Captaincy is no burden for Fergal

WATERFORD’S hurling captain was so caught up in the euphoria of their memorable triumph in the Guinness Munster hurling final that he didn’t think of the trophy presentation until a steward located him on the field.

It was one of the more interesting snippets to emerge from a log Fergal Hartley compiled on that fateful day for later publication.

Likewise, he hadn't prepared a speech.

"It was superstition, of course, so I was thinking about what I would say as I was going up the steps for the presentation," Hartley explained.

He surprised himself by being so relaxed.

"If it was in a hall with 200 people, I'd probably be dying, but I suppose I was caught up in the occasion!"

However, anybody who knows him would appreciate that he has developed public relations skills and that he's comfortable dealing with the media. It's part of the territory when you are the captain.

In any case, away from the hurling field, he deals with the public in a business. With sister Roisin, he runs Hartley People, a recruitment and training company.

It's well known that some players don't take well to the responsibility that goes with the captaincy. Others take it in their stride. For Hartley, it's not a burden.

"At the end of the day, it's a title to a certain extent. It certainly doesn't put any pressure on me," he stated.

"A great honour, yes, but I don't think it's a huge pressure."

Almost five weeks on from that emphatic win over Tipperary in Pairc Ui Chaoimh, it's still like a dream. It was "a fantastic day" for everybody concerned a day they "won't forget".

But the Munster championship is finished. Now, they are launching into a new competition and clearly Clare are intimidating opposition.

"We have another game, and with the new system, the days of getting 'handy game' are gone," Hartley said.

"This championship just keeps getting harder, for everyone, ourselves included. Nowadays, you are almost guaranteed that the best team is going to win the All-Ireland. In the old days, one big day for a team could get them through. You could get a 'handy' first round and then one big game."

Galway football manager John O'Mahony wasn't prepared to blame his team's defeat on Sunday on their long break after winning the Connacht final.

However, he agreed that Kerry did benefit from coming through the qualifier system, in the way they were able to fine-tune their team. Clare, it would be accepted, have benefited similarly.

More significantly, Hartley has personal experience at club level of having a good run interrupted."I know from Ballygunner last year that as the games kept coming, we kept getting better. But, once we got a two months break, we collapsed against Clarinbridge (in the All-Ireland semi-final)," he said."I know it was the same for them, but certainly we lost the momentum and no matter how we tried, we couldn't regain it. That's something we have to fight against. That's the big negative for us, that we may have lost the momentum!"

Hartley points to the quality of their backroom team of Justin McCarthy, Colm Bonnar and Seamie Hannon in striving to overcome that problem.

"They are as good, if not better, than anywhere in the country. That's a plus for us.

"Looking at Clare, they have the experience themselves of winning two All-Irelands, whereas we have the experience of Justin and Colm winning All-Irelands.

"And, the reality is that of the '97 Clare team that won the All-Ireland, the leaders are still there the players who made the big difference to them." It may not be an extra burden, but the Waterford captain acknowledges that they will also carry the hopes of countless players who never got the chance to play in Croke Park.

"That's pressure to an extent, but then again, everybody is under pressure playing an All-Ireland semi-final.

"In any game at this level there is pressure, and it's down to whether or not we can handle it.

"By the same token, there's a lot of pressure on Clare, for different reasons. If they lose, they won't have much to look back on a bit like us in '98!"