For Decies, the future is all that matters

Waterford coach Justin McCarthy isn't dwelling on missed chances, writes Jim O'Sullivan. AMONG the hurling fraternity at large, there would be a belief that time may be running out for the current Waterford team to win an All-Ireland title.

Considerable progress has been made in terms of two Munster titles and a League final appearance, as well as some very respectable performances in the All-Ireland series under the reign of Justin McCarthy. But the argument could be made that they are nowhere nearer taking the Guinness title than they were a few years ago, that the squad is lacking the stability which has sustained Cork under Donal O'Grady and now John Allen and which Kilkenny had been enjoying up to last year.

Not surprisingly, McCarthy doesn't entertain such thoughts, nor would he be prepared to engage in such speculation. Basically, he's a 'here and now' man. There's nothing to be gained from looking back, he argues.

"I don't want to be looking back. You work on the present and you look to the future,'' he says.

"Going back does not count at all. It's about today's team and what we can get out of the team in relation to going forward.''

That future has already begun with the opening round of the Allianz National League at home to Wexford last Sunday and continues with the visit to Pairc Uí Rinn to take on the All-Ireland champions on Sunday (2.30). It's still February and he agrees that this game might be more meaningful in a month's time, but already the experimentation has started, as indeed it has with Cork.

McCarthy, who has in the past acknowledged the work undertaken by his predecessor, Gerald McCarthy, was rather bemused when the question of the team's prospects was raised. "I take every game as it comes. I don't look at things and say, this is my last year, this is my last game. I genuinely don't. That's not my style," he responded.

"That is the way it is and we will take it as it comes. We have the core of a team and we have a few young lads coming and we'll be looking at others. Who knows how it will work out. If we can pick up a few points as we go along, especially the home games at least, and see how the games go, we might get a quarter-final place. That would be great.''

It doesn't bother him that the League structure has been changed once more, with quarter and semi-finals being introduced. Teams have only five preliminary rounds, as opposed to eight, which only the finalists can now look forward to.

In Waterford's case it means that if they don't qualify they would have a nine-week break after the last round before their Munster championship semi-final on June 4, against the winners of the Tipperary/Limerick game. Cork's championship game against Clare will be played a week earlier.

Right now, McCarthy doesn't have a bother on that score. His view is that there is "no easy remedy" in coming up with a structure that pleases everybody. While acknowledging that a competitive game at the quarter-final stage would be "an advantage", he reckons the County Board wouldn't object too much to the team not making the qualifying stages.

"The Board will have plenty of games lined out, they are always caught for time," he said. "The players won't be starved of hurling, they will have plenty of club activity I can tell you.''

On Sunday last in Fraher Field, Waterford beat neighbours Wexford by two points. McCarthy wasn't over-exciting, but praised his players afterwards for showing a good attitude.

"At the end of the day, it was a League game in the middle of February," he said. "There was a decent crowd there and a decent atmosphere and for us it was our first inter-county game since we played Limerick in the first round of the Waterford Crystal competition. We were a bit sluggish - we started back late and we had done a lot of heavy training. Cork will be a test for us, except that's a bit early in the year. If it was a month later, teams would be more into the frame of things."

Frustratingly for Decies supporters, their team has not been able to replicate their provincial form at national level, while Cork have managed to actually enhance performances.

In essence, that's the challenge confronting McCarthy and his players. Time may not be running out, but for the likes of new captain Paul Flynn, on whose shoulders so much responsibility for scoring rests, it won't get any easier.