McGrath lauds ‘brilliant’ Nash skill

Waterford manager Derek McGrath has dismissed calls for Cork’s Anthony Nash’s free-taking technique to be outlawed, even if he might be lamenting the Rebel keeper’s goalscoring touch this weekend.

“I think it’s a wonderful skill — I could pretend it should be banned but I was at challenge matches in Danesfort in 1989 between Tipperary and Kilkenny, and I saw Declan Ryan doing it three times in a game.

“It’s nothing new. In the 1989 Munster final, Nicky English balanced the ball on his hurley for four or five seconds before he put it over the bar. That’s when the balancing the ball started and Eoin Kelly of Tipp still does that on frees. Anthony Nash’s goal in the All-Ireland final replay that was slightly to the side of the 21 was one of the best pieces of skill I ever saw in Croke Park, to have the mentality to come forward and be cajoled and intimidated along the way and still remain focused.