There may have been a few eyebrows raised when Waterford's Austin Gleeson was substituted during the win over Clare last weekend, but manager Derek McGrath is looking at the bigger picture.

Gleeson was withdrawn from the action after 57 minutes as Waterford battled to victory over Clare to advance to the NHL quarterfinals.

The game was still very much in the melting pot when the Hurler of the Year was withdrawn leaving many Waterford supporters to ask the question why?

McGrath admitted to the Waterford News & Star that Gleeson has a lot of hurling played already this year and minding him for the Munster SHC semi-final was his priority.

"With Austin, we're holding him back as much as we can. You're balancing a possible moment of brilliance with an injection of energy from Michael Kearney or Tommy Ryan," said McGrath.

"On this day twelve weeks, we're playing Tipperary or Cork in the championship and Austin will be ok for that."

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