Munster Express Online

Maybe Tom Cheasty, Lord to mercy on him, knew something we didn’t; something we dared not even contemplate as we struggled not to think ahead to Kilkenny.

What he did know, later in life, is that hurling, for all its emotional pull, is ultimately only a game. Tom, who lost his beloved eldest daughter, Siobhan, to a brain haemorrhage in the mid-nineties when she was in the bloom of youth (having, irony of ironies, just qualified as a doctor), would have given up his glory days in an instant to bring her back.

As they come to terms with another devastating disappointment, perspective may be the Waterford hurlers’ best friend right now. To their credit, to a man they were at Tom’s burial in Ballyduff Lower on Monday morning. From his hospital bed he’d wished them all the best against Limerick, probably aware that he wouldn’t be alive to witness them win, hopefully, another All-Ireland.

While it won’t bear thinking about right now, if it’s incentive this collection of Waterford players are after, then there’s been no shortage of those – Nicky English included – who’ve been quick to (again) write them off as having missed the last boat out of the harbour.

It’s easy for me to say, but there should be no decisions taken in haste. The age profile of the team is hardly over-the-hill, even if some of the players’ mileage would raise eyebrows at an NCT.

If Tony Browne wasn’t Tony Browne you’d say he’s overdue a well-earned rest. But while your limbs don’t lie the morning after a hard match or yet another torture-cum-training session, many’s the old-timer would tell him you’ll be retired long enough. He got caught a couple of times last Sunday but so did a few young lads and Browne has been without a doubt one of the best defenders in the country this season, and will be next year if he sticks at it.

As he showed in flashes against Cork and Limerick this summer, Paul Flynn still has the talent even if the flame flickers a bit more than it burns. He himself said on RTÉ’s ‘The Road to Croker’ before the Cork replay that 2007 was by no means this team’s last shot at the title. If he believes that there’s no reason why he should pack it in himself.

If used more sparingly (three successive Sundays in Croke Park fifteen years into a senior inter-county career is a big ask), and with a tailored training programme, he could at the very least provide the sort of experienced option from the bench that was lacking against Limerick.

ENGINE-ROOM

Other than Tony’s 35 years and Paul’s 33, Clinton Hennessy – who couldn’t be faulted for any of the Shannonsiders’ five goals – will be 31 next season (nothing for a ‘keeper), with two or three others touching 30 and the rest a good deal under. Then there are a few Under 21 and Intermediate prospects around who could push on if they really want it.

Ken and Dan can hurl on to the same stellar standard for a few years yet. And all around them there are enough hungry – and probably angry – young men to give the veterans a dig out.

The engine-room of the side, Michael Walsh (a must-keep as captain) and Eoin Kelly – who, when played together, are as good a midfield pairing as there is in the country – are both only approaching their mid-twenties.

In attack, John Mullane, we hear, may well have been suffering the effects of a viral infection. The bug that has been going round Waterford this summer is a debilitating dose and, if so, he deserves the benefit of the doubt. Having struggled for form and confidence as the summer has gone on, next year is a huge one for Mullane, especially as we can’t depend on Dan to perform minor miracles forever. (How quick some people were to pounce on the fact that Shanahan ‘only’ scored four points on Sunday. A mere 8-12, all from play, in 5 games? Tsk, he’s slipping.)

Seamus Prendergast, who rightly pointed out that you can’t hit so many bad wides in an All-Ireland semi-final and expect to get away with it, is still only 27 and has plenty more in the tank. Many would contend he suffered from the endless shuffling of Waterford’s offensive pack, shifting him from his natural centre-forward domain where he’s proved such a possession-winning powerhouse in the past.

The type of reliable character who’ll always make a contribution even on an OK day, Stephen Molumphy, though not as dominant in the loose as he was against Cork, has been a massive plus this year and, at only 23, has years ahead of him at this level, as does Aidan Kearney, who learned against Andrew O’Shaughnessy that it can be tough at the top, and should be better for the experience.

Not for the first time, Eoin McGrath had a point to prove when he came on just 25 minutes in and made another compelling case. He won a heap of ball, used it quickly and intelligently and took his goal smartly. On the basis of his last three displays, all things being equal he must be worth his starting place next year and would certainly add verve to the first-choice front six.

That said, Waterford, having used the forward rotation policy so effectively all year, suddenly appeared limited in their alternatives once McGrath had been sprung earlier than the management doubtless intended. No offence to the two Shanes, O’Sullivan and Walsh – possibly two for the future (though they’ve a few real youngsters breathing down their necks) – but Waterford’s second-half withdrawal of Mullane and Flynn, like Cork’s possibly premature replacement of Joe Deane and Jerry O’Connor seven days earlier, put a palpable pep in Limerick’s step.

BRITTLE BACKLINE

But back to basics. There’s no escaping the fact that the goals is what done us. It’s six years since Limerick – after we’d blitzed them just as they blitzed us for the first 20 minutes on Sunday – destroyed the Waterford full-back line in Thurles, with bombs being dropped on Brian Begley with such calamitous consequences.

Since that 2001 collapse, despite a raft of permutations and personnel changes, we haven’t found a final defensive line formidable enough to forgive our forwards when they’re misfiring. It might be stating the bleeding obvious, but it’s the principal fault that needs fixing if Waterford are to attain what every neutral in the land wants them to achieve.

Each of Limerick’s five strikes – at least two of them soft scores – came at killer stages, especially O’Shaughnessy’s clinically-dispatched dead ball when Waterford had shrunk their arrears – despite all those agonising wides – to just a one-point deficit with six minutes remaining.

Unfortunately, they used up so much energy in hauling back Limerick’s ten-point lead that they left themselves open to the sucker punch and the winners landed the precise shots when required.

But even still, if it weren’t for the wides … all seventeen of them. ‘Squandermania: the sequel’. One thing Waterford could never be accused of is being afraid to let fly – sometimes you shoot out the lights, others it’s a shot in the dark – but some of those efforts were pulled and dragged with the arms of evidently tired men.

Ignore those who say Waterford’s lack of zip can’t be used as an excuse. Make no mistake: fatigue, psychological as much as physical, was a major factor in delivering this latest, searingly-painful body blow.

While Waterford’s first touch deserted them, Limerick, fresher for the fortnight’s rest, were faster to the loose ball, contested every 50:50 with controlled venom, and attacked sparingly but with deadly efficiency. They registered only five scores – crucially, 3 of them goals – and just two wides in the entire second half. (Though that might have something to do with half their players seeming to be on the deck at any given moment.)

Limerick’s abrasive instincts are alive and well and have been married to a new-found belief and a passion instilled by those in charge. In several key areas Limerick had war of attrition down to a fine art. One thing I was struck by from all the pictures submitted by the various match photographers was the way every frame seemed to feature a Portlairge player surrounded by a swarm of green shirts.

The hunting-in-packs approach suffocated the favourites in the first half and then when Waterford eventually got into their stride Limerick used every ruse in the gamesmanship manual to stem their flow. Their in-your-face intensity wasn’t always to Seamus Roche’s liking and the Tipperary official awarded Waterford twice as many frees; a few of them fairly dubious, if we’re honest. There could be no ‘we wuz robbed’ complaints, even if the mere three minutes of injury time he allowed beggared belief. Not that it mattered, but it could have.

Richie Bennis has been portrayed almost as a cartoonish character but there’s much more to him that the highly-strung emotional-strings-puller of popular perception – even if his mouth overtakes his brain on occasion. (Apart from his puerile remark about ‘Dan the Man’ being held goalless, Bennis’s ‘we knew we’d win’ bombast was easily said after the event.) Limerick mightn’t be as easy on the eye as Waterford in full flight, but tactically he, Gary Kirby and their fellow plotters got it bang on.

MATURITY

Waterford may well claim the Hurler and Young Hurler of the Year Awards courtesy of Shanahan and Molumphy (whose goal, made by the former, was another example of his rare ground-covering abilities; though Seamus Hickey could nick the junior prize if he kelps keep Kilkenny’s attack in check) and they should earn additional All Stars in Ken and ‘Brick’, possibly among others, but such accolades are scant consolation at this stage.

What should stand them in good stead, however, is the maturity they’ve been lauded for all year until now. The ‘Dads Army’ tag might be slightly overplayed but, while beaten on Sunday, they never lost the heads, or heart, and took their beating like men.

They tried their damnedest, fought till the bitter end, it just wasn’t enough. And remember, no matter how depressed you felt on Monday morning, it will have been nothing like the angst that the players would have endured. It’s hard to watch grown, hardened lads cry in public. Harder still when it’s not for the first time.

For now, as the hurt dulls, it’s time to say thanks a thousand-fold to all the players for what they’ve put in this year, from the first of those 130 training sessions – serious, selfless commitment that can’t be re-entered into lightly – to the very last puck of the sliotar on Sunday.

As usual, it’s been one hell of a ride: from happy days to a harrowing afternoon and all sorts of mood swings in between. I’ve used this line before I’m sure, but it’s better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all. And Waterford, when they try with all of their popular might, guarantee thrills, spills and typically tears in the finish. If there’s any justice some day soon they’ll be of the joyful sort.

Whatever happens when Limerick and Kilkenny cross swords, Waterford remain, for what it’s worth, the ‘People’s Champions’. And, while not everyone would agree, I’d rather have this team lose half-a dozen All-Ireland semi-finals and be loved, than win one Liam McCarthy and be begrudged.

Are GAA ‘floggingplayers to death’?

While GPA chief Dessie Farrell this week issued a press release in praise of Croke Park bosses’ ‘outstanding achievement’ in keeping pace with such a hectic series of games, little has been made in the media – or by his association – about the demands placed on players over recent weeks.

‘Fuming’ Fenor man David Sullivan, now domiciled down in Cork, takes a player welfare angle on Sunday’s gut-wrenching setback – arguing that the ‘GAA are flogging players, their prize assets, to death with fixtures so that they can fill their coffers’.

Citing how Tipp had to play seven games in as many weeks and Waterford had to fatally face three hi-octane fixtures in a fortnight (not to mention Limerick’s ‘trilogy’ before the Munster decider), he feels the drawn Deise-Cork quarter-final should have gone to extra-time (at the expense of the Association’s income streams) or that the subsequent semi with Limerick, and by extension the All-Ireland final, should have been shoved back a week.

Having feared ‘all week before the game that Waterford couldn’t possibly be fresh’ and ‘told to stop being negative’, he says: ‘Limerick thoroughly deserved their win and it’s not their fault what happened with fixtures, but no team should have to play a semi-final the week after a quarter-final,’ while acknowledging that Kilkenny had to do it also.

But while we continue to suffer the cruel twists of fate, the Cats’ free semi-final pass looks here to stay.

Meal ticket

Spraoi’s TV Honan dropped me a line in relation to the cost of Waterford’s championship odyssey in Croke Park.

‘I might argue the toss with you about Spraoi being a ‘distraction’, and I’m not that partial to Rosemary tea myself, but I totally agree with the general thrust your piece last week,’ the Clare man wrote prior to Sunday’s journey’s end. ‘I understand why three weekends in a row are putting pressure on peoples’ pockets, particularly family groups. Also, the extra tenner irked people, it was a bad commercial call let alone from a public relations perspective.’

But, he asserts, ‘Having acknowledged these points, what price do you put on the stuff dreams are made of?

‘Back in ‘95 if the Cliffs of Moher had fallen into the Atlantic on Saturday night we’d have left them there until we got back from the game on Monday. Similarly a few years ago the price of a League match had gone up a couple of quid. As I was walking up to Walsh Park for a Waterford-Kilkenny opener the lads with me were moaning about the price. I told them, ‘D.J. is playing today, pay the money and tell your Grandchildren you saw him play.’’

Thanks TV, and apologies for any perceived pop at the Spraoi end of the culture spectrum. The late Tom Cheasty’s good friend Frank Cullinane in Portlaw – who also lost a daughter in desperately tragic circumstances – is of like mind too, agreeing with me that people would have happily paid €100-a-head for terrace tickets for the final if Waterford had won last Sunday. The only thing you can take with you are memories. Some people have little to be complaining about but just can’t help themselves.

Cheatedby system

While not denying Limerick were full value for a victory that owed more to a combination of factors (chiefly an unrealistic raising of the corporeal and mental bar in a Waterford context) than pure hurling ability, it’s impossible not to feel slightly cheated by the system all the same.

Having avoided double jeopardy – just – against Cork, the second time Waterford were asked to beat the same team twice in a single season they came unstuck.

Paul Flynn said last week that the ‘back door’ formula which had seen us matched against the same two Munster side at two separate junctures, and knocked out after a single defeat – when Cork could afford two and still be in the hunt for honours – was ‘ridiculous’. He’s 100% right and I’d be saying the same if we’d hammered Limerick out the gate onto Jones’s Road.

In weighing up the future, a significant consideration for Waterford camp, surely, must be the fact that next year’s revised championship will reward the provincial winners with an automatic semi-final spot. Whatever happens, Waterford certainly won’t have to play Cork three times and Limerick once to reach the last four.

Justin McCarthy says somewhat tantalisingly that he’ll be training an inter-county team next year either which way. Estranged Clare ‘keeper Davy Fitzgerald was saying in his column in The Star on Monday (anything Loughnane can do …) that the Corkman is a great coach but it’s time he handed over the Waterford reins.

However, I get the feeling most Waterford people would be happy enough to see him stay put, satisfied the team has made progress this year. A few more ‘finds’, the same resolve, and a remedy for that defensive achilles heel, and we won’t be far away again.