Master McGrath relishing final battle

The training session had hardly ended and Ken McGrath was happy — there’d been an edge to the seniors versus U21s game Waterford had arranged.

With a crowd watching, waiting for autographs at the final whistle, nobody wanted to play second fiddle.

“The U21s are out three nights after us and they know that if they’re in form, they’ll be picked,” said McGrath. “They’re going for their places and with a crowd there, nobody wanted to give in.

“A few lads went down from the seniors to the U21s so it was a good workout for them as well.”

It’s been different for him the last few months: drafted in with Sean Cullinane to replace Br Philip Ryan and Nicky Cashin, who dropped out as selectors, McGrath has had to get used to the confines of the sideline. It didn’t make the win over Clare any less sweet, though.

“I’m the youngest of the three lads and they make me do the running. When the whistle went [v Clare], I felt as good as I ever did after playing a game myself.

“When you play, you only have to look after yourself but as a selector you have to look after everyone. I felt as good after that one as I ever did when I was playing.

“But still — if Darach Honan had caught the ball near the end and scored, we’d probably have been slated — that’s what the Munster championship is about, a matter of inches with games, but we dug it out. We played some decent hurling without ever playing as well as we can.”

They’re underdogs tomorrow, but that doesn’t worry McGrath.

“We haven’t gone in to too many games over the years as favourites, even against Clare, which I felt was strange. We were the Division 1 team, with a good record in Munster, yet they were favourites.

“We don’t pay too much attention to what’s said in the media or in the bookies; a lot of them feel they have something to prove against Tipp and it’s up to them to go out and prove that on Sunday.”

Is he expecting Lar Corbett to start?

“I’d say he has a good chance of starting,” said McGrath. “He got four goals against us last year so he’d have to feel good about playing against us. We’ll just have to be ready for him. Everyone wants their best players out on the field, we’ll just have to be ready.”

The Mount Sion clubman points to the benefit of a second game for Tipp: “You learn more in a Munster championship game than you would in six months of training; you know if a fella is up to the real crunch of championship hurling.

“The games will stand to Tipp but we’re confident after beating Clare and the lads have nothing to lose and will want to perform better than last year.”

Davy Fitzgerald said last year that Tipp’s Noel McGrath had done well on Waterford centre-back Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh in the past, but McGrath is backing his man to perform.

“To me Brick is a top class centre back and no better man to go for the ball. His hunger is there, his fitness is good and while Noel has had some good games against us over the years, he’s just another man we’ll have to counteract.

“But that’s championship hurling, if you keep an eye on five forwards it might be the sixth guy does the damage.”

Another man facing a tough day is Waterford full-back Liam Lawlor, but McGrath gave the defender a strong vote of confidence: “Liam’s a good tough player who probably looks slower than he is. He commands the full back slot and he did well, though when [Darach] Honan slipped away from him, if he’d gotten that goal Liam would have been the worst in the world.

“But he’s trained hard, he’s level-headed, calm, and I don’t think anything will faze him. Hopefully he’ll show that on Sunday.

“It’s a specialised spot. I was there for a few games and I was mad to go out the field and hit a few balls, I was like a caged lion — I’d say Clinton [Hennessy] had a pain in his head from shouting at me to come back.

“If you get the position right, it’s vital and we feel Liam is the right man for it.”