Sean Cullinane, Tony Browne and Peter Queally are all included in the Waterford team for Sunday's quarter-final clash with Galway. While there are still doubts about the fitness of all three players, Waterford are prepared to wait until the last minute for all three to prove their fitness.
There are two changes in the team from that which started in Thurles last Sunday. Mark O'Sullivan loses out with the return of Cullinane, who was injured in the drawn Munster final against Clare and didn't play in last Sunday's replay. Micheal White, sent off with Clare's Brian Lohan early in the replay, is replaced by Sean Daly in the right corner of the attack. Daly came on in the second half of last Sunday game. Estranged from the panel after a falling out with the management team last autumn, Daly returned at the beginning of the championship and is now preferred to Billy O'Sullivan, the player dropped for White last Sunday.
The return of Cullinane will be widely welcomed. Their full back for the season, his absence last Sunday led to a reshuffle in the whole full back line with Tom Feeney filling the number three jersey. Feeney returns to his regular left corner position for Sunday's Croke Park clash.
Browne is still having extensive treatment for bruising to his arms, shoulder and leg. There was also some concern about the fitness of full forward Anthony Kirwan. He only took a partial part in last night's training session.
The fall-out from the replay against Clare last Sunday will not be fully known until next Tuesday when a meeting of the Munster Council considers all the implications of the violent scenes which marked the early part of the match. It is now accepted that the Council's disciplinary procedures will consider the report of the referee, Willie Barrett, and will also use video recordings of events both before the throw-in and afterwards.
There is an enormous amount of bitterness in the Waterford camp about the treatment of Tony Browne. He was their Man of the Match in the drawn game and Waterford supporters believe that he was singled out for "special attention" just before and immediately after the start of the match. Waterford manager Gerald McCarthy, a former All-Ireland medal winner and All Star while playing for Cork, said yesterday that last Sunday's events had been set aside by his team.
"We are not going to allow the events of last Sunday to get in our way. We are concentrating on the task we have before us. There is no point in looking back. We'll have lots of time for that.
"The future is what we are interested in and I am not going to get involved in arguments. We have a big match to play and we realise that we can still win a place in the semi-finals. That is our only aim just now," he said. He confirmed that the selectors were worried about the fitness of three players. "Sean Cullinane and Tony Browne are very doubtful, but we will wait until Sunday morning to see what the situation is. Peter Queally also has a leg injury, but he is likely to be all right.
"Sean (Cullinane) has not fully recovered from the hamstring injury he suffered in the drawn match against Clare but we are hoping for the best. Tony (Browne) is badly bruised in several areas and he is having intensive treatment. Both are very important players for us and it is only fair that they be given as long as possible to prove their fitness," McCarthy said.
Waterford (SH v Galway): B Landers; T Feeney, S Cullinane, B Flannery, S Frampton, F Hartley, B Greene; T Browne, P Queally; D Shanahan, K McGrath, D Bennett; S Daly, A Kirwan, P Flynn.
