WHEN REFLECTING ON Waterford’s journey, Derek McGrath casts his mind back to Valentine’s Day February 2015.
That night at the Gaelic Grounds, he wagers there were at most 50 Waterford hurling fans gathered for the Division 1B league opener.
McGrath had taken the scalpel to the squad that winter and the changes were not all greeted favourably.
16 months on, he takes his team to Thurles next Sunday for a Munster semi-final. In the interim Waterford have claimed league promotion, been crowned league champions, contested a Munster final, reached an All-Ireland semi-final and come within a point of retaining their league crown.
The rise is ‘truly significant’, in the eyes of the Deise boss but this isn’t a point-scoring exercise and he’s not seeking for acclaim to rain down upon him.
“We had excluded a few guys from our panel and there was absolute apathy there and the journey from apathy to relative enthusiasm was truly significant.
“If you had told me this time last year, February 12 months ago, that we’d lose one game in the league, we lost to Dublin and one game after extra-time and a replay to Clare, I’d be happy.
“People don’t realise how hard we have to work to be where we are at the moment. The day you start looking for adulation as to what way you are going, stopping to give out to all the dogs barking on the street about how you are playing. you’re in trouble.
“The one hope I would have is that the crowd would go and see a team that is extremely competitive, working for each other and fighting for each other until it ends.
“Even going back to Sean Stack’s comments before the first match. I think it’s the greatest compliment you could ever have. He referred to us as ordinary.
“We took it as an absolute compliment. When a group of ordinary people or ordinary players are together they put their mind and focus on one particular aim or one goal, you can do anything you want.”
Waterford’s style of play is a topic within hurling that polarizes and Stacks comments reflected that.
“He is entitled to his opinion and it probably followed widespread negative commentary from high profile players.
“Justin would have come out last year and given out about how we were playing, Eddie O’Connor from Kilkenny. We have to deal with all those things.
“We have to take a bit of pride from the lads mental attitude that they’re able to say ‘hey we’ve had to deal with this.’
“All you need is one or two in the group saying ‘we should be playing this way or we should be playing that way’ and we don’t have that.”
What McGrath and Waterford do have is an array of richly talented young hurlers. They are getting set for another bout with a Clare team that are starting to tap into the form that swept the boards in 2013.
“I watched Tony Kelly’s display in the league final replay,” remarks McGrath.
“I watched the players that Clare have and then I look at Patrick Curran, I look at Shane Bennett and I look at Austin Gleeson who are all under 21 and I say to myself ‘have they the potential to be as good as Tony is, when they are 23 or 24?
“They have the potential, maybe it’s just that he’s a superstar. I think they have the potential to be very good in two or three years time.
“And whenever I say that it looks like you are to be there in two or three years time. I’m not bothered about that, I’m just more interested in what they can do into the future.
“I think they can do something significant. They may do it this year or next year or it may take a couple of years but they are solid, solid fellas.”
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