Workaholic McGrath content to lay foundations for successor

It may just be that Derek McGrath’s successor benefits from the spade work he’s putting in at the moment.

So what, he says. As long as Waterford benefit from the graft he, his management team and his players are contributing to the cause that’s all that matters.

But to suggest nothing will happen under his watch as he bridges a period of transition — an attitude expressed by the naysayers in the county — is a slight on the hard yards Waterford are making at the moment.

“We’re putting in 60 hours a week, all of us, me as a manager and the selection committee,” says McGrath. “We’re trying to get it going in the right direction and your conscience is clear when you’re doing as much as that.

“I feel justified by the amount of hours I’m putting into it.

“We’re doing our absolute best under the particular set of circumstances at present. If somebody else benefits from it in a couple of years’ time that could be the way it turns out but so be it.

“I heard someone making the point recently that the word ‘transition’ doesn’t exist in sport. I genuinely think there has been a charge of the guard as regards senior players in the set-up.

“We would feel as a selection committee that the process for the fellas we’ve brought into the panel to be ready for inter-county hurling needs to begin now rather than two or three years’ time.

“A lot of people would have said to me before I took the job, ‘Oh, wait. In two or three years’ time, the (2013 All-Ireland winning) minors will be coming to 21 and 22 years of age and you’ll be right then’.

“The cute advice would have been to stay away from the job for two or three years, not because it was a poisoned chalice but people felt the team would not be ready until then.

“But I think that’s an insult to the experience we still have in the squad in terms of Michael Walsh, Kevin Moran, Shane Fives, Ian O’Regan, Shane O’Sullivan. We still have a lot of experience.

“We are where we are not because of me or the players. But it’s the reality. The other teams are probably a bit ahead of us and the Waterford people won’t thank me for saying that.”

It’s the art of catching up which McGrath is trying to perfect at the moment. The retirement of three seasoned players and release of another half a dozen others means there will be more of an onus on the up-and-comers to accelerate their progress.

“We’re in the process of trying to unearth a couple of players. It’s common knowledge that we’ve searched and foraged and we’re no different to any other county team at the moment: we’re in the middle of heavy training and trying to get in a few games at the same time to build a bit of rhythm in our play. We haven’t had a huge amount of hurling but we’re now just trying to integrate fellas into the system from the minor set-up over the last few years and they’re enjoying it. It’s a case of mixing and matching numbers but we’re doing the best we can.”

With three away games in their five round fixtures of the Allianz League, the odds appear to be against Waterford making a swift return to Division 1A next year. McGrath will attempt to knit more players into the group but knows room for experimentation is limited during their campaign.

He’s keeping expectations reasonable. “You don’t want to come across as negative but there’s nothing easy about (Division) 1B. If you go to Paddy Power in the morning, Limerick and Wexford are ahead of us in terms of the betting for promotion. It’s a difficult environment to be in but our immediate aim will be to get into the top four and have a quarter-final. The fact that we have two home games, if we’re lucky enough to get into a quarter-final we’ll have a home draw. That would be an aim on the radar and a great step forward for us.”