After years of underage hurt, Waterford hurling has new starting point

Across the previous three seasons, Waterford’s minor and U20 sides suffered 21 defeats from 24 games.

Sun, 29 Jun, 2025 - 12:05

Eoghan Cormican

“This is the starting point for our county,” declared Waterford minor manager James O’Connor after masterminding a fresh chapter in the county’s underage fortunes.

Across the 2022, ‘23, and ‘24 seasons, Waterford’s combined minor and U20 championship record read a worrying 21 defeats from 24 outings.

The 2025 U20 class fared no better. Four defeats from four outings to bring the winless run at that age-grade to 13 games.

And then came the minor class. This bright young beacon of hope.

Cork were the only team to better them in Munster, in both the round-robin and decider. The Déise kids regrouped for the All-Ireland series, downing Limerick, Kilkenny, and Clare to collect the Irish Press Cup from halfway up Thurles’ Ryan Stand.

A stunning 10-point final win. A stunning shift in the county’s underage fortunes.

“This is the starting point for our county. I hope now it continues on,” said Waterford boss O’Connor.

“It is vitally important that we keep reproducing these types of players and keep the standards that are there. I am a firm believer in high standards and that they can never drop. Because if the standards drop, performance drops. It is a case of high-level all the time and I'd be hoping that is the way it is going to continue on over the next number of years.

“When you get a good bunch, you must look after them, you must keep developing the bunch, and you must keep adding to the bunch. And that is what we have to do over the next three and four years with these guys. There is a good base there for a senior team again. But we must keep adding to that over the next three or four years.

“We are not going to be winning minor All-Irelands every second year and there is no point saying otherwise. But we can be developing players to a very high standard and have them in a way that when we get them to the senior grade, that we are ultra-competitive.”

O’Connor described the campaign just concluded as unbelievable. After no championship victory in his debut season in charge and only one victory last year, this “rollercoaster journey” went in a welcome new direction in recent weeks and months.

“No words can describe what it will do for the county. And what it will do for those players, which is the most important thing, is out of this world. There is going to be belief there now in a bunch of players and a belief in our county in what we can do and what we can produce as well. And it is vital we keep that going over the next few years.”

Having failed to produce anything close to a 60-minute performance in Munster, O’Connor cited the three-point semi-final win over Kilkenny as their turning point. The confidence created by that result fed a lightning fast start here. By the eighth minute, Waterford led 1-3 to 0-1. They were never caught.

“The more wins we got, the more belief grew within the group. The semi-final was the turning point. The belief after that shot through the roof. And you see then what happened today.

“Over a lot of our games we have started very poorly. And we said today we are coming out of the traps at 100 miles an hour. We didn't want to be trailing five or six points after 10 minutes. In fairness to the lads, it started from the very start. We got 1-2 on the bounce. It set them up then for a strong hour.

“It is days like today that make all the work and all the long January nights worthwhile. I couldn't be happier.”

A county couldn’t be happier.