AS WATERFORD MANAGER Sean Power looked ahead to a Bord Gáis Energy Munster U21 hurling semi-final against Clare in July, he was dealing with some collateral damage.
Five of the players selected to line out against the Banner County were licking deep wounds following a 21-point mauling against Tipperary in the senior provincial final just three days previously.
The two Gleesons, Austin and Conor, had featured in the Gaelic Grounds collapse, as well as Tom Devine, Patrick Curran and Shane Bennett.
But any fears of a hangover were blown away as Waterford beat Clare by 3-23 to 1-11 at Walsh Park, kick-starting an U21 campaign that would see them crowned as Munster and All-Ireland champions.
Eoin Kelly doesn’t remember too much fuss before the Clare game. After all, he’d been on Waterford senior teams that had suffered big beatings throughout his career, most notably in the 2008 All-Ireland final against Kilkenny.
Fellow U21 selector Paul Flynn had experienced similar.
“We made a joke of it in some regards,” Kelly recalls. “It’s dead and buried now – just make sure it doesn’t happen again on Wednesday!
“There’s nothing you can do about it. I was in a Munster final and got a hiding, Flynner as well.
“We all played in teams that got hidings. Shit happens – get up and get on with it.
“They sat down after the (senior) match as a team and said, ‘it’s a freak result, we’ll pick ourselves up and get on with it.’ What the senior management said worked and they kicked on from there.”
The seniors did kick on to reach an All-Ireland semi-final, unlucky on both days against Kilkenny not to win.
The U21s? Well, they proved an unstoppable force and after beating Clare by 18 points, they overcame Tipp by 10 points at a packed Walsh Park on 27 July to win the Munster title.
The All-Ireland semi-final was one-way traffic, Antrim sent packing by 29 points, before Waterford had 16 points to spare against Galway in the final.
Appearing in their first All-Ireland U21 final since 1994, Waterford claimed the title for the first time in 24 years.
The previous winning crop in 1992 produced senior stars like Flynn, Tony Browne and Fergal Hartley, and the hope is that this present crop can write their own future histories.
Some are already established senior stars. After all, Austin Gleeson is the current Hurler and Young Hurler of the Year, while Shane Bennett made his senior debut during the 2015 League campaign.
And yet Kelly, who played U21 for five years, wonders about the future of the grade.
“It’s a tough grade, an ‘in between grade’, you’re not getting access to the players the whole time that you’d like,” he reflects.
“A lot of them are with the senior team and while it would be a shame to see it go, it’s a grade that has to be looked at. Are we putting too much on players?
“They’re being dragged from two or three different panels, four or five for some lads.
“The lads we had this year did their best to be at training when they could and they worked well with the seniors and us, a very dedicated bunch.”
But Kelly explains that at a time when Waterford were planning for their U21 campaign, players were involved with third-level, club and inter-county teams, some in both codes.
A few of them involved with the county football team, a few in school, Harty Cup, college. There’s so many things pulling and dragging out of players, it’s getting a bit out of hand in some regards.”
But when the Waterford U21s came together as a unified force on the field, they were simply mesmeric, with many wondering if they were the best ever team to emerge from the grade.
“It was like watching Brazil in their good days, we let them express themselves,” Kelly says.
“There was no ‘you had to do this or that’, you went out and played hurling.
“They had the skill to do that and it showed in the scores and goals they were getting. The way they played was unbelievable.”
It was fitting that Waterford produced a complete final performance, scoring 5-15 to obliterate Galway at Semple Stadium.
“The one thing we had as a management going up there was that we knew what they were, and what they were capable of,” says Kelly.
“You’re just hoping they produce on the day because so many Waterford teams of the last 10-15 years haven’t performed on big days.
“This team went out and performed to the heights of their ability. I don’t think the pick of the country would have beaten them that day, the way they hurled.”
Waterford’s stunning U21 success has sent expectation levels soaring in the county.
The hope now is that the seniors can deliver a first All-Ireland crown since 1959 in the coming years.
But Kelly is preaching caution.
“Unbelievable, and we’re the worst county for it. They crave success so much that when they have it, they think it will come fairly easily.
“Think of the 1992 team that won the All-Ireland U21 – the seniors lost to Kerry the next year.
“The Limerick teams that won three-in-a-row U21s (2000-2002) didn’t do a whole lot at senior. It’s a huge step up again.
It’s the physicality of it. You’re not fully developed yet, 18 or 19 on a senior panel and up against fellas 26 or 27 who’ve been doing weights for eight, nine or ten years. They’re fitter, stronger, and you’re getting harder belts.”
But Kelly believes that Waterford may be ok in the senior grade, simply because the age profile of teams is gradually decreasing.
It’s increasingly rare to see players operating well into their 30s and that can help Waterford, as Kelly explains.
“Where they might get away with is the fact that fellas who are 32, 31, 30, even 29, are starting to dwindle.
“Nearly everyone playing is between 20 and 27, so you’re playing against less experienced players anyway.
“But they’re a grounded bunch anyway. The hype they had before they even pucked a ball at 21, they dealt with it by winning the thing.
“I don’t think it will faze them too much. Derek (McGrath), Dan (Shanahan) and Philip Murphy will bring them back to earth as soon as they can, when they get them all together.
There’s a Hurler of the year and All-Stars in there now but they’ll ground them. Dan will know how to do it, and Derek. I presume they’ll have a quiet word with a few and plough on.
“You only had a few of them playing senior last year so they’re going to be fighting to get onto the team. A lot of them have a point to prove in that regard.
“Bar the two that have done well, Austin and Shane, the rest of them still have to prove themselves at senior level over a certain period of time. You have to do it over five, six, seven years.
“That’s all you’ll be playing for now, you’ll be burned out.”
When Kelly looks back, there was a game Waterford came through and after it, he felt they wouldn’t be stopped.
“A spell in the second half of the Tipp match, they came right back at us and had us rattled. Austin started playing and then everyone followed suit.
“I don’t know, I think they scored 1-8 late on and won the game comfortably.
“They did it on the big stage, in a Munster final, in a really hard match.
“Bar a few little changes, we’d have lost that match but after that, yeah, they’re going to win the thing now. That was the stand-out memory, for the players, winning the Munster title in front of their own fans.”
Walsh Park was heaving and expectant and for Waterford, it was the first time in the county’s history that a provincial hurling crown had been annexed on home soil.
“There’s something about that bunch of players,” Kelly adds.
“I went up to watch them in Croke Park in the minor (2013), they won it and they’ve matured and gone on.
“You get a group every now and again and you hope they show what they have, that their full potential comes out on match days.
“Some teams do, some don’t. Great teams do and they’re a great team.”
As a former player who experienced his share of near misses in the senior grade, Kelly is convinced that the door will some day swing open.
“There’s no guarantee it will happen but they are very close to making it happen.
“It would mean a lot to Waterford hurling. I’m a supporter now but the players are putting in a savage effort.
“It would mean so much to them, the management and lads involved in the group.
“I’d like to see them win it for themselves. They were unlucky this year – they should have beaten Kilkenny twice, should have won the League final, but they’re close, very close.
“One thing in their favour, which we didn’t have, is that there’s not a whole lot of teams that can beat them.
“When we were there, you had Cork, Kilkenny, Tipp, Galway, Limerick, Clare. All of them could have beaten us and did at different stages.
“But now it’s Tipp, Kilkenny and maybe Galway. There’s only four teams in the country really. Apart from those, there’s a massive gap.
Those players have a golden opportunity with a golden team to put the hoodoo to bed. I think they will. It might not be next year but in the next few years, they could win one, if not two.”
But Kelly knows that a poor Croke Park record has to change if Waterford are to get their hands on the Holy Grail.
Since beating Tipperary in the 2008 All-Ireland semi-final, they haven’t won a championship game at Croke Park.
- 2009 All-Ireland semi-final – Kilkenny 2-23 Waterford 3-15
- 2010 All-Ireland semi-final – Tipperary 3-19 Waterford 1-18
- 2011 All-Ireland semi-final – Kilkenny 2-19 Waterford 1-16
- 2015 All-Ireland semi-final – Kilkenny 1-21 Waterford 0-18
- 2016 All-Ireland semi-final – Kilkenny 1-21 Waterford 0-24
Kelly adds: “They have to learn that sweeper systems work against some teams, they don’t against others, you’re playing into their hands.
“They have to manage that a bit better. But they have to win a big game in Croke Park and if they win a semi-final, they’ll win the All-Ireland. They won’t be beaten in the final, I can nearly guarantee that.”
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