Liam Sheedy: Déise fans the real losers if Walsh Park out of bounds for 2018

LIAM SHEEDY has described the likelihood of Waterford not being able to host a game in next year’s radical new round-robin Munster senior hurling championship as a ‘missed opportunity for everyone’.

With Walsh Park in need of a massive overhaul to become fit for purpose, the team narrowly beaten in the All-Ireland final by Galway could end up playing their two ‘home’ games in Semple Stadium in Sheedy’s native Tipperary, who he guided to 2010 success. Nowlan Park in Kilkenny is another option that has been speculated on.

‘They have to develop,’ said Sheedy. ‘This should be the catalyst that really focuses everybody in Waterford to say, “How quickly can we get this done?” If it’s not to be for 2018, it’s not to be. I’d expect them to have a choice of where they’ll play their games.

‘For Waterford, for their kids, for their future – to have a stadium where the kids can rock up and see their stars is huge in terms of growing the game. In any club or county, you can link it back to connecting with a team and as a result you got this influx of talent saying they want to be like Dan Shanahan, they want to be like Austin Gleeson.

‘It’s a real priority for them now. A priority for the GAA as well as Waterford. Not being able to play your home games at a home venue is a missed opportunity for everyone.’

If Walsh Park is ruled out due to its current reduced capacity of roughly 12,000, then it will certainly impact on Waterford’s campaign. But Sheedy disputed the idea that a round-robin provincial series involving the top five teams — two home, two away — will dilute the status of a long-standing knock-out competition.

‘Waterford lost out on a Munster Championship last year and came back and went all the way to an All-Ireland final — I don’t think it diluted the Munster final the fact that Cork and Clare were there, that Waterford and Tipp were sent packing. That’s the beauty of the Championship,’ he added.

‘I think there’s a lot of positives out of it. You had to retain the provincial championships when you see what it meant to Cork this year when they won the Munster Championship. Can you imagine if Wexford had won Leinster? Winning provincial championships is still really, really important.

‘In terms of getting to see your local heroes, two home games is a big one. Take Galway. That’s another plus.’

He felt Tipperary’s lack of options on the bench ultimately cost them in bidding for back-to-back All-Irelands for the first time since 196465, going down to Galway in the semi-final by the narrowest of margins.

‘If there is something for Michael [Ryan] to work on over the winter it is finding a handful of players. I think we lacked a bit of depth. We probably got a false view in that they were winning the League matches missing five, six, seven players from the All-Ireland and you’re thinking, “Oh my God, what kind of a squad are they building.”

‘Actually though, when it came to the business end of the Championship, they probably lacked that… when you looked at the programme you wondered who was going to be the five to come in. That’s what he has to fix.’

He described the left field choice of Pat Gilroy as Dublin hurling manager as an ‘outstanding appointment’, saying the man who masterminded the county football team’s breakthrough in 2011 is the perfect fit.

‘Dublin are probably the team with the most potential to improve in 2018.

‘For whatever reason, they haven’t bought in. I think they’ll buy in under Pat. I think they will be thinking, “That’s something I’d like to be a part of.”

‘I think you’ll see a bounce there.’