IN MANY WAYS, yesterday’s All-Ireland semi-final for Waterford was reminiscent of their Munster final outing against Tipperary.
Close but no cigar. There or thereabouts without ever really looking like winning.
Earlier this year, Waterford were unfairly labelled as ‘the Donegal of hurling’ after adopting a defensive approach throughout the Allianz League.
It bore fruit as they won Division 1B to gain promotion back to the top flight, which will bring them on immensely.
Not content with that, the Déise went on and captured the League title outright with victory over Cork in the Division 1 decider.
Then they went and scored 3-19 against the Rebels in the Munster semi-final to kickstart their championship season.
In the provincial final, Waterford huffed and puffed, scored 0-16 but never really looked like raising a green flag.
They did manage 2-21 in the All-Ireland quarter-final victory over Dublin but yesterday there was never a hint that they could ripple the Kilkenny netting.
Against hurling’s ‘big two’, Waterford hit a combined total of 0-34 and that was never going to be good enough.
Their manager Derek McGrath knows it too but it should be noted that over the course of 140 minutes against Kilkenny and Tipp, they conceded just the one goal, and lost by an aggregate of eleven points.
Waterford are here to stay and if they are, as has been suggested, the Donegal of hurling, then expect some more expansive play in 2016.
In 2011, Jim McGuinness made Donegal desperately hard to beat but with a little bit more of an emphasis on attack in the following campaign, they finished as All-Ireland champions.
McGrath, a keen student of hurling and management styles in other sports, will have taken note and is planning accordingly.
As the dust settled on yesterday’s defeat, he was already making plans for next year.
Year one of the project was always a case of finding his feet but significant progress was made in year two.
The obvious hope is that Waterford can crack on and achieve further success in 2016 but it won’t be easy.
Clare won an All-Ireland senior title in 2013 but haven’t gone beyond the qualifiers since.
And Limerick were expected to build on last year’s All-Ireland semi-final showing but sunk without trace in 2015, losing the Munster semi-final against Tipperary by 16 points before crashing out of the All-Ireland series against Dublin.
From a Waterford viewpoint, the cat is very much out of the bag now.
Opponents know how they set up and can plan accordingly.
But the experience gained by their rising young stars will stand them in good stead going forward.
Maurice Shanahan’s emergence as a leader in attack was another major bonus and Pauric Mahony will hopefully return to full fitness and form.
His absence was most keenly felt in the games against Tipp and Kilkenny when the chips were down.
The fulcrum of Waterford’s attack, Mahony was the ‘go to’ man throughout the Allianz League campaign, the conductor of the attacking orchestra from centre forward.
Following his devastating impact against Dublin, Shane Bennett found the going that bit tougher against Kilkenny but this is a player who sat his Leaving Certificate this summer and has many good years ahead of him.
Brother Stephen is another player of rich potential but the immediate challenge for him is to keep an eye on ongoing hip injuries.
We saw flashes of young Patrick Curran this summer too and he’s another player of rich potential.
Some things will remain the same but others must change if Waterford are to take the next step forward.
Squad unity, spirit, ambition and talent are not in question but the path to glory is paved with danger in the form of hurling’s established old order.
Tradition still counts for an awful lot but after breaking through to revive memories of the great days of yore, Waterford will regroup over the winter months and emerge a more formidable outfit ahead of next season.
Following the controversial exit of Michael Ryan in 2013, McGrath stepped into the breach and will be the first to admit that it took a while to regain the trust of supporters.
But he has succeeded in creating a team that fans can be proud of again. His next job is to translate potential into provincial and possible All-Ireland silverware.
