Derek McGrath blasts Waterford pessimism

Derek McGrath hit out at the pessimism of Waterford supporters following the victory, which included his own father.

“Between the field and here, if I meet another Waterford person who says ‘you’re in the All-Ireland quarter-final at least’. I think that defeatist attitude... I met my own father on the field and he said ‘at least you’re in the All-Ireland quarter-final’. Sometimes we need to change that mentality. I’m not saying we’ll be favourites for the Munster final but we’ll think about the All-Ireland quarter-final at 5.30pm on July 12 if we are beaten but up until that, we’re happy to approach the Munster final with everything we have.”

McGrath put Waterford’s slow start — they didn’t score from play until the 25th minute — down to his attempt to provide the players with motivation on the way to the game, with a video message from injured Pauric Mahony.

“I think we were over-emotive as well. We watched a video, with a message for Pauric Mahony, on the bus on the way in, and we were drained. I think just with the emotion of it, from players to management, we were drained. Some of our speedier players, guys who’d be known for their fitness, they just looked a bit leggy early on.

“The emotional knock-on of the video had an effect. But it opened up from there and I thought we were a bit unlucky not to have another goal before half time.”

Meanwhile a defiant Jimmy Barry-Murphy stood up for his players in the wake of their second successive defeat to Waterford in five weeks.

The Cork manager will now come under serious pressure as he and his panel attempt to regroup in time for the first round qualifiers, which take place on July 4.

A defeat at that juncture would surely bring to an end his second term in charge of the county.

The inconsistency question mark that has loomed over Cork since last year’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Tipperary grew following yesterday’s result. However, Barry-Murphy was keen to take more from the performance. “We are facing that [accusation] all the time. I thought the lads gave it a great effort today. Some days you have to accept you are beaten by a better team. We got two shots at Waterford and we couldn’t beat them.”

He added: “A lot of people questioned the players in relation to their attitude and commitment but they have been fantastic for us over the last couple of years. We’ve all had bad days. All we can ask is to give everything they have and they did that. There was no fault in that department.”