Watergrasshill electrified by dreams of ultimate glory

Injured star Michael O’Driscoll attributes the club's charge to Croke Park to manager Eddie Enright and the backroom team he assembled

COMMUNITY BOND: Watergrasshill supporters All-Ireland club IHC semi-final at Pairc Tailteann, Navan. Pic: Moya Nolan

Thu, 09 Jan, 2025 - 07:18

Eoghan Cormican

Michael O’Driscoll is spectating this Sunday. The disappointment of non-involvement is not confined to the Watergrasshill vice-captain. The whole village would rather see him at No.5 than in the stand.

O’Driscoll’s title of vice-captain shows the esteem in which management hold him. When the half-back tells you he is only 19, that esteem takes on a whole new meaning.

Eddie Enright describes him as a “real young talent”. That was self-evident in their pre-Christmas run. The teenager was an absolute force in their county final win over Carrigaline. It was the fourth consecutive championship game where he contributed on the scoresheet from right half-back.

It was in Munster where his graph and his season came to a shuddering halt. A cracked knee bone forced him out of the provincial final win just before half-time. A crack to arguably the team’s strongest line, such had been his own form and that of Dáire O’Leary beside him.

The title of vice-captain demands that O’Driscoll continue to show up for each midweek gathering and dole out the encouragement. He didn’t need a title to continue any of that. Being part of the set-up Enright has created is a drug he does not want to be weaned off.

“You want to be there anyway. It is almost like an addiction, you want to be at training and you want to be at the games because the level is good and you just want to be there giving whatever you can,” says O’Driscoll.

“I twisted the knee the day of the Munster final, and at the time I didn't think much of it. It was sore, but I didn't realise the extent of it. Got the news 10 days later. Had to get a couple of screws put in, I’ll be good to go again in a couple of months.

“It is obviously disappointing that you won't be playing [in the All-Ireland final], but that is just the way it goes. That's sport. Once you get over the initial shock, you just have to get on with it, and there is somebody else ready to jump in. That is why we have a panel, and we have a serious panel.”

Watergrasshill supporters show their delight after their team beat Carey Faughs. Pic: Moya Nolan

2024 was O’Driscoll’s second season on the panel. He came into a group that hadn’t won a championship group game since August 2020. That winless streak didn’t fall during O’Driscoll’s debut year. Two draws and one loss condemned them to fourth and last in their respective group. Another early Autumn finish.

That the 2024 campaign will now conclude at Croke Park is, O’Driscoll insists, largely traceable to Eddie Enright’s door and the backroom team the returning manager assembled. The former Tipperary All-Star and All-Ireland winner has been resident in Watergrasshill since 2002 and did one previous stint in charge before reclaiming the reins 12 months ago.

“The last few years, it wasn't that we were losing, it was just that we couldn't get over the line. We definitely knew there was a panel there that could do something, but the management team just took the training and level of detail to a new level.

“You could see in the first few league games that we were definitely going to be a different outfit this year. A great panel of players came together and a great management came together, and everyone seems to be going the one way and rowing in the same direction.

“It is a dream, really. At the start of the year, our goal was to win a county, not to mind win a Munster. We never really saw it coming, but now that we are here, you get greedy, and we want to grab it and go all the way.”

His injured status means O’Driscoll does not have to spend this week worrying about Pádraig Breheny, Shane Moloney, or whatever other former Galway senior in Mattie Kenny’s Tynagh team might wander into his patch. He can allow the mind to wander this week.

“It would be unbelievable to win, dreamland stuff, really. Just have to knuckle down and get the job done.

“The village is electric. Training is going very well. Fellas are chomping at the bit. There is a real buzz about the place and we are just looking forward to Sunday.”