Anthony Daly: Inter-county management is a bit like social media now — the public will either press like or dislike

When Liam Cahill took over as Waterford manager last autumn, his first act was to take out his axe and get chopping. A host of names were dropped but when that list included team-captain Noel Connors, and another high-profile casualty, Maurice Shanahan, much of the discussion focussed on Cahill’s reasoning behind those decisions.

Most of it inevitably seemed to suggest that Cahill did so to make a loud statement to the squad and the Waterford public, as if he wanted to start beating his chest, swinging his gun-holster and waving his gun in the air to let everyone know there was a new Sherriff in town. Cahill was definitely sending a message to his players but, from my own inter-county management experience, there are always far deeper reasons behind dropping big-name players than just making statements.