Waterford are down but McGrath’s not out just yet
OF the three big counties predicted to menace the hurling qualifier draw tomorrow morning, least is expected of Waterford.
Tipperary are reigning champions and a side who, if they can retune to the Championship frequency, could storm through July and back to Croke Park for the days of reckoning in late summer.
Kilkenny have performed poorest of the big three ditched into the qualifiers by the middle of June, but weak as they look, nobody will definitively dismiss them as long as they are guided by Brian Cody.
There are fears for Waterford, though, and they are not groundless.
Manager Derek McGrath looked spent after the final whistle in Semple Stadium last Sunday. A playing style he had spent three years perfecting came apart against a less experienced team.
When a manager’s coaching theory is so completely refuted, where does he go next? Towards the exit, is the circulating rumour.
The gossip is that McGrath will leave as Waterford manager at the end of this campaign, and those spreading it believe that end is only weeks away.
However, McGrath will not quickly surrender a game-plan that won a National League two years ago and consolidated Waterford in hurling’s top tier. Crucially, he also enjoys close relationships with his players.
If others are deserting him, they will not. They look down now, but they aren’t gone yet.