And now for the Bannermen
Thinking back to how they performed against Kilkenny at this stage last year, he is reminded of what happened to Cork in 1985 when he last managed a team at this level. Galway won that year, just as they had 10 years earlier at the beginning of his managerial career. McCarthy essentially regards himself as a coach. He has dedicated his career to perfecting the skills of clubs and inter-county teams. The display of the team in the Munster final reflected the thoroughness of that approach. And he is quick to acknowledge the huge input of his fellow selectors Colm Bonnar, Seamie Hannon, as well as the efforts of the backroom team.
Without a structure that operates efficiently, he would be unable to focus on coaching, he says. Talk to any of the players and they will tell you how much they value the importance of his approach. But the manner in which his hurling drills were also designed to build up a fitness base was not fully appreciated by the panel for a long time.
Given the way people celebrated after the county's first Munster championship success since 1963, the mental preparation of the players was a prioritypreparations had to take account of the impact this would have on the players. For that reason, gearing them mentally for the challenge that lay ahead has been one of the main priorities. Media interviews were kept to a minimum and McCarthy brought in cycling legend Sean Kelly one night to talk to the players.
McCarthy says: "We started back the Friday night after the Munster final. The lads had the most of a week off and they needed the break. I think on big occasions you go up so high and you have to go down and back up for another event. We were lucky with a six weeks of a gap.
"There was a week of celebration and that was it. We set out our stall. Basically, we laid down the guidelines for the next couple of weeks. There was a good buzz around the place which kept the whole thing going. It wasn't boring.
We moved around to different places like Dungarvan GAA pitch, Fraher Field, Walsh Park, De La Salle and up to Colligan and down to Kill. We had different settings and different atmospheres. That helped to freshen things up and it was important."
They didn't know until last Sunday week who they would be meeting except it would either by Clare or Galway. In the interim, they tried to "keep cool about it". Galway's win over Cork came as something of a surprise but from a long way back he felt Clare would come through. The irony is neither team would have been highly rated a few months ago.
"You have two teams playing in the All-Ireland semi-final and they wouldn't be the favourites' choice early on in the year. Now we are 70 minutes from playing in an All-Ireland final. But, that's the way the game is going. No one could know how the championship was going to pan out, but it's good for the game that you have this uncertainty. From our point of view it's been a great year so far. We're looking forward to this game but we have to be able to take it in our stride and be able to play on the occasion. But, we are going to enjoy it as well.
"The important thing was that we parked the Munster championship from the players' point of view. There is a new championship starting for us and this was the main focus. It was a matter then of getting our minds around that and keep 'ticking over' but above all keeping fresh and not going overboard. You could double the training and the physical side of it, but where are you going to go? You are going to tire fellows out.''
The Munster final was played six weeks ago, on June 30. It begs the question if the team will suffer from the long lay-off as Galway footballers did last weekend and as happened to Kilkenny hurlers last year. However, McCarthy feels that it has been to the team's advantage. There was time for the hype to die down, he points out. The gap was needed.
He's not so sure Galway suffered from being inactive after their Connacht final win (on the same day as Waterford beat Tipperary).
"They have had two or three tough years (at the top). I watched that game and I thought they were a tired team. Every game is different. I feel that for us the time wasn't that long,'' he added.
Handling the media was another thing. "As a hurling man", he is delighted the game has been getting so much exposure. But, from the viewpoint of preparing a team for a major contest, the situation needed to be managed to his satisfaction.
"There are so many papers out there and they all want their tuppence worth. You have local radio stations and they want to get in on the act. You have the dailies and the Sunday papers and there are more and more of them coming on board. More people are recognising that this game is a bit special and worth grabbing the audience with.
"Long ago, there you had the Examiner, you had Mick Dunne, John D Hickey and Paddy Downey. There would be three or four (media) and no more and if you saw them you'd be thrilled to get an interview. You'd be saying, 'they're down tonight'. Now you could have 20 fellows calling all over the place and what can happen then is players can get a bit restless and their focus can go out the door.
"All of a sudden you can be side-tracked and that can be dangerous. We don't want to go overboard and get carried away. Everybody can have their fun and their media coverage, but one could easily forget that there's still a game to be played."
Clare impressed McCarthy in their semi-final: "They got a few breaks which brought them back into the game. It was the experienced players who pulled them through and with about 15/20 minutes to go they realised that the chance of winning was there. In that situation the experienced players can go for broke because they know they have done that before. Then, the lesser-known players will respond.
"Clare are a solid team. Ten or 11 of them have played in All-Ireland finals. They gave away a six or seven point lead against Galway and they were good enough to come back. They didn't buckle under the pressure. They are a team that will play to the end. We know Clare will not give in and neither will Waterford, so you are going to have two teams battling it out to the very end."
For Waterford it's 'a new championship, realistically,' he states. And, While there is a lot at stake for his team, McCarthy acknowledges there is no guarantee they can repeat their Munster final display: "You can't perform the same way every time because you have different circumstances. It's the same in other sports. You have to look at every game in isolation. It would be lovely and pleasing for the audience to say we can repeat what we did against Tipperary, but that's not going to happen. It's going to be a different type of game.
"There's a lot at stake. Both teams have a chance of getting to the All-Ireland final and both teams are capable of winning. And, it's a once-off; there is no second chance. It's winner takes all and for us it's a totally new ball game."
While admitting his team faces the additional challenge in playing their first game in the new Croke Park, he says the Munster final had also been very demanding. "Not having won it for 39 years meant there was a lot of pressure. We are coming in as Munster champions and that's important for us. We are proud of what we achieved in that respect. I'd hope we are improving all the time.
"We could have beaten Tipp by a lot more. But a lesser score might win this game for either team. I don't mind if we don't play exhibition games as long as we win. We'll play it to our strengths and if we win by a fluky point, so what."
McCarthy is not concerned about what happened in the 1998 Munster final replay against Clare.
"That's history. I wasn't involved and it doesn't even come into my reckoning. As far as I am concerned, it's nice fancy talk for somebody.
"But from the team's point of view it has no relevance whatsoever."
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