Waterford chairman Tom Cunningham has played down rumours of unrest among the county hurling squad over the decision to ban collective training until after the May Bank Holiday weekend.

Club championship games will take centre stage over the coming weekends and Cunningham informed the Irish Independent: "This was what the clubs wanted.

"We have hurling and football championship games coming up over the next few weeks and we have to give players the best chance to prepare for them. We have to be fair to the clubs."

The Deise senior squad recently returned from a self-funded warm-weather training camp in Portugal and, asked if manager Derek McGrath was happy with the situation, Cunningham replied that he had signed up the manager's charter

"We want to give the clubs a chance to have their players over the next few weeks for important games.

"They will be back with the county after that, getting ready for the Cork game. Some counties play club championship games a lot closer to county games than that." Tweet

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