A perfect answer to all the critics

IT was Clare goalkeeper Davy Fitzgerald who put it best when he acknowledged that Waterford were so good in Thurles yesterday, they might well have beaten the pick of the country.

But Waterford's big Dan Shanahan, the player with a new spring in his step, summed it all up in the immediate aftermath of victory, when he said no one in their right minds could possibly have predicted the result.

"We took some flak after the league final, and in truth we deserved to," said Dan. "We knew, however, we hadn't performed as we know we can, and today was all about putting the record straight.''