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Davy Fitzgerald has called on Waterford fans to be patient with manager Derek McGrath. Ryan Byrne/INPHO

Davy Fitz: 'Give the man a break, we're going more like the Premiership every day'

Fitzgerald reckons plenty of praise for Waterford boss Derek McGrath.

DAVY FITZGERALD HAS called for greater patience with inter-county bosses and fears the GAA is becoming more ‘like the Premiership’ with the pressure being placed on managers.

The Clare boss found it hard to comment on the current scenario in Waterford where manager Derek McGrath’s preparations for the Munster championship by a halt to their training schedule as they seek to bounce back from league relegation.

But Fitzgerald urged Waterford fans to ‘trust’ McGrath and believes they have ‘a good man in charge’.

“It’s very hard to comment on it (training situation) because I don’t know the ins and outs of it but the only thing I am certain about is I really believe they have a good man in charge. I mean that very genuinely.

“They have got to stick with him and they have got to trust him. That’s my only message to them down there. They are very passionate about their hurling down there. Some supporters can get a bit impatient. I really think the players are very happy.

“I don’t think Waterford will be that bad. I think they’ll be good and they’ll be good going forward. Give the man a break, we’re going more like the Premiership every day. Want someone to blame all the time.”

Davy Fitzgerald with his team before the game James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO

Fitzgerald does not foresee Waterford’s preparations before their May 25th clash with Cork being hampered by the change to their training patterns.

“Ah no I think Waterford will be okay. They have worked very hard since last year. This time of year is all about sharpening up.

“You should have most of your work done more than likely within four weeks of championship. The base is there and I’m sure Derek will sharpen them up.”

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    Mute Jason Maguire
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    May 1st 2014, 6:37 PM

    Fair play Davy, nice to see sportsmanship ain’t dead. The level of media attention and speculation is sometimes disgusting, especially for an amateur sport.

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    Mute Andrew S
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    May 1st 2014, 5:38 PM

    Waterford through the years has always been popular with the neutrals with myself included. However their sense of entitlement can be very frustrating. Hurling is one of the few sports were it is quite uncommon for you not to deserve for what you get.

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    Mute ThomasFrancisMeagher
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    May 1st 2014, 9:01 PM

    Where did you get the idea that Waterford have a sense of entitlement?

    & considering the stylish entertaining way that Waterford played in the 90′s & 00′s & the characters in the team like Tony Browne, Ken McGrath, John Mullane & Dan Shanahan it’s no surprise they were a popular team & while it’s certainly a shame they never won the all-Ireland I’ve never heard any Waterford people say they were entitled to win it.

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    Mute Norman Wyse
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    May 1st 2014, 9:57 PM

    Hurling is the best game in the world imho, but boy is it the biggest sport for self fulfilling prophecies. The traditional counties will still dominate in 100 years, not because they are genetically superior, because everyone drinks the “tradition” koolade, including the weaker counties. Hurling is *the* sport for certain counties picking up cheap AIs and others losing ones they should be winning. New winners emerge much more easily in other sports. In hurling, the media will wheel out the hoodoos and the weight of history, etc.

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    Mute Dave Dineen
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    May 2nd 2014, 11:18 AM

    Not sure what you mean, generally people understand that Waterford are a team in transition, having lost a whole bunch of high profile players to retirement while trying to bring a lot of youngsters through in one go. In addition, Cork and Limerick have shown that there’s live after relegation. In most sports you generally get what you deserve. Soccer is the exception as it’s so low scoring that games are often decided by a single poor refereeing decision.

    More generally, it was Waterford’s misfortune in the last decade that their peak coincided with the greatest team of all time – if Kilkenny hadn’t been so dominant, it’s likely that Waterford would have won at least one All Ireland.

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    Mute Paul Friday Shannon
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    May 1st 2014, 6:06 PM

    That cause of all the show boating they did after every point scored?

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    Mute Len Raynor
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    May 1st 2014, 6:47 PM

    Waterford should hand over the reigns to William Maher. Top mgmt material

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    Mute ThomasFrancisMeagher
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    May 1st 2014, 9:03 PM

    You’ve little to be worried about Paulie.

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    Mute Seán O'Sullivan
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    May 1st 2014, 8:02 PM

    impatient? after 54 years?? I’d hardly say impatient.no more excuses play to win no more moral victories, no more matches that they’ll “learn form” it’s been a half a century what’s left to learn ?

    I’m normally more supportive but impatient my hole, there’s been 5 years of rebuilding, did the Colosseum take that long ?

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    Mute Tommy Walsh
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    May 1st 2014, 11:23 PM

    What are you on about Gerry? Clare won 6 out of 8 matchs last year, lost to cork in mhc and drew with them in the all Ireland. Your theory is inaccurate and using Clare as your example was an utter joke. Week after week can be exhausting alright everyone knows that but it’s up to the management to plan for that. Also in Clare’s case they won the u21 title in between both all Ireland’s

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    Mute Gerry Ryan deG
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    May 1st 2014, 11:13 PM

    If Kilkenny, Tipp & Galway slip up early and find themselves slugging it out in the ‘losers group’ playing 3 or 4 games in a month and the winner coming out knackered, it’s very possible that Waterford could do a Clare and win the thing.

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    Mute Sean Bourke
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    May 2nd 2014, 12:11 AM

    Really Gerry !!!! Really

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    Mute Martin Forde
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    May 2nd 2014, 1:52 AM

    Me hoop

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