Donegal comparison surprises Noel Connors

It comes as a surprise to Noel Connors that Waterford’s style has come in for sharp comparisons of late.

The relative privacy of Division 1B may have shielded them from such analysis but their wins over Wexford and Galway have brought extra attention and with that critiques of their brand of hurling.

It’s nothing new to Connors, it must be said. In Davy Fitzgerald’s early years, Waterford came in for criticism for moving to a possession-style game from the cavalier, off-the-cuff tactics adopted under Justin McCarthy.

But being described as the Donegal of hurling by a journalist after the quarter-final win over Galway? Well, that was a new one on him. “I wasn’t aware of it,” Connors says of the comment. “I was just told it was the Donegal way of playing hurling, which I was kind of laughing to myself. It’s the first time I really came across it.

“Obviously, I knew there was players coming back the field and all that kind of stuff. It’s not the fact that we go out with the intention of being extremely defensive or anything. We go out with the want to get on the ball and really work hard so if that takes a corner-forward at times coming out to half-back and trying to get a block then so be it.

“If it takes a half-forward going into the half-back line and winning a ball, that’s what you have to do to win. I suppose Eoin Larkin is a prime example of an individual that’s doing it for years. It’s the will to get on the ball and the desire to help out the lads.”

When the Donegal comparison was put to Derek McGrath following the Galway victory, he rebuked it: “I’d be absolutely disgusted because (while) it’s not a totally different game, it’s not blanket defence or anything like it.”

Similar to Fitzgerald, McGrath has formulated a way of playing that suits the personnel he has. Connors knows from his experiences in his debut season in 2009 that a break from the old routine is not acceptable to everyone even if it has brought them to a semi-final against Tipperary on Sunday.

“There’s probably a lot of criticism when things change. We’re always the first to criticise but you have to do what you have to do to win and if your work rate is not there you’re definitely not going to compete.

“That’s one thing Derek has instilled in us — if your work rate is there, if you can get in hooks and blocks and if you can tackle extremely hard, that’s going to be half the battle in winning the match.”

Connors speaks of a winter period when the players sat down and made a pact to up their commitments following an indifferent first season under McGrath that was characterised by relegation from Division 1A and championship defeats to Cork and Wexford.

“I suppose people are raising their standards, it’s just the fact that they realise that what we did last year wasn’t adequate enough to be successful. There are 34, 35, 36 or whatever on a panel.

“All are extremely competitive individuals that want to be the best so over the winter we looked at ourselves and put our shoulders to the wheel and said, ‘Look, we want to be successful and we’ll do everything we can to be there’. And Derek has facilitated that extremely well.”

But in one sense Connors understood 2014 was a necessary evil that had to be endured.

Having started a Phd in Waterford IT last September into the inner workings of the GAA at grassroots level, his understanding of what’s needed to evolve teams has grown.

“I suppose it’s like the economy — it’s a cycle that you have to go through. You have to go through a learning process. It’s like an organisation: you have to start from somewhere and work your way up to a pinnacle. It was a learning curve for us, there’s no point in trying to deny the fact.

“The amount of people that were after retiring, even in the last four to five years you would have had a whole clear out, the likes of Tony (Browne), Ken (McGrath), Eoin Kelly, (John) Mullane. You would have had that generation; all of a sudden there was a new generation born. So, yeah, we were at a learning curve last year.”