McGraths smell the coffee but Ballygunner are the machine
ALLSTAR BUCKS: Eoin and Ken McGrath at Mean Bean.
Like their hurling, the McGraths were no Johnny-come-latelys to coffee.
Eoin had been in the business before he set up Mean Bean in March 2013, Ken joining him a year later.
From supplying beans out of the back of their cars, the brothers have developed their passion into one of the province’s most admired coffee firms, boasting over 250 wholesale customers as well as their own roastery and barista academy in Cleaboy.
"Customers expect a lot more from their coffee,” says Eoin. “More people want their barista-made, 18 grams of coffee and they know there’s a premium to pay for that. You want to be proud of what you serve up.
“Covid really accelerated things,” Ken chimes in. “You went out for your walk and you had a coffee, which was the highlight of your day, so it had to be good. It’s like a good pint of Guinness, we all know the pubs where you get it, and where you don’t.”
From Australia, Conor Glass has brought back the Melbourne coffee culture to Derry, while several Tipperary hurlers have opened cafes.
“It’s a cultural change,” believes Ken. “Eoin and myself played hurling for Waterford for 15 years. If somebody asked me back in 2000, ‘I’ll meet you for coffee’, you’d be giving them a look. Coffee is favoured by strength and conditioning coaches. It’s an acceptable social thing too, to sit down for a couple of hours. If it was 30 years ago, it would be pints.
“They’re told by their coaches it helps their metabolism, especially Americanos which has little or no calories,” Eoin remarks. “It was bad enough in our time when you wanted to go for a pint but with social media now it’s nearly impossible for an inter-county lad. Nobody bats an eyelid at somebody having a coffee.”
On the subject of mochas and machines, the elder McGrath has no hesitation in calling Ballygunner the latter ahead of their Munster semi-final against Na Piarsaigh in Limerick on Sunday. The brothers’ Mount Sion have been the closest to upsetting them in Waterford the last couple of years but came up short on both occasions, the latest being this year’s county final.
“They’re well-oiled, have everything down to a tee on the week and day of a game,” Ken acknowledges. “They’re so organised and an example of that was the county final when there was no parade and the game probably shouldn’t have gone ahead because the weather was so bad but it didn’t upset them a bit.
“They have six forwards that need watching. Peter Hogan was having a quiet game against us then pops up with 1-2. Dessie (Hutchinson) constantly needs watching and Paddy Fitzgerald is a huge talent. We gave it a right rattle, kept them to 11 points but we needed to score goals and didn’t take them in the first half.”
Eoin adds: “Not a lot of what Ballygunner have coming through are superstars but they’re excellent hurlers, all shredded. What I like about them is there’s no arrogance about them. They don’t show off. They’re a bit like Limerick and Kilkenny and you admire that lack of big-headedness.”
As for Waterford’s 2023 season, the McGraths feel time is of the essence for this group of players to land championship titles following a difficult past season where they were knocked out of Munster.
“The players need to step up. It was 2016 when we won the U21 All-Ireland so a lot of the lads now will be hitting their late 20s and that’s the peak of your inter-county hurling years. We all know that comes and goes very quickly so you have to take your chance.
“The players have to ask themselves now what do they want from their careers because we have the potential but when it comes down to it, it’s only a word. Our record in the Munster championship round-robin is absolutely shocking. There would be uproar if it was in any other county. There is huge quality there but they need to show it.”
The decline from the Division 1 final victory to the provincial championship staff staggered Eoin. “I was so impressed after they beat Cork in that final and said to myself ‘we are right up there’. Then things went south so quickly and that’s what worries me, from being a team seemingly ready to challenge Limerick to going flat.
“Davy (Fitzgerald) gets a kick out of teams but he has his work cut out because that to me is a weakness. I felt the players gave up on (Liam) Cahill and the team. It’s not nice to see when players down tools. We also seem to struggle with playing games at home in the championship. That’s where you need to see improvement next year.”
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