Too hot to handle

WHERE DO you begin describing a game that took every cliche in the well-thumbed annals of the Munster senior hurling championship final, and exaggerated it?

From early morning, every highway and byway into Thurles was jammed with the colourful thousands from Cork and Waterford; from even earlier, the old square rocked and rolled to the time-honoured rhythm of two sets of convivial, confident, but mutually respectful supporters, gathered in anticipation of a great day for their respective counties.

Important, though, it is to its great tradition, to hurling fans the build-up is just the sideshow to the true carnival; what really matters on Munster hurling final day is the hurling, the game, what happens on the field. Yesterday’s Guinness decider will rank very high, in those ancient annals.

It will rank higher still however, in the chronicles of Waterford hurling. Undeniable, unquenchable, unflinching in the face of the greatest of odds, when all was said and done, when the final exhausting whistle sounded, this was their day, 3-16 to 1-21.

The young minors of Cork and Tipperary set the tempo, Cork denying Tipp their four-in-a-row with a dramatic last-shot winning goal. It was nothing to the spectacle that was to follow. From first breath, we were at fever pitch.

Playing into a really strong wind, Cork led by three points at the break, and with Sean Óg Ó hAilpin having moved over on Dan Shanahan, Waterford’s biggest scoring threat, looked destined to retain their title. Three minutes into the second half, Waterford’s dangerous but fiery corner-forward John Mullane saw red twice in a matter of seconds; the first was his off-the-ball rush-of-blood strike on his marker, Brian Murphy, the second was the card shown by referee Seanie McMahon.

Now, surely, reduced to 14 men, over 30 minutes to face into that big wind, already trailing by a couple of points, Waterford were buried. Yet, incredibly, fantastically, in a display fuelled by raw guts and determination, a display worthy of any generation, any Munster final there ever was, they battled, fought, ran themselves ragged, and won a victory as famous as any in their long history.

Every one of the 18 who saw action contributed to this immense Waterford effort, but two were especially outstanding. Captain Ken McGrath, troubled like most everyone else in white-and-blue in the first half, grew and grew in stature the longer the game went on, was a defensive colossus by the end. And Paul Flynn, so often the Waterford saviour but too often the butt of criticism in recent games, was at his enigmatic best. Flawed genius? Yes, even yesterday, where the brilliance, reflected in a goaled 30m angled free of the type that he alone can hit, an over-the-shoulder point from the left wing into that gale from 35m, was mixed with a couple of glaring misses from simple positions. But genius nevertheless, worthy of any stage, of winning any game.

That’s Clare, Tipperary, Cork beaten, three big wins on the bounce for Waterford. A lot of hurling fans, and not just inside Waterford, have been waiting for that to happen, will be hoping it can continue for two more games at least. A new Waterford? No, says Flynn, the same Waterford, but with a revised attitude.

“There’s no difference between this year and other years. People outside the camp are calling us inconsistent, but three Munster finals in-a-row, one defeat in nine Munster championship matches under Justin (McCarthy), I don’t know if that’s inconsistent. It’s a hurling match, maybe before we got caught up in the occasion, but it’s pure and simply a hurling match. Hard work, hurling is not the same game I started playing as an 18-year-old, it’s much faster, much more physical, and it probably took us two years to cop that on. We’re doing okay.”

Doing okay? The thousands of ecstatic Waterford fans who invaded the Thurles pitch would embellish that, a few good nights coming up down in the south east, to celebrate their second Munster title in three years, only their seventh in all.

But perhaps therein lies the bones, and perhaps the truth, of Flynn’s statement. Second Munster championship won in three years, two years ago, their breakthrough title, they were caught by Clare in the All-Ireland semi-final. A major disappointment, Ken McGrath, whose soaring catch snuffed out the final Cork attack, now wants to go one better.

“This is better than 2002. To beat Cork in a Munster final in Thurles, after all the criticism we’re after getting over the years, no bottle and whatever; we showed today we have plenty of bottle, plenty of heart. 14 men against 15, sometimes that helps a team and we turned around, dug deep, unreal, I don’t know where we got it from. Ye saw it, the crowd were absolutely brilliant. For me it’s unbelievable, after getting hammered by Cork a few times in the 80’s to beat them in a Munster final is something; that’s easily our most satisfying win. We’re going to rattle the All-Ireland this year. We were disappointed the last time, against Clare, but I reckon we’ll give it a right go this year. Unless we win the All-Ireland, it won’t be a brilliant year for us; a good year, but not a brilliant year.”

They might, they might not, because there are still some big games to be played in the championship. But not in Munster.

This year, Waterford have stamped their class, their authority, their superiority, on the hurling-proud southern province. On another brilliant afternoon in Thurles, they left no room for argument. Champions most worthy.