Déise dare to dream of shot at last eight

UP to now, games between London and Waterford were played out well below the nation’s radar. Ruislip or Fraher Field, it didn’t matter. Here were two bottom-feeders fighting for scraps at the bottom of a tank packed with far bigger fish.

This Saturday will be different, however.

Five weeks ago, the Exiles could and should have taken the biggest scalp in their history but late points from Trevor Mortimer and Kevin McLoughlin let Mayo squirm off the hook before they wriggled free after extra-time.

Then came the draw for the first round of All-Ireland qualifiers and Fermanagh’s trip to the English capital where a demoralised and weakened Ulster side became the first county to fall to London in championship action since 1977.

People are finally starting to take notice. London could have been backed at 9/2 at the start of the week prior to the Fermanagh game before coming in to a more realistic, yet still attractive, 2/1 on the day itself.

For Waterford’s visit, they find themselves in the unique position of being favoured by the bookies to advance to within 70 minutes of an All-Ireland quarter-final.

Strange days, indeed.

Waterford cannot say they haven’t been warned but then, John Owens has never required notice of what to expect after four years spent living in the Bronx and playing for New York.

“There is a great bond among players when they are away from the country,” said the Waterford manager.

“There is always that spirit of ‘we would love to beat these guys coming over from Ireland’. I know that first-hand from my time in New York.”

The pinnacle of Owens’ time Stateside came in 1989 when a Cork side that would go on to win back-to-back All-Irelands arrived to contest a two-legged league final having defeated Dublin in the ‘home’ decider.

The Munster county returned home with the trophy after a ten-point aggregate win and, though it is a trip best remembered for the disastrous Colman Corrigan Achilles heel injury, Owens’ memories are mostly positive.

Waterford have less comforting recollections of their own most-recent foreign expedition. A loss in 2009 in Division 4 to London by a point stalled their escape bid from the basement tier.

“We played them in Fraher Field then the year after and they were very competitive for the first-half before we got on top and they have given too very good performances against two reasonable teams so far in the championship.”

Unfortunately, Owens will be without Shane Briggs for the trip. The centre-back is in Australia on holidays but Brickey Rangers forward Conor McGrath has taken the reverse flight.

Every hand they have on deck is welcome given the drain of players to emigration and injuries but Owens has been able to spot silver linings amidst the clouds.

Kevin Cotter has availed of the chance to stake his place between the sticks and Conor Phelan, Cillian O’Keeffe and Sean Fleming have made progress in the absence of more experienced men.

London are no strangers to comings and goings. The nature of life in a GAA club abroad breeds a familiarity with revolving doors and that actually makes Waterford’s job all the more difficult this week.

“Yeah, this London team will be that bit different to the one that we played the last time. The DVDs from that last game won’t tell us a whole pile. We’ll be watching their games against Mayo and Fermanagh instead.”

Forewarned is, after all, forearmed.

Picture: John Owens: ‘Great bond among players based abroad.’ Picture: Eamonn Keogh (MacMonagle, Killarney)