Like Gilroy in Dublin, Flynn having major impact behind the scenes in Waterford 

But no more than Pat Gilroy and Dublin, you don’t need to see Paul Flynn’s name listed to know of the impact he’s having.

BIG INFLUENCE: Waterford’s Annie Fitzgerald and Roisín Kirwan celebrate. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom Maher

The same as Pat Gilroy with the Dublin footballers, you won’t always find Paul Flynn mentioned in a match programme involving the Waterford camogie women.

But no more than Gilroy and Dublin, you don’t need to see Flynn’s name listed to know of the impact he’s having.

Having served as selector under Seán Power when Waterford waltzed to All-Ireland U21 hurling glory back in 2016, it was only natural then when Power was putting together his backroom team for a first season with the county’s camogie side that he’d pick up the phone to the former Déise forward.

Flynn, as Power tells it, had committed to coaching an underage team in Ballygunner, and so he informed the new Waterford camogie manager that he’d give what he could in 2023.

“Of course, Paul comes and sees them, I get in his ear, and he's here all the time then,” Power continues.

Power, as hardly needs pointing out, is a two-time All-Ireland winning manager. He’s a shrewd manager along with that. What he has done for this debut camogie season is pull from his 2013 minor and 2016 U21 backroom teams, with Waterford’s minor winning coach from 10 years ago, Wayne Power, heading up a camogie coaching ticket that also includes Flynn.

Annie Fitzgerald is corner-forward on the Waterford team. Hailing from Ballygunner, it is no surprise to hear that 2004 All-Star Flynn was one of her hurling heroes growing up.

“As a forward, I’d get a few pointers off him. If he is telling you to do something, you listen and you do it because you have watched him do that,” Fitzgerald explains.

“He is also a calming influence. He comes in with the water and he's really kinda calming. He'd nearly make a joke or something when he comes into you. He’s great to have around.” 

Mind you, it isn’t just the forwards who are feeding off and benefitting from Flynn’s own playing experience.

Déise goalkeeper Brianna O’Regan is another, though unlikely suspect, to sing the praises of the three-time Munster winner.

Fifty-six minutes into their All-Ireland semi-final against Tipperary, Waterford won a free right on halfway. But instead of forwards Abby Flynn or Beth Carton standing over the placed-ball, Flynn was promptly out onto the field to relay the message that O’Regan travel up and hit it. And convert it she did too, sending Waterford three ahead.

Considering it was Waterford’s last point of the semi-final and how Tipperary subsequently shrunk the gap to the minimum, O’Regan’s booming effort ultimately proved the winning score.

“When Paul Flynn looks at you, you kinda have to back yourself and go up and take it,” O’Regan says of the free.

Former Waterford hurler Paul Flynn, left, in his role a selector with Down in 2013. Pic: Brendan Moran / SPORTSFILE

“Paul has a very good hurling brain. The stuff he comes out with and the way he thinks about hurling, even just picking his brain about what way would you puck out the ball to a forward. He is top-class on that type of stuff.

“If a forward is running out to a puckout, what way would the forward like for it to be placed; you can ask him about that and what trajectory you should hit it at.” 

Starting with Donal O’Rourke’s two-year spell as manager in 2018 and 19, Waterford’s camogie graph has risen in line with the quality of coaching and management that they have been exposed to over the past six seasons.

O’Rourke’s first year saw the county return to the quarter-finals for the first time in decades. His second and final season saw them lead eventual champions Galway by five early in the second half of their quarter-final before wilting.

“Donal set the foundations with this team. He got us believing in what we are actually capable of. He put us in the right direction,” Annie Fitzgerald says of the now Cork hurling coach.

Derek Lyons was next to progress the project, steering them a step further to the semi-finals in 2022. And now to Power and his backroom team, who’ve helped them climb a rung higher again and reach a first final in 78 years.

“Seán has won All-Irelands with the minors and the U21, and he has brought that wealth of experience, along with all the people in the backroom team,” says O’Regan.

“They are bringing that different mentality that they had from their hurling background, and the physicality level too. Everything is sharp and to the point.” Everything so far is going to plan.