montgomery. Waterford outscored their opponents 1-18 to 1-7 for the rest of the game.

Laois manager Willie Maher felt that the performance was an improvement on their opening day defeat to Tipperary. “For 50 minutes, we played really well. We learned an awful lot tonight. Our group is years behind, training-wise, where Waterford are. That was a step forward, in my mind, to stay with Waterford for 50 minutes.”

Scorers for Waterford: Padraig Fitzgerald (0-7, 5 frees); N Montgomery (1-3); A Gleeson (0-6, 3 frees); D Hutchinson (1-1); C Lyons (0-4); J Barron, Patrick Fitzgerald, R Halloran (0-2 each), S McNulty, M Fitzgerald, J Prendergast, P Curran (0-1 each).

Scorers for Laois: R Mullaney (2-2); S Maher (0-7, 5 frees, 1 65); A Dunphy, R King (0-2 each); E Rowland (free), J Kelly, P Purcell, I Shanahan, M Phelan, L Senior (0-1 each).

WATERFORD: B Nolan; C Gleeson, C Prunty, S McNulty; J Prendergast, C Lyons, M Fitzgerald; C Daly, J Barron; T Barron, J Fagan, N Montgomery; D Hutchinson, Padraig Fitzgerald, M Kiely.

Subs: P Curran for T Barron (41), A Gleeson for Padraig Fitzgerald (47), R Halloran for Daly (54), C Ryan for McNulty (55), Patrick Fitzgerald for Hutchinson (69).

LAOIS: E Rowland; D Hartnett, P Delaney, F C Fennell; P Dunne, R Mullaney, J Kelly; P Purcell, I Shanahan; A Corby, S Maher, T Keyes; M Phelan, J Keyes, A Dunphy.

Subs: R King for T Keyes (45), L Senior for Kelly (56), J Duggan for Dunphy (56), L O'Connell for J Keyes (62), J Walsh for Phelan (64).

Referee: S Stack (Dublin)