THE MAGNITUDE AND madness of the Munster championship. Ten minutes in, Patrick Curran received a belt on his hand. It was the 2013 minor competition and he was their star corner-forward. He shook it off and played on, finishing with 0-12.
After the final whistle, the team doctor approached Seán Power and told him the news. ‘We’ll have to get Patrick sorted. That thumb is broken.’
Power was the Waterford manager when their minors won the All-Ireland in 2013 and again in 2016 when they did the same at U21. He saw the treatment reserved for Curran up close.
“If you saw the punishment the lad took. He took it all with a smile. I could never get my head around it,” he recalls.
“I didn’t know until the final whistle was blown that day that the thumb was broken. A 17-year old played through that pain.
“Taking off his jersey in the dressing room after the game and to see the pinch marks on his back and stomach. Bruises on his feet from people standing on them. Gamesmanship happens, I’m not criticising anyone. I am just saying he took a hell of a lot of punishment. And he always came back for more.”
With Waterford, Liam Cahill has constructed an awesome machine. They were two years without a championship win when he took the mantle. Even still, it is not so much a transformation as it is an evolution.
Cahill and trainer Mikey Bevans moulded them to become athletic, direct, determined and hard-nosed. They took over a side with limited results but infinite potential. The player who best embodies that is Patrick Curran. It was about applying an appropriate squeeze. Seeing beyond what they were to what they can become. Pressure makes diamonds.
In the 2019 Munster round-robin, he started just one game and came on in one other. Last Sunday the Dungarvan man scored 0-4, assisted four scores and was awarded man of the match.
He notched 2-20 in the league but scoring has never been an issue. In 2013 he was the top scorer in the minor championship with 3-56. A year previous as a 15-year-old he hit 1-2 in the Harty Cup final.
During their 2016 run, Curran did not have to look far for inspiration. Eoin Kelly and Paul Flynn were on Power’s coaching ticket.
“You had two guys who played at the very top level for years. Paul Flynn got particular attention over the years. He’d a similar mental toughness. Paul and Patrick have a good relationship still. They are very close.”
Power watched Curran and the rest of that crop grow from boys to men. They played in three finals in 2013 and he was the man of the match in every one of them. That group were always gifted. He will never forget the day back in 2007 they held U12 Déise Óg trials in Roanmore. 40 youngsters played, one stole the show. Power couldn’t keep his eyes off Stephen Bennett.
That team lost a Tony Forristal U14 inter-county final and were beaten by Cork at the same stage at U16. It was the making of the minor All-Ireland, according to Power. And they went on to backbone the U21 success. Just as they define Waterford now.
In the aftermath of the 2016 triumph, Waterford were celebrating in the bowels of Semple Stadium when Power entered the room. He looked around with a beaming smile and spoke of the power that helped them achieve. And the responsibility that comes with it.
“I am immensely proud. It means so much to me that you came together as a team. Worked for each other. Believed in each other. That is what makes champions,” he bellowed.
“Enjoy yourselves. When it comes to drinking and everything, try to do it in moderation. I mean this. There are thousands upon thousands of children looking up to you now. You are responsible for that. That crest means more than a few pints. Remember that.”
As he stepped up to senior, Curran struggled to find a conditioning programme that suited his skill-set. Then it clicked. He is now a key cog in their ferocious front six. Cahill saw his huge work-rate, explosive pace and finishing power. He knew how to harness it.
Recently Power had cause to revisit his post-match speech and feel that pride once again. He was coaching at a Cúl Camp in Tramore. Various county stars came to show their face. He watched Curran give 150 kids his time, signing sliotars and offering words of encouragement.
As for his appetite for work? Nothing new there.
“I am surprised people only pick up on that now. Some forwards can be a bit, how do I say this nicely, forward-y. Patrick Curran was never one of those. The lads beside him on the field always appreciate how hard he works.
“In 2013, Galway were doing the short puck-out. We looked at that. I think back on the work rate of Patrick, sprinting over and he took the ball off him and buried it in the net. He had to give the defender enough space so he reckoned he could get away and then use his pace to get on top of him.”
In the second half on Sunday, Waterford turned over a Tipperary puck-out and Curran sprang into action. He stormed off Jack Prendergast’s shoulder and had the vision to pick out Mikey Kiely at the back post for a goal. Minutes later, he broke and won his own ball, offloading a pass before Dillon Quirke came thundering in and laid him out.
Quirke was shown yellow. Curran rose from the ground and kept going. His next involvement was to receive a pass near the half-way line out towards the sideline. He took one look at the goalposts, the stand rose in anticipation. He slotted it home and Walsh Park went wild. They expect, he delivers.
Full speed ahead.
