‘We’re gone back since last year’

Don’t mention the war, we agreed. “I’ll meet on one condition”, laughed Waterford’s Jim Greene.

“No-one mentions those two Munster finals. 5-31? Oh God!”; so said former Waterford All-Star corner-forward Jim Greene, on the request to meet an old adversary, Eamonn O’Donoghue of Cork, for dinner and debate in advance of tomorrow’s Thurles clash.

The two finals? 1982 - 5-31 to 3-6 - and 1983 - 3-22 to 0-12 - two Cork wins that left deep scars in the Waterford hurling psyche. We agreed. No mention.

Diarmuid O’Flynn: Both of you played with very high-profile and successful clubs, Mount Sion would have been nearly as well known in Cork as Blackrock, in the 70’s and 80’s. How many senior counties have ye got?

Eamonn O’Donoghue: Five.

Jim Greene: Eight.

DO’F: Munster and All-Ireland?

EO’D: Four and two.

DO’F: What about with Cork, Munster titles?

JG: Well he has two anyway! I can remember having a chat with Denis Coughlan after one of our player meetings, and he told me he’d played in 19 Munster Finals. At that stage, I’d played in none. Eventually, towards the end of my career, I played in two, those two beauties. But in fairness, we were definitely unlucky to come up against some exceptional Cork teams, in that period. Ray Cummins, Gerald McCarthy, Charlie McCarthy, Jimmy Barry-Murphy, yourself, Seanie O’Leary, Willie Walsh, Mick Malone, Cork had seven or eight forwards at the time and you couldn’t pick the best six out of them, could you? Then you had the fellas at the other end, blondie John Horgan, could score from over a hundred yards, Con Roche, good for three or four points a game from wing-back, those were exceptional players.

DO’F: Cork were fairly dominant in Munster at the time, ten titles between 1975 and 1986, two five-in-a-rows interrupted by Limerick, in 1980 and 81.

EO’D: I think a lot of that was down to Kevin Kehilly, our fitness trainer. He was way ahead of his time, had us doing stuff no-one else was doing. That Cork team was very well organised, better than anyone else at the time. A strong panel, a strong team, with a lot of self-belief, which was lacking in a lot of the Munster teams.

DO’F: If Waterford had played in Leinster, would they have won more?

JG: We might have, but we’d have been illegal, in the wrong province! People have often said to me, if you were from another county, you’d have won All-Irelands, but if I was from a different county, I mightn’t even have been playing hurling. It was what it was; I was proud to be a Waterford-man, I’m still proud. I’m also very proud to be a Munster-man. When Cork went on to win the All-Ireland against Kilkenny last year, I was a Corkman for a day, I was a Munster-man behind Cork. That will never change.

DO’F: What about Railway Cup, did you have success there?

JG: No, never. I played with Munster in 1979, 80, 82 and 83, and we lost all four years. In 1981, Munster won it, but I was gone, retired. I was 32, had played since I was 18, 14 seasons done at senior level; I was heavy, it was getting harder and harder, and I’d had enough. As well as that, I had words with the County Board, felt that Waterford weren’t doing enough. Then Joe McGrath, an outsider, was appointed coach of Waterford, and I came back, early in 81, when Munster were gearing up for the Railway Cup. I missed out on that, but ended up getting a replacement All-Star that year, then a full All-Star the following year, so I had an extra three or four great seasons.

DO’F: You mentioned a conversation with Denis Coughlan after a players’ meeting?

JG: Yeah, there was myself, Johnny Callinan, Denis Coughlan, Jimmy Keaveney, a few more, we met in the Silver Springs in Cork on a few occasions. Our main interests were simple things, improving standards for grounds, there were no standards at the time, some places didn’t even have a stretcher. Improve the dressing-rooms, have proper medical facilities, that sort of thing.

DO’F: A precursor to the GPA?

EO’D: Yeah, I was involved as well, probably after that, we met in Portlaoise, Robbie Kelleher was there also, Liam Hayes of Meath, a few more. We had a membership fee as well, a pound, I remember, we collected. We approached Croke Park for recognition, but we were stifled, and fellas just got fed up in the end.

JG: What they told us was that we weren’t a recognisable body within the Association, we weren’t an official committee, or sub-committee, so it just fizzled out, we were ignored, basically.

DO’F: Would you have sympathy for the GPA?

JG: I agree completely with the principle of it, but I think they’re gone a bit astray. They’ve taken their eyes off the ball, starting to create needs, rather than addressing needs. It’s almost a case now that they’re getting the players to back them, rather than them backing the players.

EO’D: I would agree with much of that, the GPA should be recognised by the GAA immediately, as the official players’ body. Maybe they are moving a bit fast, but maybe they have to, to establish themselves.

DO’F: Is hurling getting better?

JG: It’s getting different.

EO’D: A trend I’ve noticed lately, is the number of people going to games who know nothing about the club scene, who wouldn’t cross the road to a club game, but who are talking about Cork, about the players.

DO’F: The inter-county scene taking on a life of its own?

EO’D: Yeah, but the club scene is suffering. Something will have to be done to address that. On the game itself, a lot of people would say there was more skill before, the overhead striking especially, now they like to get it in the hand.

JG: If you put up your hand in our day, you were taking a chance, and I have eight breaks to prove that! You’d get blown for pulling like that now, which I think is wrong.

DO’F: Will this Waterford team win an All-Ireland?

JG: I think they should already have two All-Irelands, at least two. They’ve won two Munster titles, but they’ve underachieved. I don’t know, it’s getting on. When I look back at the 90’s, Sean Cullinane full-back, Brian Flannery, Brian Greene, Stephen Frampton, Fergal Hartley, Tom Feeney, a big, tough, hard backline, no change out of them, Peter Queally dogging it at midfield, Tony Browne majestic. Is the present team up to that? I don’t think so, to be quite honest. I hope to God it hasn’t gone past us, but it’s getting tight now, that’s my honest opinion.

DO’F: You were a very obvious candidate for the Waterford job, should have got it, what happened?

JG: It’s my life’s ambition. I managed the minors, we won Munster (first since 1948), went to the All-Ireland in 92; in 94 I was manager of the U-21’s, we won Munster as well, beat Clare, Brian Lohan was on that Clare team. I thought it would be a natural progression, that I would get the senior job, but it never happened. I was a selector alright, for a couple of years, but I felt that set-up was wrong, I was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, unhappy, resigned out of it.

I think that was held against me ever since. Maybe I’d be too straight for some people. We’ve had Cork men as manager now for ten years; I’ve nothing against them, whatsoever, on a personal basis, I’ve got on well with most Cork men I’ve ever met, but I don’t think we need a Cork man to train Waterford. Gerald did a great job for us, educated us in how professional we needed to be in our preparation, and I really believe that, though a lot of people think I was very anti-Gerald McCarthy. He did do a lot for Waterford, and I thank him for that, I believe the Munster final breakthrough in 2002 was more Gerald than Justin, that win was the backwash from what he had done in the years before that. But I was never treated very well, and that hurt, still hurts. And still, if I was asked in the morning, I probably wouldn’t refuse it. I reared a lot of these lads - Tony Browne, Paul Flynn, Ken, I had them all as underage players, with club and county. I suppose I should have been an obvious choice, but I never even got close.

DO’F: What about yourself Eamonn, any ambitions to manage at inter-county?

EO’D: I’m still too engrossed in the club, at underage. I was actually asked to let my name go forward a couple of years ago, when Donal O’Grady took over the team, Blackrock could nominate a selector as county champions, but I said no, I was committed to the Juvenile Club. Eventually, maybe, but not yet.

JG: I have big club involvement also, was manager of the senior team for the last few years, we won three in a row last year. I get great enjoyment out of it.

DOF: Who’s going to win tomorrow?

JG: My heart says Waterford, but my head says Cork. I think we’re gone back a bit since last year. Ken (McGrath) will probably start, but his injury hasn’t done us any good at all, he can’t be 100%. Paul Flynn is a serious doubt, while Tony (Browne) should have recovered. If our forward line clicks, they’re as good as any that’s out there, but we’re in trouble in the backs. The one thing about Cork, they will allow Waterford express themselves hurling-wise. If it runs kindly for us, you never know - we won with 14 men last year.

EO’D: I fancy Cork. They will be keeping it tight, a very good defence. Even if Ken McGrath plays, it’s going to take him a while to get into the pace of the game, not having played since last February. He’s a crucial player to Waterford, great leadership qualities, vital to their play.

DO’F: I remember 1967, Cork All-Ireland champions, going down to Waterford and coming back dethroned, a man sent off.

EO’D: The same thing happened in 74, actually. I’d be very wary of them, if they can get a run at Cork.

JG: I was playing that day, Charlie McCarthy I was marking, a fabulous forward, liked the sun, always looked tanned. You just never know, do you?