The start of something special for Waterford?

Here is the thread of the game. As Waterford supporters streamed onto the turf in Semple Stadium yesterday after a comprehensive victory in the NHL final, a trim gent in his thirties threw his arms around a player in white and blue.

Ken McGrath, so often an electrifying presence in Thurles for the Déise, wrapped his clubmate, Austin Gleeson, in a bearhug as the young defender was making his way to the Ryan Stand for the presentation. McGrath’s father Pat, another Mount Sion icon, was playing for Waterford 40 years ago. There they are, the links in the chain, going all the way back to the seventies.

Yesterday was a great day for all of Waterford, and not just because Kevin Moran collected a trophy in the New Stand. It finally ends the old era and ushers in the new.