Dan Shanahan: ‘We have to believe we can beat Kilkenny’

Twenty months ago, Dan Shanahan agreed Waterford were the fifth team in Munster. “Maybe ninth or 10th in Ireland,” he says now of that period. How times have changed, writes John Fogarty.

Today on the sideline, Dan Shanahan will be Waterford’s figurehead. Where Brian Cody will spit on his hands and cajole his men with a fist pump, Shanahan will dance on his toes and applaud.

Derek McGrath wouldn’t want it any other way. When the players look over to their sideline they will see a 38-year-old pucking every ball with them, desperate to win, just as he is to play.

“My job as a maor foirne is to get the message out to the lads and to see that I’m fully focused on my job on the line. Sometimes I’d be jumping around the place, getting involved in the play, but that’s just because I want our lads to get the ball. I want them to win every ball and when I see what they’ve put in, and what we have, of course you do.

“It’s probably tougher than playing. You can only pick 15 and there’s 26 on the panel so some lads are disappointed but it’s just a passion I’m showing to the boys.

“I could sit down on the bench beside Derek but there’d be no point. It wouldn’t be me. I leave that technical stuff to Derek and I release the passion because I just want Waterford to win.

“And it’s tough because I did go down to the Cork supporters on one of the days and I did get fair abuse off the Cork fans. But at the end of the day I’m only doing my job for Waterford, I can’t do anything for Cork. It’s hard to pass on the message when there’s 40,000 or 50,000 there so sometimes you have to cross the white line. When I’ve a man behind me telling me I’ve to do that, I’ve to do that.”

But there’s a confidence about Shanahan the selector too. In the closing stages of this year’s Division 1 semi-final against Tipperary in Nowlan Park when Waterford were leading, a ball came off a Waterford player and crossed the sideline into Shanahan’s path.

Rather than throw the ball away, he handed it to the Tipperary player as if to say “do your damndest, we’ll take it”.

“That’s it, yeah, that’s me. I did that. What’s the point in throwing the ball away? The last day, one of the balls was given back. Some lads will f*** it away but that’s just not me.”

Maybe 2014 was a rite of passage for this Waterford crew. Shanahan absorbed the flak that came the management and the players’ way.

He doesn’t need reminding how close he and McGrath were to the bacon-slicer after last season. He never lost faith, though. “Did I believe in Derek McGrath and his thing? Of course I did. I know what the man is about, I know what he did with colleges and it’s a fair step-up (to senior) but he’s very intelligent.

“He puts 100% into everything. I’m delighted he’s getting the luck this year because last year he didn’t. He won’t tell you that but he’s done something for every fella on the panel, whether it’s injury-wise or getting them to go see a doctor, or help for a lad to get a job interview. He’s phenomenal and that’s without the stuff on the field.”

For a player who thrived in the swashbuckling Justin McCarthy era, it’s difficult to comprehend how Shanahan was sold on Waterford’s more considered style now. He admits he was reluctant to believe in it at first.

“I have to say, one day it took convincing from Derek. Back in my time it was off-the-cuff and you go out, win your own battle, and play a bit of freedom hurling.

“The way the game has gone now, especially against the bigger teams. We were probably conceding too many goals and we had to do something to stop that.”

Ask him if he’s prouder to be associated more as a selector with a Waterford team known for their work-rate than as a player with a side regarded for their skill and he agrees. “I have to say that. If I was to work a bit harder when I was playing who’s to know what we would have won. I can assure you one thing — our lads work extremely hard. They’re tough in the tackle, Jake Dillon and Brick Walsh are phenomenal at working.

“Barry Coughlan has been outstanding, kept Seamus Callanan to no score from play, which I don’t think many players have managed, yet he doesn’t get recognition. Barry wouldn’t want it anyway but Derek brought this extra tutoring to the players and they seem to be doing it.

“They’re intelligent players, four or five school teachers, some of them in college. We don’t concede early goals... 16 points was a poor return against Tipperary yet we had two goal chances we didn’t take, remember. If we got those we would have won the game. We had 13 wides too. So it’s not all negative.”

Shanahan would have to be made of stone not to enjoy how his younger sibling Maurice has starred this season. “I think Maurice is his hardest critic. 2014 wasn’t a good year for Maurice Shanahan, through this and that, we’ll put it like that. He’s come back phenomenally and worked so hard, like every fella.

“Pauric Mahony has been outstanding towards Maurice, and to every player through his injury. I think Maurice thrives on frees, he plays better when he’s on them and he’s shown that this year.”

What does Shanahan think will be needed to beat Kilkenny today? Something Waterford never exhibited during his playing time, that’s for sure.

“For us to match them, we have to match their aggression. We have to die for every ball and we haven’t done it over the years. In my time we didn’t believe... we have to believe we can beat Kilkenny and we do believe we can beat them. For us to do that, we have to work as hard as Kilkenny and get a bit of luck. We need 20 players to play well for us to win. Kilkenny could have 10 play well but they need to have five players to play poorly for us to win.”