Molumphy: Déise can bounce back

IT has to go down as one of the major disappointments in an All-Ireland final. For over a decade, since their return to the big stage in 1998 when they reached the Munster decider under Gerald McCarthy, Déise hurling fans were anticipating the appearance of a multi-talented Waterford side in the ultimate round of the championship.

Many times they had come close, only to fall at the semi-final hurdle. By last year even their own supporters were beginning to despair of ever reaching the promised land – Croke Park on the first Sunday in September.

And then, out of the wildest and deepest blue, it happened. Well beaten by unsung Clare in their opening championship match of 2008 the Waterford players staged a rebellion which saw to it that long-time manager Justin McCarthy was replaced by emerging young gun, Davy Fitzgerald.

And game by game, qualifier by qualifier, Waterford began what had seemed a most unlikely journey, culminating in their first All-Ireland final appearance in nearly 50 years, facing Kilkenny.

Oh, the hype, the hope, the hysteria that swept through the county in the weeks leading up to the big day, but oh, the disappointment, the depression, in the weeks and months that followed. It wasn’t defeat, it was devastation on the wrong end of a 3-30 to 1-13 scoreline. One would think, then, that for Stephen Molumphy, centre-forward that dark afternoon, this is a period he simply wants to blank from his life, pretend it never happened. Not so.

“I think the All-Ireland final day was a fantastic experience. The first 20 minutes we were grand and there was only a point or two in it but after that we let ourselves down completely. We played badly – you could say tactics but it was just ourselves. Normally when a team collapses it is a league game or a club game but that day we collapsed.

“And that’s not to take away from Kilkenny, they played superbly. But any other county would have done better than we did for the last 40 minutes, any other county would have played way better than us. That day we did fall down – we will learn from that.”

The big question now is can Waterford rebound? As they face into another championship season, Limerick in Thurles on Sunday, can they put the pain of that loss behind them?

“You hear that every year, that Waterford are gone now. But every year that people say that, we come back stronger and stronger, and I’m glad actually you’ve said it now, so hopefully we will come back again this year.”

Already they’ve made a a good start. It didn’t make anything like the same headlines as last September, but Kilkenny and Waterford met again a few months ago, in the National League down in Waterford, and this time the Waterford display was very different, as was the final result.

A four-points win for the hosts, (2-16 to 1-15), against a strong Kilkenny 15. It didn’t atone for the All-Ireland final loss, but it did prove, at least, that, that display was an aberration.

“Davy (Fitz) made a point of not mentioning the All-Ireland before that game. It was just go out and play to win.

“We had a point to prove to ourselves because we let ourselves down big time. We went out and laid into them and just played hurling. There was no big tactic or secret, we just went out and played hurling and won it.”

Perhaps that IS the tactic to beat Kilkenny, that is the secret – that there is no secret, no fancy tactic. Brian Cody has always maintained that Kilkenny themselves have no particular wonder-plan – they just go out and work like dogs for each other and see where the cookie crumbles.

“Exactly,” he said. “And you see the result of that. You saw there with Tipperary (in the league final, won by Kilkenny in extra-time), if you put in the workrate anything could happen. It’s workrate, workrate, workrate. The way Tipperary played, the amount of hassle their forwards caused the Kilkenny backs, that changed the game big-time.”

So they can be beaten? “Yes.”

It’s a response uttered with confidence, the kind of confidence you’d expect from a guy for whom leadership, responsibility, is an integral part of his full-time occupation.

An army officer with extensive overseas experience, when this season is over Stephen will be heading for Chad where his duties will be a lot more demanding than playing half-forward for his county, even against the likes of Kilkenny or Limerick.

That kind of keeps one grounded, which probably explains why that All-Ireland loss, painful as it was, has already been parked. It’s ‘eyes front’ now, for Lt. Stephen Molumphy, and eyes still very much focused on the prize, the same prize as last year, the same prize as every year – All-Ireland glory.

It starts Sunday, the day of double atonement for Waterford hurlers, for last September and Kilkenny, for Limerick and 2007 and that shock semi-final defeat. Not to mention, of course, the little matter of Justin McCarthy being the new manager in Limerick. Multiple motivation? You could say that.