Liam Dunne dismisses rumours of unrest within camp

Liam Dunne would like something known.

“Just in case anyone is wondering,” he said yesterday, “Paul Morris and Harry Kehoe are off to Germany on Wednesday and not back until Monday. Just in case someone thinks the whole camp is ruined after falling out after this defeat. So, I just want to make it clear.”

Dunne delivered that ‘news’ with a wry smile after a Wexford performance that gave the lie to rumours of unrest in the camp last week — rumours borne of his decision to take a short break abroad in Spain last week and miss a training session.

That was the blaze, but the spark derived from a Division 1B campaign that began with defeats to Limerick and Clare before victories over Kerry, Offaly and Laois — the last of them in dramatic circumstances — delivered yesterday’s quarter-final berth.

Did the speculation get to him?

“Get to me? Not at all. This was brewing since the Laois match. I was delighted with the Laois game. We missed five goals in the first-half and the game could have been wiped out at half-time. Laois hurled their best game of the league against us and with 70 minutes gone we were two points down. We scored three points from play and I just said to myself that that was the light switch I had been waiting for from this team.”

Dunne’s counterpart had taken notice of the furore across the county border with interest.

Derek McGrath has spoken of the fact that hurling managers are treated to the kind of microscopic attention that a Premier League boss has to cope with.

“I remember when we were relegated in the first year, I went away for a few days with my wife and two children to Portugal for our days before the club championship and I got a text saying Waterford hurling was in crisis and the manager was in Portugal. And I missed no session. So I could relate what he went through.”