McCarthy: I was quietly confident

IT WASN’T his greatest day yet as manager, and probably doesn’t even compare with 2002, when he guided Waterford to their first Munster title since 1963.

Nevertheless the conclusion of yesterday’s National League final witnessed an extremely happy and relaxed Justin McCarthy, ready to pause to share his thoughts with the assembled media. “I was quietly confident, to be honest,” he declared.

“I felt we had the team to do it and the players and the experience. It was all about working hard and not giving in, matching them score for score, closing them down, because they are a great team to be fair about it. But I was quietly confident.”

Given Kilkenny’s outstanding form coming into this game and the additional fact that team captain Henry Shefflin was back in competitive action with the county for the first time this year, Justin’s confidence wouldn’t have been widely shared, especially so outside Waterford. The key to this win yesterday, however, was goals, or more precisely, the lack of goals.

Crucial, agreed the Waterford manager: “If they got goals the game could have been over; we had to do a man-marking job and fellas were detailed to take on players that they would keep under tabs, so it was important.”

What was also important was that even when Kilkenny came with a typical surge at the start of the second half — turning a two-point deficit (0-9 to 0-11) into a three-point lead (0-14 to 0-11) within ten minutes — Waterford kept their heads. Normally, that five-point unanswered blast would have been the signal for the Cats to pull away, and Waterford to buckle. Not on this day; Justin had prepared them for just such an eventuality.

“We said at half-time, they’re going to get scores — we can’t keep them scoreless. But when they get scores, we want to get scores; keep working, keep working and think of scoring and think of scoring again. So it was just a matter of keep playing to the end. There’s a good spirit in this team and it’s pretty mature at this stage.”

They still have a way to go to reach the maturity of their manager, however.

The last league final Kilkenny lost was in 1978, against Clare. The man in charge of the Banner? Justin McCarthy. Since then his record has been embellished on an almost annual basis, including, of late, two Munster titles with this team. How does this compare?

“They’re all different,” he said. “I was here 30 years ago with Clare in ‘77 when we beat Kilkenny (Clare won two National League titles back-to-back). Today was another marvellous day for hurling and I’m thrilled to be part of it; it’s just another step in the right direction for Waterford.

“We’ll keep our feet on the ground and we’ve a bit of time yet to keep calm about it.

“We’re the best team in April — I’d like to be the best team in September.”

On yesterday’s evidence, what odds now of that happening?