Bring back 'buzz' of knock-out hurling in Munster, says Hutchinson

The Ballygunner man says Waterford thrive on do-or-die competition.

Wed, 18 Mar, 2026 - 07:51

John Fogarty

Dessie Hutchinson would like to see the Munster senior hurling championship return to a knock-out format.

The Ballygunner man doesn’t need to be told how The Déise have failed to get out of the Munster senior hurling championship in the six seasons it has been played on a round-robin format since 2018.

It mightn’t be coincidental that in the two years it reverted to a qualifier system, 2020 and ’21, Waterford reached an All-Ireland final and semi-final.

“I love that buzz of going and playing a knock-out game,” said Hutchinson, who was recently announced the AIB senior club hurler of the year for the second time after his 2022 success. “I know it’s easy for us to say in Waterford when we haven’t got out of the provincial series in a few years but as Waterford people we thrive on knock-out hurling.

“It’s something I grew up watching, I loved going to it. Then when you play the club games, you realise what’s on the line. Last year, we won the first round against Clare in the Munster championship and three (sic, four) weeks later we were gone.

“If we won that game against Clare and it was knock-out, we would have been into an All-Ireland series, and that’s just the way it is. You have to look at a whole different area there but for me knock-out hurling is where you really get the juices flowing.”

For Ballygunner this past season, Hutchinson wanted to show people he could still perform after a difficult 2025 with Waterford when he was captain but dropped for the Munster SHC final round defeat to Cork.

“I came off the back of a tough enough season with Waterford and I probably wanted to prove a point to myself and maybe to other people that I’m still a good hurler and all that.

“People outside of Ballygunner would have thought we had underachieved a little bit and certain players took it upon themselves to say ‘We have to show our best selves’. In previous years, maybe we didn’t do that.”

As Stephen O’Keeffe picked up a record fifth AIB club hurling team of the year selection, Hutchinson hailed his club-mate. “You can’t say enough good words about him for what he does for us. For me, he’s still the best goalkeeper in the country and we’re blessed to have him. He’s influential in everything we do in Ballygunner.

“When we do lose him, and hopefully it won’t be any time soon, he will be big boots to fill.”