Wateford's shane Aherne in an aerial duel with Tipps George Hannigan during their NFL Division Four meeting in Clonmel (Photo by Sean Byrne)
Waterford in a Munster Championship
Quarter-Final. June, literally, just
around the corner. A time of the Irish
sporting year laced with promise and
guaranteed to intrigue.
Nine times out of 10, one would
be talking about a fi re and brimstone
hurling clash in front of at least 30,000
spectators in the ‘Field of Legends’,
with both counties alive with banter
ahead of such a head to head.
Alas, this isn’t the case ahead of
Sunday’s clash, when the footballers
of these provincial neighbours go toe
to toe in their fi rst Football Championship
clash since 2003, a remarkable
stat for a six-team competition.
But if you think that neither of
these teams won’t lay their bodies
on the line in a similar manner to
their hurling counterparts in Munster
GAA’s greatest arena, well, I’ll
forgive any ignorance on that front.
Tom McGlinchey was in charge of
Tipperary when last these sides contested
a Championship encounter, a
year after he’d led the Premier to a
Munster Final replay against Cork.
The blue and gold emerged from
Walsh Park with a three-point win
(0-18 to 1-12) back in May 25th,
2003, but he’ll be seeking to reverse
that result this weekend given his new
brief as Port Láirge boss.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about
the Championship,” said the Waterford
manager on Thursday last, as he
tailored his panel’s fi nal preparations
ahead of next Sunday’s ‘trip to Tipp’.
“We’d set ourselves the target of
promotion from Division Four (of
the National Football League) and
we’d gone into that in the best possible
frame of mind having won the
McGrath Cup, but it wasn’t to be.
“We ended up having seven really
competitive games and the McGrath
Cup run on top of that, beating Cork
during that run, and we saw an awful
lot of players in action, which was
very helpful to us as a management
team.”
McGlinchey added: “Three of
our League defeats were by just
two points, games we could just as
easily have won as lost given how
tight those games were, and that was
hugely frustrating.
“If those games had gone in our
favour, the entire complexion of
the Division Four campaign would
have been altered. But look, we
can’t change what’s passed us by;
we believe we’ve identifi ed some
of the things that let us down a little
bit during the League and we’ll be
doing all we can to put that right this
weekend and hopefully come away
DERMOT KEYES REPORTS
with a win.
“When you look at both counties’
recent histories in the Munster Championship,
they’re not all that dissimilar
– we’ve got to approach this match
in a positive frame of mind and, combining
that with the work we’ve put in
since the end of the League and in the
build-up to this game, hopefully that
will prove enough on the day.”
The Deise boss continued: “The
two teams haven’t played each other
all that often in the Championship,
as has been referred to quite a bit
in the build-up to this match, but
they’ve played each other on a fairly
regular basis in the League: you’d a
draw between the teams in Clonmel
in Division Four last year, but the
bookies would probably have Tipp as
favourites.
“They’re at home, their Under-21s
had a great run all the way to the All-
Ireland Final a few weeks ago and
they’ve got some well-established
names, some very good footballers.
“But our players should have no
fear of Tipperary, and I don’t think
they have. We’d have huge respect
for them and we know they’ve done
well in several of the Qualifi ers, but
if you examine both teams’ Munster
Championship records, ours would be
as good as Tipperary’s, so there’s no
reason we shouldn’t be approaching
this match with anything other than a
positive frame of mind.
“It’s a local derby too when you
consider the South Tipperary/West
Waterford rivalry, with clubs on either
side of the border used to playing each
other in plenty of challenge, it’s great
to have a little bit of edge brought
to the game, given the strength of
football in both areas. But we’ve no
reason to fear Tipperary, in my view,
and playing in Thurles is something I
feel which ought to be bring the best
out of our players too; there’s an extra
sense of occasion when you get to line
out in a Championship match there.”
Unfortunately, McGlinchey is
not picking from his strongest possible
hand, with goalkeeper Stephen
Enright, Conor Phelan and Oran
Keevers all bound for the United
States.
“That’s just the way things are at
the moment,” said McGlinchey, “but
players from all over the country are
heading to America so it’s not just
something that’s affecting us; look at
Clare’s Colm Galvin, for example, he
was Under-21 Hurler of the Year only
last year and he’s gone too”.
The Deise bainisteoir stated: “It’s
hitting most counties and clubs at
senior level nowadays, but when you
consider we’d 29 players in action
during the League, we’ve done our
best to have as good a look at as many
players as we could, in good, competitive
games ahead of the Championship,
and I hope that’s going to stand
us in good stead come Sunday next.”
With Gavin Nugent also out of the
equation, due to injury as opposed to
the lure of Uncle Sam, McGlinchey
would surely wish for a stronger hand
to deal with, but he’s not seeking any
excuses in advance of the Championship
throw-in.
“The League ended for us on April
4th and we had our fi rst collective
training session was last Tuesday,
May 19th, but that’s just the way it
goes because the County Championship
took precedent for a few weeks
and, of course, we had the hurlers’
fantastic success in the League to take
into account too, which delayed a
round of the County Hurling Championship
by a week, and that ate a little
into our preparations too. But we’ve
got on with thing as best we can.”
A win on Sunday would be
fantastic, wouldn’t it? “It’d be huge.
Any away win does probably come
with an additional level of signifi –
cance for any team in the Championship,
and a win in Thurles, a ground
with such a fantastic aura, yeah, that
would certainly be special alright.
It’ll be a bit surreal from the point
of view that it’ll probably be quite a
small crowd of dedicated supporters
from both counties in the stadium on
Sunday, but to get an away win in the
Championship, and to get one against
such great rivals, would be huge.”
The reward for this Sunday’s
winners? A semi-fi nal meeting with
All-Ireland champions Kerry. Best
leave talk of that for another time!
Because right now, all that matters
is Sunday next in Semple, and I hope
that Deise fans will travel in healthy
numbers to get behind an honest, hard
working group of lads not short on
footballing talent.
A win in Thurles in any code in
any grade for Waterford is always
welcome, and it is not beyond
McGlinchey’s men to pull that off
come Sunday.
