Behind enemy lines
IT WAS the Christmas party which got Kieran O’Connor into broadcasting.
The Glanbia communications and sponsorship manager was helping new Waterford radio station WLR out with their farming programme, when his impersonation of Micheal Ó Muircheartaigh went down a storm at a staff Christmas bash in the early 90s.
“The station manager asked me to do some commentaries on games,” recalls O’Connor.
“I had to be persuaded, to be honest. It was one thing having the craic over a few drinks, but doing actual games?
“As it turned out I ended up doing the 1992 All-Ireland minor final, which Waterford played in, and the 1992 U21 hurling final, draw and replay. The first three commentaries I did were All-Ireland finals.”
The Glanbia connection takes O’Connor into both camps, of course. Avonmore and Yop, the Kilkenny and Waterford sponsors, are both Glanbia products, which means O’Connor has a hectic day or two ahead.
With Kilkenny in the final he’s always busy; with Waterford joining them, multiply that workload.
“It’s small things that people don’t realise,” he says. “For instance, the last few years Kilkenny have been in the final, so you’ve to sort out merchandise for ‘Up For The Match’ on Saturday night.
“Then there’s branding out at the team hotel, the team bus, the road signs to Dublin. There’s the banquet as well, or rather, the two banquets. The preparations for all of that has to be done because Kilkenny are in the final — it’s just that there’s double the work now because Waterford are in there as well.”
O’Connor comes from good Waterford stock — his brother Mickey starred with the county during their 50s heyday — but liaising with the Kilkenny team means he knows Nowlan Park well. He makes sure Brian Cody’s men are supplied with as much Avonmore/Glanbia products as they need, but this week is a little different.
He’s pulled back from heading into the Marble City for the last few training sessions, but he stresses that it’s nothing to do with Brian Cody or the Kilkenny management making him unwelcome.
“I just felt it’d be better if I didn’t head up to training this week,” he says.
“Brian and Ned (Quinn, of the Kilkenny County Board) didn’t ask me to do that. In fact, both of them said I’d be more than welcome as long as I could take the slagging. But I just felt I’d leave them be this week, it might be for the best.”
He’s seen enough of Kilkenny in the past few years to rank them up with the best, in any case: “I think we’ll look back on this team as one of the best of Brian’s era, definitely. They’re outstanding.
“Waterford have been very good this year, and if they play to their full potential, then they’ve a good chance. The one thing in Waterford’s favour is that I think we’re probably more prepared than Limerick were this time last year, for instance, our lads have played in more big games — All-Ireland semi-finals and Munster finals — than Limerick had last year.
“We’ll have to play up to our maximum. The bookies have Kilkenny as favourites, and they don’t often get it wrong. But I think we have a great chance.”
At least O’Connor has been there before. His father and brother brought him to the 1963 final between Waterford and Kilkenny (“A trip to Dublin that time was like going to the moon,”) and naturally the youngster was heartbroken when the Déise lost.
“Never mind,” his father told him, “We’ll be back.”
“He was right too,” says O’Connor. “It just took us 45 years.”
* TEN YEARS ago Brian McEvoy was matching his wits against the Waterford hurlers in an All-Ireland semi-final, trying to break the hearts of those in white and blue jerseys.
Funny how life rolls the dice: nowadays those white and blue jerseys are his bread and butter.
McEvoy is sales manager for Azzurri, the Waterford-based sportswear company which supplies Davy Fitzgerald’s side with their gear. When he rolls into work the slagging begins for a man synonymous with black and amber.
“There’s great banter, there’s great novelty with Waterford there in the final, it’s so long since they got to there. But the slagging around the city and county has been great since both teams qualified.”
Some places that banter’s a little sharper than others, of course. Those who don’t know the geography and economy of the southeast might be surprised at the closeness of the ties. McEvoy isn’t.
“You’d want to be in places like Slieverue, Carrigeen and Kilmacow,” he said.
“In a lot of those places people have married in, with Waterford people living in Kilkenny and Kilkenny people moving into Waterford. That’s where the edge really comes in with the slagging, but it’s all in the best of humour.”
McEvoy doesn’t deal with the Waterford team itself as part of his day job, but he acknowledges that their success is good news for the company.
“Basically it’s clubs I deal with, rather than the Waterford hurlers themselves,” he says.
“Naturally the success of the Waterford lads is great for us — it’s brilliant exposure.”
Any visitor to Waterford this last few days will see that there’s one item of clothing on call for practically the entire population. Its distinguishing mark is a blue YOP logo on the chest, and anyone not in the jersey itself is wearing some other, closely related item of sportswear.
“It’s great for us that we see people walking around in the Waterford gear, young and old, around the city,” says McEvoy. “But it’s not just good news for us, — it’s after lifting everyone, they’re all delighted and there’s a fantastic atmosphere in the county because they’re in the final.”
Obviously as a former Kilkenny All-Ireland winner, McEvoy has mixed emotions ahead of Sunday’s clash, given his stake in Waterford.
“There’s no mixed emotions, business is business!” he interjects. “Ah, I’m kidding. Obviously I want Kilkenny to win. In fact, you can check in with me on Sunday and you’ll see that I’m wearing the black and amber!”
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