Connors proud as new-look Waterford break free

What marked out the great Waterford team of the last decade was the way they approached the game, a swashbuckling side of freestyle players blessed with the full range of hurling’s skills.

Whether it was Ken McGrath, Tony Browne, Paul Flynn, Dan Shanahan, Eoin Kelly, John Mullane, Fergal Hartley, Stephen Frampton, Brick Walsh or Stephen Molumphy, they played the game with panache.

On Sunday in Thurles, we saw glimpses of all the above again in a thrilling drawn Munster SHC quarter-final against Cork. This is a new Waterford team under new manager Derek McGrath, hugely underestimated but playing with all those old qualities. All by design, says corner-back Noel Connors, one of the standouts of the Waterford team of recent years.