BEFORE Clare played Waterford in the 2013 Munster championship, Kevin Moran spoke about leading a new generation of Waterford players on a crusade.
Waterford had haemorrhaged experienced players and Moran had been appointed captain of a squad with an average age of 23.5. Moran accepted that Waterford may not win anything anytime soon, but he knew their future was pregnant with promise.
“Some of our young players are as good as what’s in the country,” said Moran. “Some of the young Clare boys have a higher profile because they have won things, but our boys are serious players. They are going to be top players for 10 years for Waterford.”
At that time, Waterford didn’t have an X-factor figure like Clare’s Tony Kelly, but they were getting closer to unearthing that kind of blue-chip talent. Austin Gleeson is now in that category, the standout star on the minor team which won the 2013 All-Ireland title. Even prior to that success, it was widely acknowledged from the outside that Waterford was teeming with young talent.
Between 2009 and 2014, Gerry O’Connor and Donal Moloney jointly-managed Clare to two Munster minor titles, three Munster and three All-Ireland U-21 titles. Their teams ran into Waterford on six occasions, winning five times.
Some of those wins were comprehensive victories, including a 19-point hiding in the 2012 u-21 semi-final, but during Clare’s triumphs over that period, Waterford were often the team Clare measured themselves against. “Of all the teams we have played over the years,” said Gerry O’Connor before the 2013 All-Ireland U-21 final, “Waterford are the best players we’ve come up against.”
That year’s Munster U-21 semi-final proved as much. Clare lost Kelly to injury after 10 minutes, but Waterford led by 0-13 to 0-10 10 minutes into the second half when Paudie Prendergast, who had been one of Waterford’s best players, was sent off on a second yellow card. Clare got out of jail in their toughest match all year en route to successive All-Ireland titles.
Twelve of the Clare players which featured that evening have now played senior championship, but 10 of that Waterford team have also sampled senior championship action. Those players are now the framework around which the current side is built, but Derek McGrath and his selectors’ heavy investment in youth is further reflected by the huge bulk of young players which make up the squad. There are currently 14 U-21s on the panel, six of whom are off that 2013 successful minor outfit.
Austin Gleeson. Photo: INPHO.Winning that All-Ireland minor title for the first time in 65 years really underlined the potential within the county. Eight of the starting team were part of the Dungarvan Colleges side that won a first All-Ireland Colleges title in 2013. Historical barriers were broken down at every turn. Dungarvan beat St Kieran’s College and Kilkenny CBS en route to that success. The confidence those wins engendered was evident four months later when Waterford beat Kilkenny in the All-Ireland minor semi-final.
The success at Colleges’ level has been critical to Waterford’s development. Waterford was always regarded as a Colleges’ hurling wasteland, but it’s now become one of the biggest oasis’ in the country, almost on a par with Kilkenny. Prior to 2007, a Waterford college had only ever won one Dr Harty Cup (Munster senior colleges) title in an 89-year history and had never won an All-Ireland title. Then De La Salle won successive Harty Cups and tacked on successive All-Irelands. Waterford Colleges (an amalgamation of three west Waterford schools) became a powerful force in the competition over the following years before finally winning a first Harty title in 2012. Then Dungarvan Colleges (formerly Waterford Colleges) bagged a first All-Ireland in 2013.
The tide now is clearly being taken from the flood. After Waterford won the 1948 All-Ireland minor title, they only contested eight Munster minor finals over the following 60 years. Now, Waterford have contested five of the last six Munster minor finals.
When Waterford IT won the Fitzgibbon Cup in 2000, the team didn’t contain a single Waterford player, but the county’s young hurlers now have the most dominant and influential presence in the competition. Seven Waterford players started this year’s Fitzgibbon final draw and replay for WIT, while Stephen Bennett came on for UL. Across the border in UCC, some of the outstanding players to have come through their successful outfits in recent years have been Waterford players.
After getting relegated from Division 1A last year, McGrath cut his cloth differently this season. A host of older and more experienced players were cut loose. Ownership was handed over to the younger players. Waterford had a clear system of play last summer, but they have honed and sharpened that style this spring, becoming very defensive at times, which has made them harder to beat.
Their system also encourages expression and once they get traction, just as Clare did in 2013 when they got more comfortable and confident with their style, Waterford have the class, talent, and potential to take off.
It could be another two years before Waterford fully flourish, but they are going in the right direction. Sunday’s League semi-final against Tipp will offer a more accurate gauge of how far they’ve actually travelled. As the season, and seasons, unfolds, everyone else will soon see what Kevin Moran said in 2013 – that Waterford’s young players are as good as anyone else in the country.
