“I’m a better manager than I was the previous times”
New Waterford Senior hurling manager Peter Queally is relishing the challenge that lies ahead. Photo: INPHO.
Peter Queally’s mobile went into meltdown on the Friday night he was announced as Waterford hurling manager.
“The phone was fairly hopping I won’t lie to you! Myself and Noel Mackey were on the way back from Kilmallock, we had a championship match up there, and the news was announced at a quarter past nine. I was driving so I left the phone alone but it was just ping, ping, ping. When I went home, I had a little celebration with my family, my wife Ciara and my two kids.
I went down to my mother’s house and we had a little celebration. I didn’t pick the phone up until half ten on Saturday morning. A couple of hundred WhatsApp messages! It was a bit surreal to be honest with you! I never witnessed anything like that before.” It was a special occasion in the Queally household. “There was a bit of reminiscing with my Mam. Thinking back on my Dad and how proud he would have been. He was my greatest supporter. It was poignant.”
The recently retired Garda applied for the position in the past but now the timing feels right. “It means more to me, way more than it did previously. I’m more prepared, I’ve more experience, I’m a better manager, a better coach than I was the previous times. I’ve been there the last two years so I’ve learned a lot under Davy and got to know the players better. The big thing for me is the backroom I’ve assembled this time. I’m really happy with the lads that are on board.” His first taste of management came with his beloved Ballydurn back in 1999. “They were intermediate at the time. I can still remember my first match, we played St Saviours. My younger brother, it was his first game out of minor. We had been struggling the previous two years and it was a wet day over in Kill. I remember we beat them by a couple of points in a low scoring match. I really enjoyed it. I got a buzz and I got a kick out of it. We drew with Dunhill the next day, beaten in a replay but it gave me a taste of it. Thinking back then, I remember how I approached the whole thing. I would have used a lot of stuff from the managers I had worked under previously. I thought Gerald McCarthy was a great manager. I worked under Ken Hogan in the Garda College. I would have picked up bits and pieces from them.” What’s the biggest buzz he gets on the sideline? “Sure I won’t lie to you, it’s winning. If it’s a challenge you say to the lads ‘this isn’t about winning a match, we need a performance’. Come half time, you’re roaring and shouting at them! You just want to win.”
Queally is a more of a delegator now compared to when he started out. “I’m less hands on. I used to be everything. In 2000, I came back playing with my club so I was manager, coach and player! I was trying to do everything. The first clubs I did in the noughties, you were coach and manager, you were doing both. I remember Waterford managers Justin and Gerald McCarthy, they used coach and manage. Thinking back, it was nearly impossible but that was the done thing. Whereas now, it’s delegation. That’s why I’m so happy with my backroom because I trust them one hundred per cent. That’s where my style has evolved.”
The championship performances against Cork and Tipperary are the benchmark for his Waterford team. “We loved this year in Walsh Park. Bar the last four minutes of the second game, there was brilliant hurling, there was brilliant excitement, there was something to really build on. We need to tap into what happened this year in our two home games and build on it.” The playing style will stay the same. “I don’t see any reason for changing. A lot will depend on players and who we will have when it comes to it. If we have our best players available and fit, I don’t see why anything should change from this year in the way we played.”
The All Ireland final between Clare and Cork saw man to man battles all over the field and 67 scores. Is hurling moving back in that direction? “I think so yeah. Everyone enjoyed it, everyone loved it as a spectacle. It was a bit of a shootout. Obviously, we can’t get all carried away with this attacking flair. We have to tighten up at the back and make sure we’re not leaking scores. Getting the blend right is the key.”
