Dessie Hutchinson: 'Waterford teams in the past have put up big scores and that’s what we want to do'

Dessie Hutchinson of Waterford during the Allianz Hurling League Division 1B match between Waterford and Offaly. File picture: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Dessie Hutchinson found watching last year’s All-Ireland decider “very tough”.

Very tough? But sure wasn't he and his Waterford teammates removed from the equation by mid-May, as they always are.

Correct, but it was an All-Ireland final between two teams of which Waterford had beaten one and come within a controversial 65 of drawing with the other. And had that controversial injury-time 65 not been awarded in Ennis and Waterford held out for a draw with the eventual champions, then the crowd in red that Waterford bettered on the opening day would never have made it as far as the concluding day.

So Hutchinson was absolutely not clutching at straws to find the decider uncomfortable viewing.

“You’re thinking we were after beating Cork and there was a puck of a ball between ourselves and Clare. On another day that goes our way and who knows,” pondered Waterford’s inside forward.

“It just goes to show that when you’re in the driving seat in games in Munster, you have to stay at it and you have to make sure you get that result because all these games will come down to a puck of a ball and you have to be on it for 75, nearly 80 minutes.” 

Across the five previous editions of the Munster round-robin, Waterford have never managed a top three finish. They’ve instead managed a paltry eight points. That almost half of that total - three points - came in last year’s round-robin tells you how much 2024 was both an outlier and a near-miss.

Hutchinson and Waterford know their summer should never have hinged on that controversial 65 at the end of Round 4. Two weeks earlier at home to Tipp, the Déise should have collected their second win and eliminated Cork in the process.

“Ah look it was really disappointing because you felt certain performances probably deserved more. The Tipp game (a draw), we should have put that game to bed, and we didn’t, and then you’re on the backfoot, so it was disappointing.

“Look, we only had one real bad year in Munster before that so I wouldn’t say we're after not making a good go of it in recent years. I think it was only one year we had a bad performance against Cork under Liam Cahill that really put us out of the (2022) Championship, but we were after beating Tipp before that.

Waterford manager Peter Queally. File picture: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

“That’s just the way it is and you can’t keep looking back. You need to try and improve and make sure you’re doing the right things to make sure you’re in a better position this year.” 

Let’s look forward so. Waterford enter the Munster arena this weekend. Waterford begin with two home games six days apart. Their two visitors are the two most recent Liam MacCarthy Cup holders. The first of those visitors are the current holders.

Just as well so their round-robin home form was strongest 12 months ago. From two defeats in 2019, to one defeat in 2022, to no defeat last year.

“We’re always confident when we do play in Walsh Park and we have had some very good results in Walsh Park. You think about them and you think about going a step further and qualifying from the Munster Championship and the buzz that that would bring around the place, and you feed off that,” continued the 28-year-old.

“It’s important that we just focus on that first game against Clare, make it as good as we can, the Waterford people will come behind us in it, and hopefully it’ll be good enough on the day.” 

Pressure demands it be good enough. Mid-May removal from the hurling conversation cannot continue to be their summer lot. Fifteen defeats from 20 round-robin outings demands rebalancing. So does just three wins from the same 20 round-robin outings.

“It’s not pressure but I suppose we have the belief within our squad that we can [finish in the top three]. But again, without looking back too much, you think of last year’s games, and we weren’t far away. And we’re definitely doing a lot more now than we were this time last year in terms of the way we’re going to play and stuff that we feel is going to give us a massive opportunity to go ahead and make sure that we’re in that top three.

“I suppose one thing the management did, they built a lot of belief in us in terms of we’re as good as anyone else in the country. That’s really important, and we’re full of confidence and we’ll give it a right lash.” 

Hutchinson’s comments on playing to a style that benefits Waterford is more than noteworthy. It was only two years ago when there was much commentary, and criticism, of Waterford’s running game approach that routinely saw Hutchinson, Stephen Bennett and Mikey Kiely withdrawn from goal and operate much further out.

“The one thing we want to do is put scores on the board and play attacking hurling and play to what we know we can. Waterford teams in the past have put up big scores and that’s what we want to do. We want to play exciting hurling and get the best out of ourselves. With the squad of players that we have, we can definitely do that.”