Bonnar: no great pressure on Waterford players this time

THE Waterford hurlers had good reason to feel optimistic about their prospects when the draw for the Guinness Munster SHC was made.

The champions came out on the opposite side to Cork, Clare and Tipperary, who were being talked of them as probable All-Ireland finalists. As long as they would be mentally geared up to play Kerry, all that stood between them and a second consecutive appearance in the final was the challenge from a young and inexperienced Limerick side.

Making the breakthrough in 2002 after a wait of 39 years, in the words of selector Colm Bonnar, ‘was a huge monkey off their back.’

“We expected them to grow in confidence and belief in their own ability. I won’t say we got the lucky side of the draw, but the omens were good,” he commented.

As a member of the Tipperary team which won an overdue Munster title in 1987, Bonnar knew exactly what it felt like to have that weight of responsibility hanging over the Waterford players. “I remember back to our own time with Tipp. They were saying would we ever win a championship again after 16 years. It was the same with the Waterford lads, some of whom have been playing since 1993 and were beaten by Kerry. They wondered if this day would ever come and when it did you could see the sense of relief and the feeling of euphoria that swept over them.”

When Waterford met Limerick in the Allianz NHL in Kilmallock earlier this year, they suffered a heavy defeat. But it proved a useful exercise, Bonnar maintains.

“We played a number of players out of position and didn’t play others for different reasons. Limerick kind of showed their hand in the game and we learned a lot from it. We knew we had a fair mountain to climb even though they beat us by 16 points. We felt we could do it.”

In general, the approach to the League was relaxed. Waterford don’t engage in the type of punishing training regime other counties appear to engage in at the start of the year. They came back into training in late January and were in competitive League action soon after. They were always missing seven or eight regulars for a variety of reasons, which allowed the selectors to try out a number of players and use others in different positions, with the result that the team lost its momentum. Bonnar says that once the injury problems were overcome, and the full panel was back together, players began to find their form again.

“They knew they hadn’t put in a good effort in the League and there was a lot left in them. We weren’t too worried.

“We put the team under pressure for the Clare game in Walsh Park and they responded well.”

In contrast, he feels that Tipperary suffered as a result of their approach to the League. They looked ’awesome’ at stages, he agrees. If anything their form was ‘nearly too good!’

“They were taking every game very competitively. It often happens when you have a new management coming in. Overall, they might have taken their eye off the championship. The League final came a bit too soon, only two weeks before the championship, and Clare were waiting all year for this game.

“You could see how focused they were, whereas Tipperary were going from league game to league game and the next thing the championship was on top of them. Clare hit them with a ferocity I don’t think they expected. They surprised everybody.

“It’s hard to figure out what happened. Tipp made Clare look very good and Clare have made Cork look very good. When Clare did put it up to them for the 15 minutes after half-time it looked like it might have caused a few question marks. But, once Cork got the couple of scores they relaxed again and they were under no pressure.

“It was a hard game to judge,” said Bonnar. “I think Clare got a fright in that Cork were in their face from the word go. You wouldn’t expect that from a Cork team. That was the Clare tactic and they were outdone in that. Ultimately, their hurling wasn’t as sharp as it had been in the first game.”

Likewise, Waterford played their best hurling in the drawn match with Limerick and, by general agreement, were mediocre in the replay. However, all that mattered was that they came out on top.

“On different occasions if they had lost a nine points lead they would have lost the game and at other times when they played badly they wouldn’t have won. They didn’t play too well against Limerick, but they still won it. I think they are learning. They are learning as a group to fight out the bad patches,” Bonnar adds.

They hit such a bad patch in Croke Park last year. Bonnar suggests if they had played anybody else but Clare, the result might have been different.

“They are the one team that can suffocate a hurling team and that’s the way it worked out. But having said that, we lost by only three points. It says a lot for the team, that they are able to hang in there when things are going against them. Against Limerick, they did that and they came out on top. We’re hopeful they can show the same attitude on Sunday.”

Bonnar is satisfied that the players aren’t under the same pressure this time, now that they have got ‘that monkey’ off their back.

“They have the Munster championship and they can look further than that. In a way that, it’s not the be-all and end-all. Whatever happens, they are going to get a crack at the All-Ireland whether it’s through the losers group or the winners group.

“And, ultimately, that’s where the players want to be.”