WHERE NEXT FOR GALWAY AND WATERFORD SIDES, FOR HENRY AND DAVY IN MANAGEMENT?
ON THE LAST Sunday of May, both Galway and Waterford ran out of hurling championship road for the year.
Galway’s exit was the more eye-catching outcome given they had home advantage against Dublin, Waterford had faced the more daunting assignment in entering Limerick’s backyard and attempting to generate a favourable result.
The upshot was the same, defeats as the round-robin business concluded and as semi-final weekend looms large, both are marked absent. Only once since 2014 have we reached the last four stage without one of that pair featuring. The 2019 knockout stages stand in isolation in that sense – Galway have appeared in seven of the last nine semi-final series, Waterford have chalked up five appearances in that time frame.
They had departed the conversation, but suddenly both are hot topics once more.
On Tuesday night, Davy Fitzgerald officially stepped down as Waterford boss. Yesterday afternoon, word filtered out from the west that Henry Shefflin was taking the same course of action in Galway.
After over five weeks of deliberation, both men landed at the same decison.
In the wake of Waterford’s loss to Limerick, Fitzgerald was asked in the tunnel leading to the dressing-room at the City End of the Gaelic Grounds, if he would like to be involved again with Waterford in 2025.
“All I got to do now is go home and take a breather, I’m absolutely shattered. But the one thing I’m proud of is I know that we’re right back up there in touching distance so we are, with most of them.”
Fitzgerald looked visibly drained at the time, the commute from Sixmilebridge to Waterford a factor he acknowledged in an RTÉ Radio interview yesterday morning, along with family commitments.
The second part of that quote touched on a theme he had referenced a few times this season. Waterford may have failed to qualify from Munster for the second summer on the spin, but this year was one where Fitzgerald felt important strides were made to claw back to a state of competitiveness.
The Munster record reads two wins from eight over his pair of seasons in charge, but after losing their first three games in 2023, they defeated Tipperary in their last outing and used that as a launchpad to start positively this time around, unbeaten after their opening two matches.
The margins are thin. Not taking maximum points from their two home games cost Waterford. If they were misfortunate not to get something out of their trip to Ennis, the damage in the previous round against Tipperary was self-inflicted as they coughed up a four-point advantage in the dying embers.
The result was the same after a Munster campaign, but this time felt more galling. Waterford rose to the challenge to take down Cork on the first day out, but have been forced to witness their removal from the equation, coincided with a Rebels’ resurgence that brings them to Sunday’s semi-final sellout with Limerick.
For Shefflin there is a greater range of evidence to examine in Galway after three season in charge. His Leinster group stage results sheet features nine wins, four draws, and two defeats. He was unbeaten in the 2022 and 2023 round-robins, but could not parlay a top two finish into Leinster silverware on either occasion. The powers of recovery were strong to win quarter-finals against Cork and Tipperary, but the manner of the All-Ireland semi-final losses to Limerick were mixed.
Their 2022 contest was a thrilling one, they competed brilliantly before being held off by three points. But their form collapsed in the second half last year, a meek showing as they were overwhelmed by Limerick.
They didn’t quite pick it up again after being floored that day. The victories over Carlow and Antrim were expected this year, but only managing a draw out of the three games against major rivals (Kilkenny, Wexford and Dublin) proved their undoing.
If that chain of results sparked irritation, the biggest regret for Shefflin will be the drama-laden outcome to last summer’s Leinster final. Silverware, a direct passage to an All-Ireland semi-final, and a seismic event during his management tenure, were all within touching distance until Cillian Buckley burrowed through the defence to rifle in a sensational winning goal for Kilkenny.
It could be argued that Galway never truly recovered from that blow.
“It could be the end of the road for a few of us,” said Shefflin after the loss to Dublin.
“But what we said in the dressing room was that we’d take a few days and don’t make a rash decision, and that’s the only logical thing.”
His reaction has not been kneejerk, considerate in his thinking, and ultimately coming down on the side of three years being sufficient. He had a go and it didn’t work out. Fitzgerald’s feelings were similar. In their radio interviews since departing, both have revealed the shared experience of enjoying the warmth of hurling interaction with the players and setups.
Where to next in their managerial careers? Fitzgerald has been a constant sideline presence since 2008 – two spells with Waterford, time with both Clare and Wexford, even a year away from hurling ended up being spent coaching the Cork camogie team. Shefflin took his first steps in to county management with a surprise move, after a glittering playing career and an impressive stint steering Ballyhale Shamrocks.
The sense now is both may take some time out. Shefflin rubbished any suggestion he would slip into Fitzgerald’s old job, pointing out the Ballyhale underage teams are his priority. Fitzgerald hasn’t ruled out a role next year, but while he was in the frame for Galway when Shefflin took the post, chairman Paul Bellew has indicated ‘a strong preference now to stay within the county’.
The temptation now for both counties will be to apply a local flavour. A return to the county hotseat for Derek McGrath or Micheál Donoghue? A step up from club success for Darragh O’Sullivan or Kenneth Burke?
There are key decisions to be made for both Galway and Waterford. Galway have not reaped a rich harvest from the crop of All-Ireland winning minors spanning the 2017-20 period. Waterford’s underage record recently has been marked by a wretched run of results.
Both will now take stock as they attempt to pinpoint new managers and plot a route back to the top.
For Shefflin and Fitzgerald, there will likely be a similar pause for reflection.
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