Has a twist of fate brought Power to Déise destiny?

BOSS: Waterford manager Sean Power during the Munster Senior Camogie Championship match between Waterford and Tipperary at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Rewind 12 months. Saturday, July 23, to be exact.

Seán Power and his wife Denice are at home in Dunhill. On the television in front of them is the county’s All-Ireland camogie semi-final against Cork.

A Waterford team hasn’t been to the last four of the camogie championship since 1959. And yet here they are leading perennial challengers Cork by three points 14 minutes from the finish.

Waterford can’t sustain their own blinding pace. There’s a toll to be paid for holding Cork scoreless until the 25th minute of the opening half. Their defensive belt loosens a buckle or three.

Cork, for whom this isn’t a first rodeo, find a few extra gears. They find a few holes too. They raise eight white flags without reply. Waterford raise a white flag in gallant surrender.

As a Waterford supporter, Seán Power is “gutted” for the players. As a manager, Seán Power says quietly to himself, ‘I think I can help here’.

There was no impending vacancy that Power knew of. There was nothing premeditated about his thinking.

It was simply a case of looking at a team more intently than he had done previously and being absolutely certain there was more that could be achieved with them.

“Cork came so close to winning the All-Ireland last year. Lost by a point. So for Waterford to put them to the pin of their collar, you could see there was something that could be very special with that group.

“Who knows why these things happen, but I said privately, ‘I think I can help here and get that extra couple of inches out of them’.

“After the match, there was a conversation over a cup of tea at the kitchen table where I said to Denice, ‘there could be something in this, maybe’. And then you forget all about it.” 

Life moved on.

Tuesday, September 6. The Waterford camogie board announce Derek Lyons has decided to step down after two years in charge.

The Waterford board commence their search for a new manager. The Waterford board call Seán Power.

“Hang on a second now. I said a month ago that there could be something in this and next thing the phone rings.” 

He tells the board he’ll have a think about the vacancy. Power picks up the phone to Neil White. They’ve worked together with a couple of teams before. Power as manager, White as head of performance.

“I said, ‘Neil, I have a funny one for you. I am thinking about getting involved with the Waterford camogie team’.

“He says back to me, ‘would you believe, Seán, I had it in the back of my mind as well. You are after ringing me, when I was going to ring you about it’.” 

White is co-owner of Arch Coffee in Waterford city. The pair meet there at 1pm one afternoon in September. By 5pm, they’re still going, thrashing out the job and the team at hand.

One by one Power went away and assembled his cast. Wayne Power was his coach for the 2013 All-Ireland minor hurling success. Paul Flynn was his selector for the 2016 U21 hurling triumph. Philly Flynn is recruited as goalkeeping coach. Former player Shona Curran, after a lot of hard work, is persuaded in as their “camogie specialist”.

“Now we have a team and a plan.” 

On November 2, he was announced as the new Waterford senior camogie boss.

Power taking over a Waterford senior team came as no real surprise. The surprise was that it was the women, in 2023, and not the men in 2019.

It is now 14 years since the Mount Sion man brought a Waterford U14 hurling team to the final of the 2009 Tony Forristal tournament. The first step on a fabulous journey.

Four years later, they won only the county’s third minor All-Ireland. Three years further on, they blitzed all before them to secure a first U21 All-Ireland in 24 years.

The expectation within the county was that whenever the senior management position became vacant, Power would be the one to fill it.

In June 2018, Derek McGrath stepped down. Power, having done three years in the U21 role, called time on that chapter and applied to replace McGrath.

He didn’t so much as get an interview. His fellow Mount Sion clubman Paraic Fanning was the preferred choice. Power wished him well and moved on.

The Waterford camogie boss studied philosophy at postgraduate level in Oxford. Well-placed so to give his views on where the road has taken him.

“Sometimes fate goes one way. Sometimes it goes another way. Are the stars aligned? Is your path marked out? Who knows.

“Sometimes these things happen for a reason. Maybe the senior hurling job wasn't for me in 2019. This opportunity popped up then a couple of years later, and capacity was there. Interest was certainly there. So, let's see what I can do.” 

What he’s done is oversee Division 1B League success and a first All-Ireland senior final appearance in 78 years.

“I’ve loved every minute of this season. Tough going, but when you are working with diligent athletes; Jeez, they are incredible. Talk about being dedicated to your cause and your county. Their love for the game, love for each other.

“All those things are infectious and make it easier to come to training and matches and potter around the country for seven months of the year.” 

Seven months of progression has fed two weeks of local frenzy. The message from manager to players was to go out and embrace the madness.

“We don't get to too many All-Ireland finals in Waterford. That is an unfortunate reality for us. But we do love our GAA here and so when that occasion arises, it is difficult to keep people's excitement and expectations in check.

“Do you lock yourself away from that or embrace the inevitable? We have embraced the interest in it in the county because it is all good feeling. I'll tell you on Sunday evening whether it was the right thing or not.” 

There’s the bigger picture too. Camogie doesn’t have the roots in Waterford it has in Cork and Kilkenny and Galway.

Those charged with developing the game in the county realise the imperativeness of capitalising on the groundswell of interest that has flown from their semi-final win over Tipperary. They need to market their leading lights to the next generation.

They’ve caught the attention of the next generation. They now need to hold onto it.

“One thing we talk about within the group is legacy. Leaving something behind for Waterford. To see all the young girls that are mad keen, and their heroes are the Beth Cartons and Lorraine Brays and Rocketts and Abby Flynns of the world, for me and the girls that is really satisfying.

“If we can increase our player numbers in Waterford and we can make the sport stronger, then all of a sudden you have a situation where maybe in 10 years' time Waterford are one of the big four in the camogie world.

“If that comes to be the case, a lot of it will be down to this group because they were the ones to inspire those coming behind.

“My own daughter Holly is nine. These girls are superstars to her. Her embracement of the game has come on leaps and bounds this summer. That has happened through this Waterford team, and it is brilliant.” 

This Waterford team have won 11 of the 12 league and championship games they’ve played under Power. Is there one glorious final chapter in them?

“Are we up against it? Course we are. Cork, in an All-Ireland final. We are Waterford. At the same time, we'll do our very, very best and hopefully we are smiling on the far side.”