Dan and dusted

SIX foot four and growing. Growing in every sense. That's big Dan Shanahan, hat-trick hero of Waterford's demolition job on Clare in yesterday's first-round Munster championship game in Thurles.

His 3-1 from wing-forward did more than just slay the Clare dragon that had terrorised Waterford for so many years - it also stamped the arrival of a new and powerful forward force in Waterford hurling.

Used to be that when it came to scoring threats and exploits, all the talk about Waterford centred around Paul Flynn and Ken McGrath, two members of hurling's established elite, with John Mullane a more recent addition. Recently, that had changed.