Hurlers uniting city and county like never before

THE WOMAN had rung the radio show from Cappoquin. There was gloom in west Waterford with the proposed liquidation of the local chicken processing plant, but the lady on the line was having none of it.

She was wishing the Waterford hurlers the best for Sunday and inviting all and sundry up to Cappoquin to see the colours flying in the town.

The man who took the call, Billy McCarthy of WLR, is well placed to take the temperature in Waterford; his morning talk show is a barometer of popular feeling in the Déise.

“We’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s brought city and county together in Waterford, not to mention the fact that it’s Kilkenny we’re playing. Then you have the fact that the city boundary has extended further into Ferrybank in recent years.”

McCarthy explains the background to Ferrybank, the most disputed stretch of acreage since Hitler cast envious eyes over the Sudetenland.

“The southern tip of Kilkenny over the last few years has become known as north Waterford,” says McCarthy.

“Waterford city does want to expand into south Kilkenny, of course, and you have people there saying they were born in Kilkenny and there’s no way they’ll ever wear a white and blue jersey. That’s heightened the whole thing. Then you have the fact that so many Kilkenny people working in Waterford, alongside each other that we often have callers suggesting passports should be issued, because there’s a feeling that the Kilkenny people spend their money back home across the bridge. That’s not true, of course.”

Leaving north Waterford, er, Kilkenny, out of the equation, McCarthy feels the build-up has brought the county together.

“Looking at the history, the city was always a garrison town, almost a part of the Pale,” he says. “The more gaelic part was west Waterford – though I’ll be killed for saying that. As a child I remember going up to my grandparents on Morrison’s Avenue to watch Jukebox Jury, with snow on the screen. That said, I think that exists in any county with a city and hinterland, it’s probably the same with Cork city and west Cork.”

Going into WLR there are tv screens promoting a campaign for better cancer services in the southeast. Ken McGrath figures prominently – as does Cha Fitzpatrick and Tipperary’s Eoin Kelly, to be fair – and McCarthy pays tribute to sportspeople for getting behind local campaigns.

“The hurlers are always very good to get involved, and in fairness so are the likes of John O’Shea, Stephen Hunt, Sean Kelly, John Treacy – all of them.

“People in the area are getting fed up with the fact that Breastcheck, for instance, hasn’t been rolled out yet in Waterford, and the sportspeople always support campaigns on that issue.

“Politically, maybe the parties feel this is a safe constituency where there isn’t much play, and maybe that’s why we don’t have much clout. In fairness, the hurlers are always very good to get involved in the cancer services, the push for university status and stuff like that.”

McCARTHY is conscious, however, that this weekend is a game rather than a campaign. The players are there to play rather than act as symbols.

“To put too much of a burden on a hurling team would be unfair. At the moment we’re being swept along on this wave, and we’re enjoying it. There’s a little difference between this year and the Munster title in 2002, or 2004. It was summed up for me during the week when someone said ‘we’re living the moment, we’re getting a kick out of the build-up’.

“We have great hopes for the lads, we think they’re ready and I think they’ve been well protected — Davy Fitzgerald takes huge credit for that, as well as everything else. They’ve been very well managed.

“But for everyone else, we’re enjoying the hooley.”