AUSTIN GLEESON’S STAR shone brightest in Semple Stadium yesterday and his manager could not have been happier for him.
Waterford boss Derek McGrath expressed his delight at the performance that the Mount Sion star turned in as he fired 0-6 to propel his team into the Munster final.
“Definitely. i’m delighted for him because I push him hard. I had him in class and he probably sees me as taking the old headmaster-type approach because I do push him so hard.
“He’s at his best when he’s angry and bitter. That’s when it just flows from him. He doesn’t need much instruction from us.
“There was a time when he had overlaps left and right and he bounced the ball so naturally off the ground and put it over the bar.
“He’s a brilliant talent and I’m delighted that he’s done it at this level and on this stage. There was a crucial line-ball when I think Clare had got it back to four points and they had a bit of momentum and he just went over and scored it.
“Even to see him taking a quick line-ball in the first-half and scoring off his left. People were retreating 50 yards thinking he was going to hit it and he came and played a quick one and scored.
“He had that bit of genius to take it back and score it. So just very satisfied with that.”
McGrath’s satisfaction did not just stem from Gleeson’s input. The collective showing of his team saw them surge past Clare and book a spot in a Munster final for a second successive year.
“That’s the most satisfying thing,” outlined McGrath.
“I listen to James Horan, I listen to other managers over the years saying that when they come into a job they want to be consistently competitive.
“It’s an easy thing to say but to be in a second consecutive league final, to perform well in it and not be railroaded by an opposition, and now to be in a Munster final for a second year in a row, that’s where we want to be.
“I gave out last year about a defeatist attitude and my dad, when I met him on the field, that he’d said, ‘At least you’re in a quarter-final’.
“But when you think about it more, I won’t say there’s something in it but we’re trying to steer away from that.
“We’ve captured a league title, we’ve been beaten in a league final this year.
“Now we’ve a prize at stake on the 10th of July so I’m extremely delighted with the chance to play Tipperary or Limerick in the Munster final.”
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