WATERFORD BOSS LIAM Cahill admitted that his initial reaction is ‘not good’ regarding the extent of the injury suffered by star defender Tadhg De Búrca in today’s All-Ireland final.
De Búrca fell to the ground in some discomfort before being forced off in the 21st minute of the clash against Limerick. He was a huge loss for Waterford after his terrific form in helping propel them to the final stage.
After tearing his cruciate in September 2019 in a club game, Cahill is hoping that his key player will avoid a recurrence.
“Yeah, Tadhg De Burca’s injury, I’m not sure. My initial reaction would be that it’s not good, for a man who has tried unbelievably hard to get back into the shape he was in, the way he was having a cruciate knee ligament already last year and I hope tomorrow we find out it’s not too drastic, but I would have my concerns.”
De Búrca’s injury was a further setback on a day of deep disappointment for Waterford hurling. They had hoped to bridge the gap from their Munster final loss but founded Limerick in a formidable mood.
“It was a really difficult day,” admitted Cahill.
“They’re a really powerful outfit and we picked a bad day really to lose our bit of consistency and our choices and our decisions on the ball.
“Massive congratulations to them, they’re a really, really good team and a real test for any opposition. We came today to have a real cut and in fairness to my lads, I have to really say they went right to end.
“I know the scoreboard wasn’t pretty at the end but I know that they gave it everything, looking at them from the line they emptied their stomachs to try and cling in there and do the right things. It wasn’t from the want of trying today, it was just that we met superior opposition.”
Despite creating goalscoring chances, Waterford could not hit the net for the boost they desperately needed on the scoreboard.
“Yeah we needed to score two to three goals today, we said that,” agreed Cahill.
“We created, we had one or two half-chances in the second half as well playing poorly, and playing maybe without any real energy. The energy was kind of sapped out of us, but we needed them two goals to go in. I think Jack’s flashed across the face of goal and Stephen’s was blocked when pressure came on.
“I just thought today they were even more aggressive, the way they were chasing everything and hunting everything and everything they touched went over the bar, and it did in the Munster final too for long periods. When you are a good team and you have the composure Limerick have, most of the time them chances go over the bar with the quality they have and hats off to them, well done.”
Despite the dejection of the end outcome, Cahill conceded that his Waterford team overall made strides this year.
“It’s a raw place down there at the moment but yeah we’d like to think that we made great progression this year. The real test of us will be next year now, to see how we can build on that and make sure that our progression stays on an upward curve all the time.
“And that’s a job of work for me and the management team again now, to get down to it early next year and make sure we try and unearth a couple of new players again and give ourselves more options.
“The whole strength and conditioning side of it as well, to make sure physically we improve to be able to try and match the likes of Limerick and other counties out there that are so physical.
“A big job of work ahead but a good year and a good experience for a lot of those players.”
Subscribe to The42′s new member-led GAA Championship show with Marc Ó Sé and Shane Dowling.
