‘The greatest compliment players can pay me is to move on and drive it on’ says Derek McGrath

It was all around to Derek McGrath’s house last Tuesday evening. From 5pm to 12pm, the players, management and backroom team reminisced, drank and sang on the day after the host signed off as Waterford manager.

“We had a chap on guitar first, then a sing-song. I sang one myself. Jamie Barron and Ian Kenny were at the centre of it all. It was a good signing-off moment. It reminded us a lot of the team holiday. More relevant is the fact that every inter-county set-up put in as much as us and aren’t able to… I think Philip Mahony said to me last Sunday that he has had three pints this year. I’m not trying to promote a drinking culture but a release is good at times when it’s controlled.”

Songs played a major feature over McGrath’s five years, sung after victories or played before them on the team bus.