Fitzgerald keeping a spot in Waterford panel open for O'Keeffe

Davy Fitzgerald has invited Ballygunner goalkeeper Stephen O'Keeffe back on to the Waterford hurling panel and is awaiting his decision.

Speaking after their three-point Munster Hurling League victory over Tipperary, Fitzgerald said he would love to have O’Keeffe, who hasn’t played since the 2020 All-Ireland final, back on board.

"Yeah, I talked to Stephen a while back. We’ve asked him to rejoin the panel. Whether he does or not, we’ll know in the next few weeks.

"If he does, we’d love to have him, it’d be great. And if he doesn’t, we’ve two good lads (Billy Nolan and Shaun O’Brien) there as well. Obviously, you’re going to ask the best players in Waterford to play."

When asked if O’Keeffe was thinking about the offer, Fitzgerald replied: "He talked to us anyway, so he did."

Paddy Leavey was the only Ballygunner player to feature against Tipperary at Mallow and the rest will follow after being assessed this week.

"The first thing we have to do is assess them to see where they are. They’re going getting assessed [Wednesday] so we have to see from a strength point of view, from an endurance point of view, there’s a load of different things we’ve to check, and then we’ll decide what’s the programme from there on for them."

Patrick Fitzgerald will be among their number after a superb Munster club campaign saw him score 3-09 and land two man of the match awards.

"He’s in the panel but again, we have to look at his situation. He’s 18 years of age. You can’t treat everyone the exact same. I need to look at the whole thing and see where people are. That’s what we’ve been doing."