Davy Fitzgerald has been defending the tactics used by Waterford last month's All-Ireland hurling semi-final after Ken McGrath became the latest Deise player to criticise the outgoing manager.

McGrath has joined recently retired team-mate Dan Shanahan in questioning the tactics employed during Waterford's 1-18 to 3-19 defeat to All-Ireland champions-elect Tipperary.

He said: "Waterford have a reputation for playing an open brand of hurling, but I felt we went out to nullify Tipp rather than putting the emphasis on trying to play our own game.

"Basiscally, we tried to beat Tipperary playing only one forward - John Mullane - and to me that was a crazy approach to adopt against a team who showed in the All-Ireland final how good they are. We should have tried to match Tipp man for man, and what it boiled down to was the team management didn't trust the players to carry out the job in an effective manner."

But Fitzgerald, who has yet to declare if he will be seeking another term as Waterford manager, hit back by saying: "Ken is entitled to his opinion. But I can assure you that we had the same tactics for the Munster final against Cork.

"And we sat down with all the players before those games and asked for their input. It was a collective decision.

"I wouldn't ever want to take away from how good these guys were, but at the end of the day, I had to what I think is best for Waterford hurling.

"The game has moved on and Waterford would have been known as a great, open team. Now the game is all about hard work." Tweet

Most Read Stories