Waterford captain Conor Prunty: ‘We didn’t do ourselves justice and that’s what hurt the most’
‘Last year is last year and we won’t be dwelling too much on things this year,’ says Waterford captain Conor Prunty. Picture: Inpho/Tommy Dickson
In the still of the night, the Waterford hurlers returned home in their cars on December 13 last. It wasn’t an All-Ireland final performance that necessitated they slip back into the county under the cover of darkness but the desertedness made their defeat ever so real.
The contrast of such desolation to 2017 when thousands turned out on the south quays in Waterford city to welcome back their beaten heroes was stark. Even the scattering who showed up to greet the 2008 team walloped by Kilkenny was something. However, in the stricken times that these are, this was one disappointment the players would have to weather on their own.
The quietness that greeted Limerick upon their arrival back into Colbert Station that same night was just as discombobulating but as it likely assisted the champions in parking their achievement quicker it also allowed the runners-up to digest their loss in a shorter period.
“The few days after it were tough,” recalls captain Conor Prunty. “They’re a low few days and coming into Christmas when you have more time to reflect they can be low enough. It would have been different had there been a crowd there at home and emotions would have been a bit different but it was still disappointing.
“But I would have had more time to think about the result, whereas if you were among people you wouldn’t have that much of a chance to do it or you would be getting conflicting opinions from them.”
Prunty doesn’t recall his side’s early goal chances — had a couple of them been scored it could have changed the complexion of the game. Nor does he put too much emphasis on Tadhg de Búrca’s first-half injury. No, what he remembers is Waterford not giving a good enough account of themselves.
“It was really disappointing, the whole game. We really didn’t do ourselves justice in the end and that’s probably what hurt the most, knowing the potential in the team. Look, we didn’t really show up and give ourselves a fighting chance on the day.
“It’s so competitive in the Championship that if you’re not on your A-game things like that can happen and we got punished.
Liam Cahill has indoctrinated a ‘no excuses’ mentality in the group. There was no cribbing when Pauric Mahony damaged a cruciate ligament in a challenge game against Wexford prior to the Munster SHC last October. And after Limerick dismissed them by 11 points in Croke Park, there was no bellyaching about losing de Búrca.
“The players are obviously seriously talented but we wouldn’t have much time to think about them, particularly in the case of Tadhg,” says Prunty.
“I know he is rehabbing hard to get back as quickly as he can. Losing Pauric so close to championship was disappointing for him and for us but he would have stood up and instilled confidence in the players behind the scenes as the games were played.”
Mahony’s injury appeared to be a crushing blow for a team who had not won a championship game in the two previous championships. Prior to the pandemic, there had been green shoots in the county’s league campaign although on top of the retirement of Philip Mahony, along with Noel Connors and Maurice Shanahan being removed from the panel, it was a setback that appeared would deprive Waterford of required experience.
Such preconceptions were proven folly starting with that Munster semi-final win over Cork and a Munster final performance against Limerick that only lacked in brawn, certainly not belief.
Proving people wrong is not Prunty’s bag but he doesn’t deny those awful 2018 and ‘19 seasons didn’t inspire players. “It’s funny the way it was last year, I don’t think I experienced the element of surprise. Anyone around me knows that this is a capable bunch of players or else they wouldn’t have said it to me.
The 24-year-old had his own motivations after a ruptured quad had impacted him in 2018 and ‘19.
“It’s nice to get more games under the belt and while I did get injured (prior to the Championship), it wasn’t too bad. I would have had a few frustrating years with knocks and setbacks but that’s sport. Fellas are dealing with much worse in sport and in life so I can’t feel too sorry for myself too much.”
As Stephen O’Keeffe sits out the season, the Abbeyside-Ballinacourty man Prunty won’t have the assuredness of the veteran goalkeeper behind him, but he has plenty of faith in his former understudies.
“I know he was behind me all of last year but you wouldn’t be thinking during a game that Socky (O’Keeffe) is behind you. Billy (Power) and Seán (O’Brien) are fighting for the position and if you speak to Socky they were really pushing him last year. They’re both really capable and I would trust them in the position. Socky is another loss in terms of leadership but it gives the lads an opportunity now.”
If the timing of last year’s championship and the heavier sod worked against speed demons such as Dessie Hutchinson, the 2021 summer staging shouldn’t. Not that Prunty is reading much into it.
“The majority of the pitches last year were in good condition. It’s going to be a faster game in the summer but this team hasn’t played in the summer so we don’t have a comparison. The pace will obviously pick up a couple of percent.”
The sin bin — “there will be teething problems but I’m sure they’ll be ironed out over the course of the league” — also means it’ll be a slightly different game Waterford return to against Cork this weekend.
“Still, the same unwritten rules apply. There aren’t many things you can control in a game of hurling but work-rate is one of them and that’s what we try and maintain. There is a lot right but we have to make small improvements along the way to get where we want to go.”
And what would constitute a successful 2021? “Silverware. They’re the goals you have to set. We’re an ambitious bunch. I imagine every other team has the same goals. We’re going to have to take it game by game, build momentum and see where it takes us at the end of the year.”
- Famous clubs anchoring county teams has long been a GAA tradition but Mount Sion’s record surpasses all.
When injury forced Austin Gleeson to miss the 2018 Munster round-robin opener against Clare in Ennis — and Shane Roche wasn’t sprung from the bench — it was the first time Waterford played a SHC tie without a Mount Sion man participating since 1934.
George Kehoe was the first Mount Sion club man to play SHC with the county, lining out at right half forward against Tipperary the 1935 Munster semi-final in Carrick-on-Suir.
Since then the Waterford city club, founded in 1932, have strung together an unbelievable 86 consecutive years of having at least one man involved in every single inter-county championship game, bar one, an incredible 187 games in a row, prior to that 2018 blip, followed by 12 in a row. That’s 199/200.
And with Aussie Gleeson still flying that record is likely to be extended for a good few years yet …
- Austin Gleeson’s point from a line-ball in the 2020 All-Ireland final wrote the Waterford marksman into the record books as the 15th man to successfully ‘cut’ a ball over the bar in the final while that stroke also brought the Mount Sion star’s sideline tally to eight, joining Clare’s Mick Moroney in joint-second behind Joe Canning in the all-time chart.
- Patrick Curran has made 23 championship appearances for Waterford, 17 as a sub, including all 5 five games in last year’s campaign which leap-frogged the Dungarvan clubman ahead of Tallow’s Paul O’Brien (15) on the county’s ’supersub’ chart.
O’Brien never started a SHC game for Waterford while of Curran’s six starts he was replaced in five leaving the 2016 Munster final v Tipperary as his only full game.
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