Waterford boss Queally questions referee decisions in defeat to Cork

The Waterford manager wants a change in championship structures to allow more hurling in the summer months. 

Waterford manager Peter Queally said his side were "very disappointed with a lot of the decisions in the first half" which didn't go his side's way. Pic: ©INPHO/James Crombie

Waterford manager Peter Queally questioned a number of decisions made by Johnny Murphy as the county again failed to emerge from the round-robin staging of the Munster championship.

In all six years of the format, The Déise have fallen short and Queally has called for a change as Joe McDonagh Cup finalists Laois and Kildare enter the championship and the likes of Clare and Waterford drop out.

Asked if the structure was unfair, he responded: “100%. Clare are the reigning All-Ireland champions. Remember, they were out of this championship two weeks ago because the results of last week. Every football team in Ireland is still in the championship.

“We've been training since October. Don't say that too loudly because we’re not meant to be. We've been training in all the winter months. It’s now the ground is hard. We want to be hurling and we're gone out of the championship. Clare are gone out of the championship and every other team is nearly still in the championship.

“I would like to see a change in structure where we're afforded a little bit of a chance to hurl during the summer when everyone wants to hurl and everyone wants to watch hurling, not in December, January and February.” 

Queally revealed some players had turned down the chance to play for Waterford because they were not guaranteed to play in the best weather months. 

“I've had conversations with fellas who have decided to opt out because of, ‘Well, I can give all this and I might not be able to hurl in the summer.’ 

“People are deciding not to play because of the amount of effort and training that's asked of them all through the winter months. Then you come up against three awesome hurling teams and you're putting away your hurley in the summer evenings when all you want to do is hurl.

“We all want the cut and thrust of the Munster championship. We don’t want to take from that. Maybe it's following our football counterparts where you have your provincial championship and then you have your All-Ireland series.

“I'm sure if you had a championship, two groups of whatever, and you were cross-provinces, you can imagine the crowds that would go to a Wexford-Waterford or a Kilkenny-Waterford game. Maybe there is something there in that.” 

Queally contested calls made by Murphy in the opening half such as a penalty not given to Stephen Bennett. 

“We'd have been very disappointed with a lot of the decisions in the first half that didn't go our way.” He continued: “Look, I know the way Johnny refs the game. He likes to let it go, but at the end of the day, in my opinion, a foul is still a foul. Whether you want it to be a man's game or not. There were times when I thought our lads were fouled.” 

Still, Queally took great pride in the performance given by his men. “People are coming in here wondering about Cork's credentials. I'd like to think that we tested Cork's credentials today and we gave everything we had.”