“They were one hundred per cent in the wrong”
Waterford's manager Paul Power (second from right) and some of his 2024 minor football management Team. Photo: Sean Byrne.
Waterford minor football boss Paul Power was disappointed that they lost home advantage for the All-Ireland Tier 3 Quarter Final against Laois.
The game was originally fixed for Lemybrien on May 25 but didn’t take place as the referee’s car broke down enroute to the Kilrossanty venue. The refixture went ahead at the Carlow GAA Training Centre in Fenagh last Tuesday.
“In fairness to Pat Flynn and Sean Michael O’Regan, there were a lot of calls and emails. Those that made the decision to put it up here, they were one hundred per cent in the wrong. We got the home draw and we were supposed to play it at 2pm in Lemybrien last Saturday. The game was pulled initially because the referee’s car broke down and the referee didn’t turn up. That’s a Croke Park problem; that’s not a Waterford county board problem. How we lost home advantage because of that? I don’t know. In fairness to Pat and Sean Michael, they were one hundred per cent behind me. When they sent out the neutral venue for Carlow, the boys were anxious to get going and they were hungry for the game. We were happy enough to come to Carlow tonight but it didn’t go our way. Maybe, that was a poor call by myself in the end. Maybe, we should have stuck to our guns and got the game back in Lemybrien.”
His team trailed by eight points after sixteen minutes but fought back in the second half. “Mighty, mighty proud of the performance. As I said from the start, they’re a serious bunch. A lot of these lads will play senior football for Waterford which is the ultimate goal.”
Management, players and parents gathered in the middle of the field to mark the end of the campaign. “From November 2, we went training. We started in the astro turf in Rathgormack. We did a lot of crazy stuff in between like running up the Mahon Falls!” Power believes that all 30 players should be included on the match programme. He was only allowed to list 24. “I don’t understand it. We all know that every county squad in the country has to have a minimum of 30 lads to have good training matches. These other six don’t even get named in the programme. It’s so wrong; it’s really something they need to look at. We had 30 sets of parents that came up tonight, they all want to come in the gate, get that programme and be proud of what their son has done in the last six months for Waterford football.”
