The Q mark

THERE are two Ballyduffs in Waterford, one a well-known hurling stronghold, both on the map; there are two Ballyduffs in Kerry, one a well-known hurling stronghold, both on the map.

But, scroll up and down as you will through the map index, there is no Ballydurn. So, Peter Queally, well-seasoned, battle-scarred Waterford hurler, where exactly is it, that mighty enclave from which you hail?

Could be a dodgy enough question too, given that Peter takes to the playing field with a reputation as a guy with whom you don’t really want to mess, and fellas can be testy about their native place.

But he’s alright with it, accepts the accompanying apology with an understanding laugh. “That’s okay. It’s just outside Kilmacthomas, very small, we only have a church, a school, a pub.”

Still not a lot wiser, you don’t want to push your luck so you wait ’til you get home, look that up in the map. Kilmacthomas, formerly a stop on the now (disgracefully) disused Cork/Waterford railway line, also now by-passed by the N25, the main Cork/Waterford road, about halfway between Dungarvan and Waterford.

That N25 is a road well worn these days by Queally. Cork direction too, works as a Garda in the border town of Youghal.

An interesting spot, an interesting job this week in particular, as Waterford wind down their preparations for Sunday’s Munster SHC final against Cork, and the pre-game hype cranks up.

This is a guy who enjoys it all. “Good banter, good craic. There’s good rivalry there, but all I’ve seen is friendly banter, though I presume that under the surface there’s a bit more than that.”

The fact is that prior to any championship meeting between the counties, life will always be tough for a Waterford hurler working in Cork.

With over fifty meetings, the balance weighs heavily on the side of the larger county, Waterford with just nine wins, three drawn, the rest won by Cork.

That kind of record breeds confidence, arrogance perhaps, so that even in a year when Waterford are the reigning Munster champions, neither the Cork fans nor the Cork players will be one whit intimidated.

His many years dealing with the Cork public in Youghal has taught Peter Queally about the former, two years with the Sarsfields club in Cork educated him on the latter.

“It’s hard for me to compare it with Waterford because I’ve only played junior and intermediate here, but it was good, tough.

It’s not much of a step up to inter-county, it’s nearly on a par, Cork club hurling and inter-county, and it was a great help that way. A little bit faster at inter-county, but it’s just as tough at club level.”

He was impressed then with the average Cork club player, impressed also three weeks ago with the new-look Cork side that demolished Clare, the same Clare side that also knocked Waterford out of the running for the All-Ireland title last year, at the semi-final stage.

One of the veterans of this Waterford side, Peter looks ahead and sees the same major challenge that so many Waterford teams saw before.

“How tough? Looking at Cork against Clare, they played great stuff, and would have beat anyone in Ireland on the day. What was most impressive about them was the performances of their newcomers, the number of debutants who played so well that day.

Tom Kenny, Ronan Curran, Setanta O hAilpín, they looked really accomplished, looked like a team with a lot of championship games under their belt.

It was some achievement to see fellas doing that on their debut. Obviously what happened in Cork in the winter (showdown between the players and the County Board) showed that things behind the scenes weren’t good, but they’ve put that right this year and the results are there to be seen.”

So, a major challenge, and acknowledged as such. But, there’s a difference between the Peter Queally of old and the current model, between the Waterford of old and the 2003 version.

These guys ARE champions, and that does make a difference. “That has stood to us, definitely. A lot of us watched the Cork game on television, a day after our own win over Limerick, and it was an awesome performance.

But to be honest with you, it didn’t frighten us, whereas a few years ago, if we’d seen a performance like that and then had to play that Cork team in a Munster final, it probably would have overawed us.

It hasn’t, and that’s where the experience of last year, of the last couple of years, has stood to us. We know what we’re capable of, we know that on our day we’re capable of beating Cork.”

Even a Cork team that looked such world-beaters against Clare? “Clare looked unbeatable a few weeks before that, against Tipperary, so you never know. It’s hard to put two performances like that back-to-back, and that’s what they’ll be trying to do.”

This wasn’t whistling past the graveyard stuff, these were words spoken with total honesty, absolute conviction. Waterford take nothing whatever from this Cork team, are aware of their potential, but themselves have a deep reservoir of recent performance from which to draw.

Last year, in terrible conditions in Thurles, toughed it out in a rain-splashed Munster semi-final against Cork, after the Leesiders had fought their way back to parity, won a game in the deadly dying minutes that previously they would have lost.

They went on to destroy reigning Munster and All-Ireland champions Tipperary, another bogey-team, in the Munster final with a second-half display that reached hurling heights rarely seen, then this year repeated much of that performance in their semi-final drawn game with Limerick a month ago, before going back to basics again and toughing out another tight one in that replay.

The problem Waterford have, of course, same problem as Cork, Tipperary, Limerick, Clare, same problem every county in the country has, with the current honourable exception of Kilkenny, is consistency, and the lack of it.

Play like the gods one day, like, well, like the Ballydurn intermediate team the next. “It is mental, the whole game itself is mental, whether you’re playing well or not is all in the head.

It’s hard to put a percentage on it, ninety, sixty, but the majority of what it takes to win is mental, if you’re not right in the head, the body is not going to be right. Bit of belief also, but sure that comes back to the mental side of it too.”

With Justin McCarthy, one of the most respected hurling coaches in the nation, at the helm, Colm Bonner barking the physical training orders, there will be no question about Waterford’s fitness or hurling readiness come Sunday in Thurles.

But if those heads aren’t right, if there is any weakness, any crack, any flaw in the mental approach by either side, the other will surely prevail.

“It’s hard to work on it in training, but Colm tries to drive it into us. When you come to training, be mentally prepared, pick out something you want to work on and work on it, come prepared that you are going to put in the effort. Justin too, he has loads of experience, loads of enthusiasm.

"We’ve had bad defeats, like against Limerick in Kilmallock and Kilkenny here in the league this year, but he has been so upbeat, didn’t come down on us.”

Cork have all that motivation, that one-point defeat by Waterford last year, the highly-publicised winter fall-out between players and management, the barb being flung at them that their 1999 All-Ireland win was a fluke.

But Waterford have their own points to prove, their own unfinished business from last year. “Cork are a team with a lot of motivation, but so are we.

We won our first Munster final in 39 years last year, but the majority of people I met over the winter were talking about the Clare game, not about the Munster final.

It rankles a bit, to have made that breakthrough but not to have it mentioned, especially when we lost to another Munster team.

“It was the performance as well against Clare that disappointed Waterford people, disappointed ourselves, but if you were to look at last year overall, it was a good year for us, the fact that we did win something.

"But not good enough, rightly so. One of our ultimate goals at the start of the year was to get back to Croke Park and make up for last year.

"We know we didn’t do ourselves justice, let ourselves down, let the Waterford people down. The ultimate goal is to win the All-Ireland, we didn’t, so...”

He’s a most articulate guy, Peter Queally, but as in the undercurrent beneath the slagging he’s getting in Youghal, some things don’t need to be said.