McGrath to be fit for encounter with Cork

KEN McGRATH will be fit to lead Waterford into the Munster SHC final against Cork on June 27.

The skipper was substituted after sustaining an injury in the latter stages of Sunday's one point win over Tipperary. However, he stressed yesterday that the problem was not serious as many supporters feared.

"I received a blow in the side of my chest and a rib was obviously damaged," he said. "There was no way I could continue playing and the sensible thing for me to do was come off and let a fully fit player on.

"We knew we would have to battle to beat Tipp and battle everyone did, throughout the 70 minutes. We just refused to give up even when Tipp looked to have taken the lead in the vital closing minutes and Paul O'Brien's goal capped a very special day for all of us."

That strike sets up an encounter with provincial champions Cork, for the third meeting in as many years.

The honours are even from those two previous bouts.

"Both those games were close, hard fought, affairs," McGrath agreed. "There is very little between the teams, and there will be very little in it again in this year's final.

"I honestly believe we will have to play better than we did against Tipp, and I'm not saying that to hot things up," he added.

Waterford's other major injury casualty, Tony Browne, will continue his fitness battle.

The former hurler of the year, cried off with a hamstring injury.

"I tried it out on Sunday morning and, in truth, there was no way I would have stayed the pace of that game," Browne said.

The Waterford management will now be attempting to control public expectations in the county after the wins over Clare and Tipperary.

Selector Shamie Hannon insisted yesterday: "You just can't compare games. You couldn't say that we will win because of what we have done so far. If we are to beat Cork, we will have to do it the hard way.

"Yes, we could have beaten them in last year's final, but then again Cork could have won the All-Ireland final."

Most remarkable was how Waterford found the inner resolve to ride out Tipperary's storming comeback.

Hannon explained: "Justin [McCarthy], in his pre-match talk on Thursday night said that the match would go well into the second half before we would put a bit of daylight between us. How true it was. We were playing Tipp off the field around the three-quarter stage except we were not putting the scores on the board.

"We could have gone five or six points clear. Instead of that, Tipperary got a goal and then Tommy Dunne got a point. In fairness to our fellows, they had showed great mettle throughout the League campaign. They have that resolve they didn't have before. Then again we have strength in depth in the panel which we didn't have in the past."

Proof of this, Hannon said, was that they could win despite: Browne's absence; the loss of Eoin and Ken McGrath and an out-of-sorts Paul O'Flynn, eventually withdrawn after failing to make an impression.

Hannon agreed that Seamus Prendergast had played a decisive role, excelling at left half-forward in the second half.

"He's a great man under the puck-out, a great man to win a ball for you. He has a real good hand, he plays a lot of football. In fairness, he did Trojan work. He got a few scores and did a lot of donkey work. And he hit in a perfect cross to Paul O'Brien for the winning goal."

After their runaway win over Clare, the experienced Waterford selector felt that they were "sitting ducks" for Ken Hogan's side.

"Tipp are a very proud hurling county. We knew they wanted to exact revenge for 2002 [when Waterford beat them in the final]. We felt that Colm Bonnar was a big plus for them. Obviously, they knew 'a little' about Waterford!"

The final will require their absolute best: "You must remember where we're coming from. Apart from '02, we haven't been there for 40 years. The strong counties can rely on tradition, whereas we have to produce the goods every day we go out," he says. "Everybody has to come out firing on all cylinders."

County Board officials have confirmed that there will be no further club activity for members of the county team between now and June 27.