Tearing up the script in search of Liam MacCarthy

My speech went ok but the spontaneity of it probably framed it to be more natural and rare than I ever expected it could be, writes Anthony Daly.

On the Saturday morning before the 1995 All-Ireland final, myself and Ger ‘Sparrow’ O’Loughlin took off down to the Clare Inn for a swim. The place was deserted so the two of us slipped into the Jacuzzi, the warm water soothing our muscles, the bubbles relaxing our minds.

I piped up to ‘Sparrow’: “Jeez, I’ve no few auld words made out if we win tomorrow.”

“Hi,” Sparrow responded in his own, unique matter-of-fact tone, “worry about Johnny Dooley, and someone will do the speeching.”

I knew I was better off not answering Sparrow, I wouldn’t be winning that argument. So I did only focus on Johnny Dooley. When the game was over and we were entering Nirvana, I went up on that podium with nothing prepared, just a few loose thoughts jangling around my head.

I hadn’t time to think for a second because all hell broke loose once the final whistle sounded. The crowd invaded the pitch and I got trapped in the middle of the tsunami, unable to move. John Leonard, the head steward who normally wrestled the captain from the hordes before escorting him to the podium, was disarmed and disorientated from the bedlam. He thought Ollie Baker was me. Baker wasn’t that good looking! Then GAA President, the late Jack Boothman, took the mic and initiated the search party: “Has anyone seen Anthony Daly?”

That must have been in my head when I said “There has been a missing person in Clare for 81 years. Well today, that missing person has been found alive and well, and that person’s name is Liam MacCarthy.” Getting mauled by the crowd, and going missing for those few precious minutes, had to have triggered that line because I honestly never had that thought in my head before that moment.

The only thing I was conscious of in that speech was acknowledging the great Clare teams, and players, who had gone before us, to say that this success was as much for them as it was for us. I think the speech went ok but the spontaneity of it probably framed it to be more natural and rare than I ever expected it could be.

A lot of that was down to how relaxed I felt going into that match. I never felt such a sense of freedom beforehand.

I couldn’t wait for the game to start. I was going up to cut loose. The pressure to finally win a Munster title, after losing successive finals, was lifted. And the freedom I felt was overwhelming.

When the Clare Champion newspaper came out on the Thursday beforehand, I read the match supplement from cover to cover. On the Saturday morning, I ambled down to the shop in Clarecastle village and bought three newspapers.

On one of the papers, they had this match-up section, where they did pen pictures of both players, accompanied by the verdict on the match-up. When I read the one on Anthony Daly-Johnny Dooley, it said: ‘Advantage Offaly’. “I’ll ram it down that journalist’s throat tomorrow,” I said to myself.

I remember before I handed over the money for the papers, your man behind the counter said to me, “You’re hardly going reading them.” “I am,” I replied, “why not?”

You couldn’t imagine that happening now. It is a different time, a different era, but I still think it’s important to embrace the build-up, and not to completely run away from it.

It’s not often that you can go into a final feeling so little pressure, as I did in 1995.

There is big pressure on both teams tomorrow. There is probably, being honest, unbelievable pressure on Galway. The handy accusation to make if they don’t win it is to say, ‘they will never win it.’ Galway have been favourites since the league final but you couldn’t say that there isn’t pressure on Waterford either. Derek McGrath is in his fourth year now. The word is that this is his last year. It surely is for ‘Brick’ Walsh. How long more can Kevin Moran go on for either? This is probably Moran’s last chance to get that Celtic Cross too.

There are never any guarantees at this level but this Waterford team is young and I think they will have plenty more chances. I just think they can go into this final free from the overbearing burden on Galway. The players are worldly and experienced enough now to handle it but you still feel that if another opportunity gets away on Galway, especially with Waterford in the other corner, the blow could be fatal. And no matter how much they try and crowd out that noise, it will still be roaring in some players ears.

The big advantage Galway have is Micheál Donoghue and his calculated and calm mind. He will have the players primed. Ready. Relaxed. And prepared for absolutely every eventuality, every challenge imaginable.

He has been excellent all year. When some people gave him stick for going back to St Thomas’ with the cup after the league final, Micheal just laughed it off. It didn’t knock a stir out of him. He didn’t feel the need to go on Newstalk the following evening to explain himself.

Galway have been different under Micheál. They have matured and grown this year but so have Waterford, especially since the Kilkenny game. I saw it myself first hand with the Dublin players in 2013, how a victory against Kilkenny can completely transform your attitude. The Waterford team now is a totally different animal to the one which lost to Cork in June. I’m sure the Cork players could have told you as much after last month’s All-Ireland semi-final. And that was down to more than just a revenge mission. That is what defeating the stripey men can do to a team.

They have some brilliant hurlers but Waterford have power and physique and athleticism too, which will give them a serious chance of matching Galway’s Panzer tank style. Galway disarmed Wexford’s sweeper through their aerial prowess but they won’t enjoy the same dominance against Waterford. Nobody seems to know much about Kieran Bennett but I’ve seen him over the last couple of years in the Fitzgibbon Cup with LIT and nobody wins a handy ball in the air off him.

Galway have powerful weapons up front; Joe Canning, Conor Cooney, Joseph Cooney, Conor Whelan. And yet Waterford have the guns to silence them. Conor Gleeson is a huge loss but that is offset by Tadgh de Búrca’s return and the confidence Darragh Fives will have accrued from three weeks ago. I really do think this could come down to Austin Gleeson. If he can produce a five-star display, which he is more than capable of, Waterford will win.

One of the primary reasons I fancy Galway though, is their patience. They know that tomorrow is going to be a war. They understand that they won’t be able to dominate, or bully, Waterford like they have done to other teams but that won’t bother them. If they have to win this by one point, they will accept that is the way this has to play out. If it comes slightly easier, so be it, but Galway will believe that they are going to get there, by hook or by crook.

Tipperary threw absolutely everything at them and Galway still withstood the onslaught. After the Waterford-Cork game three weeks, I was fully convinced Galway would win. I still think they will but that conviction has been diluted more as the weeks have gone on, as we have gotten closer to the match. Maybe it’s down to that feeling we had in Clare in 1995, that maybe this just is Waterford’s year. We were certain we were going to win. We felt that our name was on the bloody thing. If Waterford’s players are thinking the same way, they may be able to generate an irresistible momentum which Galway might not be able to hold back.

I was thinking back the day when I was driving out of the carpark in Páirc Uí Chaoimh after the All-Ireland quarter-final against Wexford and Noel Connors, Jake Dillon, Pauric Mahony and Shane Fives hopped into the car for a lift up to the Imperial Hotel. I know they were in great form and were heading back to Croke Park but their free-and-easy spirit and mood reminded me of ourselves in 1995; chilled, relaxed, and mad for road.

To be honest, I think tomorrow’s pairing has put us all in unbelievable form. No disrespect to Kilkenny, Cork or Tipperary, but all hurling people outside those counties are basking in the warmth of this carnival. All-Ireland final day is always my favourite day of the year. It is magical but tomorrow is even more unique with the pairing. I can just picture myself scanning the crowd before the national anthem and imagining the joy on half those faces afterwards as they end decades of famine and heartbreak.

And I think those faces will be from Galway.