Waterford's season is effectively over after a disappointing 2-24 to 0-10 loss at home against Limerick on Sunday.
It's the Deise's third straight loss this season and condemns them to another early exit from the championship.
Kilkenny legend Tommy Walsh sifted through the wreckage of another defeat for Waterford, telling Maire Treasa Ni Cheallaigh: "I think if you look back at their first two games they were probably a team that lacked confidence. I think the league final really took it out of them.
"They went up there in high hopes of claiming a first league title since 2014, I think it was, with Derek McGrath - but since then they've been playing like a team with no confidence.
"And, the real story of today of how they just whimpered out of the Championship. Because, we were hoping they'd come to Walsh Park here with fire and brimstone and it just didn't happen today.
"Once Limerick got on top of them, now they're playing the All-Ireland champions and they have given that type of beating to many's a team but Waterford had no answers today."
It's been a sad demise recently for Waterford hurling. The All-Ireland finalists of 2017 have shown no sign of reaching those heights again any time soon.
"They haven't won a championship game since and they'll just have to take a good, hard look at themselves over this winter and see what went wrong because the players are there.
"One of my friends from Waterford just said, there's seven all-stars on that Waterford team that were playing today.
I know 'Brick' Walsh, back in his younger days, he's 36 or 37 now but Kevin Moran is still fit and fast - age shouldn't come into it really with guys like that.
"I just think today, they probably were tactically under a bit of pressure because every time the ball went up to the full-forward line - there was three or four Limerick guys versus one Waterford guy."
Watch the full post-match interview here:
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