Dan Shanahan sour grapes?

Didn't think Dan slagged off Davy Fitz. I thought his comments were fair.  He was more disappointed than sour grapes. If you are looking for sour grapes just listen to Jack O' Connor.

HE gave prior notice of his intentions earlier this summer but Dan Shanahan last night confirmed he is walking away from the inter-county game after what he described as a "roller-coaster" career.

However, he didn’t go quietly, opting instead to have a parting shot at Waterford manager Davy Fitzgerald.

Shanahan believes Fitzgerald did not give him a fair crack of the whip in what turned out to be his final season.

"Yeah, definitely. I thought I would get a lot more (playing time) but that is not my decision. The lads would back this up. When I went back training I had been playing well, but obviously the management didn’t think I was, so that is their decision and I will have to stand by that."

Shanahan was again part of Waterford’s second wave last Sunday, coming off the bench midway through the second-half of the seven-point defeat to Tipperary, but by then the game was already done and dusted as a contest.

Though he accepts that Tipperary were clearly the better team on the day, he pointed the finger of blame squarely at Fitzgerald with his appraisal that "Tipp had our tactics off more than anything else".

"Two of their forwards got five or six points each and that doesn’t happen when you are playing county hurling," he pointed out.

"A player getting six points from play is a one-off. One fella got five points and another got six. You can’t concede them scores, eleven points from play in one game."

Hurler of the Year in 2007, the Lismore man captured the hearts of hurling supporters everywhere with his uncanny knack for finding the net in crucial championship encounters.

"My time is up," he confirmed on Newstalk’s Off The Ball show last night. "It’s been a roller coaster, to be honest with you. It has been good and bad but I have made some friends out of it and I have kept some friends. I have won a lot, obviously not the big one, but I can hold my head up high."

He certainly can, even if that inability to claim an All-Ireland title will always hang over the likes of Shanahan, Ken McGrath and Tony Browne, all of whom have given the game a lot more than they have taken from it.

Shanahan walks away this week having pocketed four senior Munster medals, a National Hurling League title, three All Stars and the two main hurler of the year awards for his memorable efforts in 2007.

Though he first appeared on the senior inter-county stage in the mid-to-late-1990s, it was 2004 before he truly announced himself to the nation at large with his hat-trick of goals against Clare in the Munster championship.

He had never found the net for Waterford in summer fare before, but he followed that up with two against Tipperary and another in the memorable provincial final against Cork when he claimed his second Munster medal.

Another All Star followed two years later but 2007 proved to be his year of years, one in which he scored eight championship goals, three of which came against Limerick in the Munster final in Thurles.

Shanahan takes his leave having played over 50 times in the All-Ireland championship for his county but, in many ways, his last season summed up the many peaks and troughs he went through with the Déise.

Marooned on the bench for most of the summer, he was the hero once again when his goal tipped Waterford over the line in extra-time of the replayed Munster final against Cork.

"I suppose, if Tipp don’t win the next day they will end up with nothing and we will still be Munster champions but if Eoin Kelly had taken his free chances I don’t think I would have got the chance to get the goal in the Munster replay final.

"To get the goal was outstanding though, absolutely outstanding, and I’ll never forget it when it went in and the lads came up to me to celebrate afterwards. It was unbelievable, and I thank all the lads I played with over the years."

Shanahan’s refusal to shake Justin McCarthy’s hand after being substituted against Clare in 2008 was famously followed by the Corkman’s departure from the south-east, but he remained noncommittal when asked if Fitzgerald was the man to take the county forward into 2011.

"That’s not my decision. That is a county board decision. It isn’t about me or Davy Fitzgerald. It is about the Waterford players and the Waterford team.

"If he stays on, well and good, if he doesn’t, well and good."

That's a load of rubbish Dan Chipowski. That same yarn gets spun every year - the only thing that changes is the name of the players - I heard the same muck about Sean Og and that Dan stepped in to do a presentation for free for a Cork club. The FACT is he did a huge amount of free presentations for clubs around the country after he won hurler of the year. I think he took on too many commitments and it was one of the main reasons his form suffered the following year. After giving a great service to his County, he is entitled to his opinion as to his use this year - having heard the interview on Newstalk I think the media have blown this up a bit to make it a bigger story than what it is.

His decline in form over the last two seasons was startling. I know he was coming to the end of his career but the difference between his performances in the 08 and 09 seasons was massive.


Very good player,don't like him as a person but am still sorry to see him fade so badly towards the end.

Correct sour grapes,a disapointing exit from a once top player!