Band of brothers: Dan pictured with Maurice following the NHL Final win over Cork.
Dan Shanahan (DS): “It’s fantastic. It’s great to have a Waterford team back in a match like this and we’re hopeful we can go out and give a good account of ourselves against Tipperary. Every team has a purple patch, and then you have times when things don’t go so well for you. Look, it wasn’t for the want of trying but we just didn’t perform last year. I don’t feel we had a whole lot of luck either in a few of the games we played, and we weren’t exactly helped by injuries last year. But as things stand, we have a few more lads back from injury, which is fantastic and they’re really pushing the boys in the 26, and that can only work in our favour.”
DK: So, putting Pauric Mahony’s injury to one side, it sounds like you’ll have a full panel to choose from this Sunday in Thurles?
DS: “Off the top of my head, yeah, we’ve a clean bill of health, thankfully. We came through the training weekend at the Gold Coast and the club games the previous week as well and everything is good. To be only down the one player for this time of the year isn’t bad going at all, and to give Pauric his due, he’s making a speedy recovery. He’s cycling the bike and he’s in the pool and that’s a credit to the man. He wants to get back as soon as possible from a serious injury problem, so, Pauric aside, to have no injuries heading into a Munster Final against Tipp isn’t a bad place to be in at all. And hopefully it’ll go our way on the day.”
DK: A Munster Final in Thurles against Tipp – it doesn’t really get any sweeter than that, Dan?
DS: “I’m delighted for the supporters, more than anything. Thurles is only an hour and a half up the road from the city and an hour from Dungarvan. And sure it’s great to get to play Tipperary in Thurles. It’s where you want to play hurling from the time you’re a young fella. But whether we played the match in Limerick or Thurles, it didn’t really matter to us. But it’s Tipp in Thurles, we’ll deal with that and we’re looking forward to it.”
DK: The fact that Tipperary played so well against Limerick – in a sense does that actually help Waterford’s preparations heading into Sunday? You can’t exactly go into a Munster Final under the radar but Tipp’s forwards have stolen some of the media thunder in the past fortnight…
DS: “To be honest, I do think Tipp and Kilkenny are a few streaks ahead of other teams at the moment – they’re the two best teams in the country – and that’s not building up Tipp or anything. Just look at the records in the last few years and all the All-Irelands both Tipp and Kilkenny have played in. We’re going into the lion’s den now, to hurl Tipp in a Munster Final in Thurles. It’ll take a fair commitment from the lads to beat them up there. But when you’re in a Final, you’ve a 50-50 chance; it’s a two-horse race and hopefully we can get past the finish line first.”
DK: A League Semi-Final and a Munster Final are two different competitive beasts, there’s no escaping that, but at the same time, the way the lads came back into that match in Nowlan Park, having conceded those two early goals and the way the backs shut Tipperary out subsequently, in addition to running up a tally at the other end which got Waterford into a League Final, that must be a source of encouragement?
DS: “As you said, the League and the Championship are two different kettles of fish and I’d imagine Tipp will be hurting after that League semi-final and they’ll probably be using that as motivation for next Sunday. They got a really good start on us that day, but our lads came back into it really well, we didn’t concede any goals after the good start they made which was really important in terms of getting back into the game and being competitive. They’ve been a super side over the last few years, so any time you get the better of a team like Tipp is something to be proud of. The movement out of their forwards is unreal. But we’ll go out, aim to do what we’ve been doing all year and if we do that, and get a little bit of luck too, hopefully we’ll have a Munster title coming home with us on Sunday evening. ”
DK: A lot has been made of the perceived disadvantage you, Derek and Fintan have had in terms of preparation given the massive overlap between the senior and under-21 panels this year. But if you flip that argument on its head and consider that a lot of Sunday’s team have had two Championship outings in the past six weeks, added with the run to the League Final, Tipp haven’t had nearly the same amount of action in the same timeframe…
DS: “We’ve over 10 players in the Under-21 panel and they’ve worked really, really hard in both grades. The effort they’re putting in, the effort that everyone is putting in, well, it’s showing on the field. We parked the League, beat Cork in the Championship, and we were lucky enough to win that in the end. we’ve seen what Tipperary did to Limerick and we know that however well we play, that we’ll need that little bit of luck to go in our favour too.”
DK: Kevin Moran told me that the winter training this time around was the best he can ever recall in his inter-county career, and that’s shown in the conditioning of the players and particularly given the way they’ve finished so strongly in so many matches…
DS: “We went back that little bit earlier last winter, to be honest, just to try and get a head start on the other teams heading into the League, and they’ve trained really hard, everyone one of them. When you see lads togged out in the dressing room and the way the players are looking, that’s all down to them, their commitment on the training field and their level of gym work. They’ve been unbelievable for us all year. These lads want to win badly and they’re doing everything they can to give themselves the best chance of winning every time they’re togging out and pulling on the Waterford jersey. I was lucky enough to play in a few great Waterford teams with some great players and to be involved again with another group of great players is an absolute honour. I have nothing but praise for these lads. They’re fantastic.”
DK: There was a terrific clip during the Munster Semi-Final against Cork of you, very animated, almost hovering over the sideline as the players fought for possession – you could see how engaged you were at the time…
DS: “That’s just me on the line, to be honest with you. It’s not that I go out and do it deliberately, but when you’re involved with such an honest bunch of lads, you get so close to them for six or seven months of the year – eight or nine if you’re lucky. We’ve done all we can to create a family atmosphere and I feel we’ve done that. And sure when I see those lads going for a ball and they’re only a foot or so away from me, I nearly feel like picking it up myself! But it’s just the way I am. I’m so interested in our lads and them doing well and I’m only trying to my best for the county and to help them get over the line.”
DK: It’s difficult not to get a little bit giddy about a Munster Final, Dan. It’s still a match that means so much, maybe a bit more to us 80’s kids who grew up with Waterford taking heavy beatings in 82, 83 and 89…
DS: “It’s every young hurler’s dream, in this part of the country, to line our for your county in a Munster Final. And to play Tipp in Thurles, sure where else would you want to be? When you’re out training in the muck and the shit during the winter, you’re not thinking about playing in the Qualifiers, you’re dreaming of big occasions like next Sunday. This is what they’ve trained for, what they’ve worked for, what they’ve sacrificed, this is the reason they’ve given up all the nights out or going on holidays. So we’re just hoping we’ll get a few lucky breaks and that these fantastic lads will get their just rewards in Thurles.”
