“It’s a huge game for both of us next Sunday” - Queally

Waterford manager Peter Queally admits that promotion will be on the line against Dublin this weekend.

Offaly’s surprise victory in Croke Park leaves them top of the Division 1B table and ramps up the pressure on their rivals. Sunday’s match is now a must-win for both sides.

“All we know is we have a massive game next week. Our promotion prospects will very much hinge on the result of that match. I won’t lie to you, I probably would have preferred if Dublin won last night! It’s a wide open promotion race now with three, four or five teams in with a chance of going up, which is exciting for neutrals. Next Sunday's game between ourselves and Dublin, there will be a lot on the line in relation to promotion. It’s a huge game for both of us.” 

The return of Conor Prunty, Iarlaith Daly and Stephen Bennett propelled Queally’s side to a big win in Antrim. “Massively. Even beforehand, you could see the delight among the squad to have them in the starting line-up. They are such leaders and they offer you so much. Dessie Hutchinson started today as well and his presence in the full forward line. The fact that Conor was back allowed us to bring Mark Fitzgerald into the half back line. Anybody that was watching the Fitzgibbon Cup the last few weeks would have seen how good a half back Mark Fitz is. It was great to release Mark into the half line and have the two lads behind him then in Iarlaith and Conor. It gave us a lot of solidity in defence.” 

He hopes to see the rest of the walking wounded back in action by the end of the campaign. 

“The closest to coming back and who might be able to tog out on the subs bench next week is Darragh Lyons. The Westmeath game might be close enough for Austin Gleeson. Tadhg De Burca, without further setbacks, might be the Offaly game. We’re talking about players coming back but we actually lost a couple of players during the week. Patrick Fitzgerald was a big loss to us, he had been playing well. He got injured on Tuesday night at training; Carthach Daly got injured on Tuesday night at training. As well as getting fellas back, we want to hold onto the lads that we have too. It’s very important for squad depth.” 

Queally liked the work rate and intensity his team showed in Corrigan Park. “That was a big focus. With the conditions, we had to be strong on the breaking ball. The most pleasing element in the first half was, when a lot of the puckouts went to ground, we came out of a lot of those rucks. That was a good part of our game.”