Ambitious: Waterford Under-21 Hurling selector Tony Browne.
Tony Browne (TB): “Yeah, moreorless. But we’ve watched a few of the teams playing at this grade over the past few weeks and there are very few panels that would have such an overlap between the two panels. I’d say our panel probably has the most senior lads involved, at least of the Munster teams at the moment. And, as you said, we’d love to have these guys and be able to work with them over a certain number of months but the fact that there are so many involved in the senior panel just doesn’t allow us to do that.
“But, as you said, we’re just going to have to get on with it. Since the start of last week, we’ve had a 10-day period to try and gel this together. It’s a hugely difficult task, but it’s five years since we’ve won even a match at this grade, so we’re hoping that, going back to last year, we’ve a little bit longer this time in terms of a turnaround so we hope we can gel it all together and that will help us to come up trumps against Cork on Wednesday night.”
DK: Most Waterford supporters that have trained an eye on the Under-21 team in the recent past, well, at least going back as far as 2009, will recognise that talk of winning titles and all that pales into significance with the importance of winning a match at this grade as opposed to anything that may potentially lie beyond Wednesday night?
TB: “Exactly. That’s it. We’ve been very poor at this grade with some really good teams overt the past five years and there’s been a lot of expectation of Waterford teams at this level in that course of time. From experience, I was lucky enough to win an All-Ireland at this level myself (in 1992) and really, a team at this grade can take off if they get beyond their first game and that’s the key for us.
“We’re facing into a huge task on Wednesday night, going up to Páirc Uí Rinn to take on Cork. Look, I don’t think any Waterford team has ever gone down to Cork and won at this grade so we’re well aware of the task, and we’re well aware of the expectations that are out there about this Waterford team.
“But this is a good Cork team we’re going to be up against. Of all the teams I’ve seen in Munster this year, they’re probably the most organised team so it’s going to be very difficult to break them down and I’d reckon it’s going to tight for long spells.”
DK: I suspect we’re fortunate in having players in this panel who were part of the 2013 minor squad that went down to Cork and won, the first time Waterford had ever won in Cork at that grade, and I suspect hat that should be of some benefit?
TB: “Well it should be in that they have that experience already, but at the same time, every game is different. This has proven to be a difficult grade for Waterford down through the years and it’ll be no different, I’d imagine, this Wednesday night. And we have been stressing to the lads that we cannot look beyond Wednesday night but if we get over this and if we win, then it could have a snowball effect for the panel
DK: How enjoyable has it been to be involved as a selector and how beneficial do you feel the series of matches played against the senior clubs during the spring has proven?
TB: “One of the main reasons I got involved this year was that I’ve seen good Waterford teams over the past five years getting knocked out in the first round and that really disappointed me because I knew we had the talent, I knew we had the players. But I just felt that, maybe, between everyone in the county, that we’d slightly disrespected this grade. It’s a super grade if you look back at the All-Ireland Finals played over the last few years and I just felt we disrespected it a little bit and one of the reasons I got involved was to try and improve that.
“So we’ve got a few heads together and came up with the spring system just to get a bit of interest back into this Under-21 grade but also to scour the county to see if we could come up with a couple of players that maybe hadn’t been spotted, to give them an opportunity and to show them that we are putting a huge effort into this grade and put a bit of respect back into our record at Under-21 level. And we’ve developed a good bond within the panel and we’re very happy about that.”
DK: There’s a feelgood factor in the county at present given how well the seniors have been going, and that’s got to be really encouraging…
TB: “Without a doubt. We’ve been on the crest of a wave over the past few weeks between winning the National League and beating Cork in Thurles, so these are certainly good times for Waterford hurling. We’re happy at the moment but we know that we’ve a job to do on Wednesday night and that’s all we’re concentrating on at the moment. The difficult thing is to try to pull the (senior) players back into our system in a very short period of time and get them focused in for this one-off game against Cork, and that will be a difficult thing to do. But hopefully we can drive on and get a positive result at this grade for the first time in six years.”
