Waterford GAA confirmed this week that Peter Queally has been appointed to succeed Davy Fitzgerald as the Déise's senior hurling manager.
Queally served as a selector under Davy Fitzgerald over the past two seasons alongside his role as manager of Limerick club side Kilmallock.
Queally lined out for Waterford for 15 years during his playing career, representing his county in both football and hurling across a 15-year-long intercounty career.
The incoming boss has a big task on his hands if he is to turn around the Déise's fortunes in the Munster and All-Ireland championships. Since reaching the 2021 All-Ireland semi-final, Waterford have failed to progress from the Munster round-robin. Two fourth-placed finishes came either side of a wooden spoon in 2023, and the county's supporters have been starved of All-Ireland action across the last few years.
However, Queally has proposed a major shake-up to the format of the provincial championships - a change which would have seen Waterford reach the All-Ireland quarter-finals this year.
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Waterford manager Peter Queally suggests new All-Ireland quarter-final format
7 January 2024; Waterford manager Davy Fitzgerald and selector Peter Queally during the Co-Op Superstores Munster Hurling League Group B match between Waterford and Tipperary at Fraher Field in Dungarvan, Waterford. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Peter Queally spoke to WLR FM's Déise Today programme this week, after being confirmed as the new Waterford hurling manager for the 2025 season.
The Munster championship will be a fiercely competitive test for the new man to tackle next season, with this year's All-Ireland finalists Clare and Cork to topple, as well as the might of John Kiely's Limerick juggernaut.
On his appearance on WLR FM this week, Queally suggested a major change to the format of the Munster championship.
The current format of the All-Ireland hurling championship sees the winners of each provincial championship progress directly to the All-Ireland semi-finals, the runners-up progress to the quarter-finals, and the third-placed teams progress to a preliminary quarter-final playoff with the Joe McDonagh Cup finalists.
However, Queally has proposed a big shake-up, with four quarter-finals to be played instead of two.
The only drawback I have with it is, if you look at the football championship, they all get their go at provinclal. Then you have your groups of four. In them groups of four, three teams go through, only one get knocked out and then the knock-out gets competitive and interesting. There’s plenty of chances there, let’s say.
The problem I have with Munster at the moment is three teams is all that comes out from five whereas I think if you add a fourth team, if you had four out of five who went through, it’s still competitive but what you have there as well to promote hurling is four (All-Ireland) quarter-finals. It could be a bonanza of hurling on a weekend.
If they had it this year instead of the two quarter-finals, we could have had extra quarter-finals where Kilkenny were number one in Leinster, we were number four in Munster, (a game) that would probably fill Thurles. You could have Limerick against Galway. Two very attractive games.
It would certainly dramatically open up the latter stages of the All-Ireland hurling championship.
Queally's change would also dampen the major advantage currently enjoyed by the winners of the provincial championships, who currently have a long break before playing their semi-final game.
With so much tinkering done to the All-Ireland football championship in recent years, its hurling companion has remained relatively untouched since the introduction of group stages in 2019. It will be fascinating to see if the suggestions of Waterford manager Queally gain any traction.
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