IT WAS HARD not to picture the image of Dan Shanahan scoring one of his many brilliant championship goals on Sunday. When his younger brother Maurice climbed into the Thurles sky and took the sliotar into his grasp above the head of Damien Cahalane before turning onto his right and racing as far as the 21-metre line and driving an unstoppable shot into the top corner of Anthony Nash’s net, you could see the traits of the elder Shanahan.
Following in the footsteps of a Déise legend may have its perks, but Maurice has felt the affliction of the role placed on him numerous times in the past. Whenever Shanahan has taken to the field in the past, he has been cursed with the hopes of people thinking that he can deliver the same sort of dominant displays as his older brother once did.
Even following Sunday’s brilliant individual performance against the Rebels, the younger Lismore man was still being sized up against his brother and the routine line that was trotted out was ‘That’s just like how Dan used to do it’. What Maurice did on Sunday shouldn’t be seen as living up to his brother’s reputation; it should be the foundations upon which his own is built.
After the the game it was Dan who was the most keenly sought after member of the Waterford backroom team, every reporter looking to see what he had to say about his younger brother’s performance. He was modest however, and was happy to point out that Maurice is stronger in certain aspects of the game than he was. He didn’t jump to draw comparisons between the two of them.
“I wouldn’t compare myself and Maurice together. Maurice personally has way more skill than I had. That’s being honest, the young lads of today have a bit more skill than maybe we had in the 2000s.”
I hate pointing out one fella especially when I’d be the hardest on me own fella. It was an outstanding day for Maurice.
Maurice has been around for a long time at this stage. He made his championship debut almost six years ago at just 19, but he’s always been maligned by some for not fulfilling his massive potential. We must not forget that it wasn’t until 2004, when Dan Shanahan was 27, that he became a regular match-winner for the Déise and started to produce the stunning displays that we now associate with him.
Last Sunday felt like a watershed day for Maurice, a coming of age if you will. He scored 1-9 but it was his overall contribution to the play that made his performance stand out so much.
The nerve which he showed to strike his eight points from placed balls was a hugely settling factor for both himself and his younger team-mates. When a game is in the balance and you have a player that will reliably stroke the ball over from anywhere inside your opponent’s half, you always have a chance.
He was nervous early on but after two missed frees, he settled into a rhythm that flowed throughout the whole game. The whole Waterford team looked on edge in the opening 20 minutes. Austin Gleeson and Shanahan himself were among the main culprits as the Déise struck eight wides as they trailed 0-6 to 0-2.
Dan Shanahan pointed out it took nearly as much nerve from the management team to stick with his younger brother on frees as it did for Maurice to start routinely pointing them.
“Maurice missed the first one but had the nerve to stick with it — we had the nerve to stick with him. After that he got a few handy ones from the 20-metre line and he got the rest of them then,” he said.
It was Shanahan’s goal that gave his side a shot in the arm in the 26th minute and in truth they never looked back.
Shanahan’s biggest contribution aside from his scoring threat was his ability to create scores for his colleagues by using his huge frame and physical strength. Once Cork realised that he was on his game, they sent a second man over to try and shut him down in some way. The GIF below shows the Lismore giant using every bit of his strength to hold off two Cork defenders before he eventually releases the ball to Kevin Moran who knocks over an inspirational score.
In what was a fine team performance against a Cork side that really struggled with the intensity that Waterford brought to the table, it was Shanahan that was the pick of the bunch. His Man of the Match award was duly deserved.
While he may never go on to garner a reputation like his brother’s, that shouldn’t necessarily be the goal either. Maurice has the chance to create his own legacy now and lead forward this youthful Waterford side on their quest towards the Munster title and possibly more.
There’s no doubting his ability. It now comes down to his mentality and whether or not he can produce performances on the same level as last Sunday’s on a consistent basis.
If so, we could be looking at one of the hurling greats of the next seven or eight years.