And there’s more to come...
Offaly had been well beaten in the Leinster final by Kilkenny, there was a revolt by the players against manager Babs Keating after he was quoted in a newspaper article complaining about his sheep in a heap; Babs was gone, Michael came in, and the rest is history – Offaly won the All-Ireland.
To my own cost, I was part of the Clare scene that year, the famous three-game saga when the Offaly fans took over the Croke Park pitch for an afternoon, had a little revolt of their own, helped Offaly to a replay of a game which, on the field, they had lost. I suppose that’s destiny, Offaly’s name was on the McCarthy Cup long before they met and beat Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final.
Meeting Michael, I wondered if we were to witness a similar scenario this year. Waterford had been well beaten by Clare in the first round in Munster, the players had then had a mini-revolt against their manager, Justin was gone, Davy Fitzgerald came in, and the Waterford bandwagon began to roll.
Yesterday though, it wasn’t just derailed, it came to end of the line, and it was some crash.
As I said on Saturday, I was in both counties in the last few weeks. In Kilkenny I was speaking to a supporter, a long-time supporter, and what he said surprised me: “A lot of people think that with Cork and Tipperary gone, our greatest enemies are gone – they are not. We’re going to beat Waterford back to the bridge!”.
It was then you realised what this game meant to Kilkenny; under no circumstances were they going to be denied this three-in-a-row by Waterford, of all counties. That rivalry was there, and it’s as real as anything in sport. Look at the result – 3-30 to 1-13. If Kilkenny could have managed it, it would have been 6-60.
I’m not going to put a tooth in it, this was the worst All-Ireland final I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been coming to Croke Park now for more years than I care to recall.
People criticised Limerick last year, talked about them being beaten after ten minutes – they were, but they didn’t capitulate. They fought Kilkenny to the end, came out with some honour eventually.
Waterford yesterday? This was the worst performance from a team in white-and-blue in over ten years. They’ve been beaten in that decade, have lost in Munster and in Croke Park, but they always performed, they were always there or thereabouts. Forget tactics for a moment, where was their flamboyance yesterday, where was their freedom of expression? And remember, we’re talking about some of the finest hurlers of the past decade. Where was all the professionalism? Professionalism is shown on the field, in competing for the ball from first minute to last; it’s what you do when you’re between those white lines. This applies in every game at every level, but it applies especially in an All-Ireland senior hurling final. Waterford didn’t have that yesterday.
I have to say the Waterford selectors — Davy Fitzgerald, Peter Queally and Maurice Geary set up this team all wrong yesterday. Stephen Molumphy at centre-forward? Eoin Kelly, the best full-forward this year, at corner-forward? Wasn’t that telling Noel Hickey that Kelly was afraid of him? Starting Dan Shanahan after the year he’s had? Seamus Prendergast likewise? Starting John Mullane, a proven 13, at full-forward? It had Waterford under pressure from the start — and they looked like a tired team, perhaps over-cooked, certainly not ready for the game of their lives.
I feel really sorry for Waterford, for the supporters especially. Long-suffering they’ve been described as, but this is suffering that surely they’ve never experienced before, not even going back to the huge beatings from Cork in 1982 and 83.
I said it on Saturday, passion is fine, but it doesn’t win you matches. Kilkenny had the heavy artillery and, much as it pains me to say it, Waterford had nothing — no plan, no tactics, no preparation, no idea. Waterford just didn’t turn up yesterday. Maybe now the players should have another meeting, but this time discuss the real problem – themselves.
What can I say about Kilkenny? No big talk coming into this game, no bull, just plain, honest-to-God hurling. One man wins the ball, wins his battle, the ball is moved to the next man, to the next man. You look at their defence, no man is ever left in isolation, support everywhere.
Yesterday, as far as I could see, they won every position on the field, every personal battle. If Waterford’s display was bad, this was as good a display as I’ve ever seen from Kilkenny. They hurl at pace, they take everything in their stride, they never stop moving. There isn’t another team I know of where the word ‘team’ really means so much; even Brian Cody himself is only part of this team. A major part, but only a part. The same with Martin Fogarty and Michael Dempsey, all buying in fully to the concept of team – there’s no ‘I’ in this group, no talk of I, me, myself. They’re in it together, they win together, they lose together, though there hasn’t been very much of that lately.
I want to finish with this. As a young lad I was very impressed with what I thought then was the greatest team ever, the Tipperary team of the 60’s. I’ve held that belief for a long time, but yesterday, it changed. I know it was different times, different styles, but this is the greatest hurling team I’ve seen, the greatest manager.
The rest of hurling has some catching up to do.
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