TIPP AHEAD OF THE PACK
Time to step it up, says Gleeson
AUSTIN GLEESON still carries the fresh-faced look of someone who could get away with going to a Debs ball. Who might be carded for ID on a night on the tiles in Dublin.
Sitting in a cheap seat in the upper Hogan Stand while chatting at the launch of the KN Group All-Ireland GAA golf challenge, it’s hard to equate the easygoing 21-year-old, dressed casually in a sports jacket, with the force of nature that bent last year’s All-Ireland semi-final at the same venue to his own will.
Over the course of a two-legged epic against Kilkenny, Gleeson confirmed his status as not just a poster boy for an emerging Waterford team but for the game.
He would later be crowned Hurler of the Year, only the third player to be honoured from a team that didn’t actually feature in that year’s final, Dan Shanahan (2007) and Christy Ring (1959) being the other exceptions to the rule.
Instead, he came to Croke Park last September as a normal punter, sitting in Premium Level just below where he now reflects on how it felt to watch Waterford’s conquerors sliced and diced by Tipperary.
‘Straight away after the game you are thinking we were within a whisker of defeating Kilkenny and yet Tipp went out and done that to Kilkenny, winning by eight or nine points and it possibly could have been a bit more. Their movement in the forward line was incredible.
‘I was with my cousin at the game and the two of us looked at each other after 10 minutes and said “there is not one player in the Tipperary forward line that has stopped moving”. The intensity was incredible. You could see the step up.
‘I’d say if you put out a combined 15, Tipperary would have nearly defeated them that day because it was as if they had the trophy in their hands already before the game started and there was nobody taking it off them.’
A combined 15, that’s how highly he rates Tipperary. When the champions came to Walsh Park in the second round of the League and won comfortably with just six All-Ireland starters, it only confirmed Gleeson’s suspicion that they are ‘10 to 15 per cent’ ahead of the rest. The Munster final mauling by the same opposition was a lesson in itself.
‘Everybody has to step up now. They did it to us in the Munster final last year and it shows that if they turn it on, on any given day, then they could do that to any team.
‘Usually people would be saying you have to catch Kilkenny but now it’s Tipp and that includes Kilkenny, Galway, Clare, Wexford and every other team.
‘Everyone can see that Tipp are maybe an extra 10 or 15 per cent ahead of every other team. They have the calibre of players and the squad to do that, and to come down to Walsh Park and almost dictate the game from the start and keep it going to the end. It shows that what they have and what they are striving to is huge. They are not All-Ireland champions for nothing.
‘I was up here at the final last year and they were like a team possessed. The year before made them hurt against Galway and they bounced straight back, defeated Galway and went on and won the All-Ireland. They didn’t let up and you could sense that maturity of the team.
‘It’s a long time since they did the double so that’s their aim and it’s up to every other team to stop them.’
Kilkenny manager Brian Cody might have shipped criticism for not taking a leaf out of Waterford’s book and utilising a sweeper to limit the damage in the full-back line but Gleeson has a simple answer to that. ‘Anybody who questions Brian Cody is a bit mad in a way because what he is after achieving with Kilkenny might never be achieved again as a manager. His way of thinking is after bringing them to where they are now. Look, every team is different so whatever way he thinks Kilkenny should play there is nobody going to question that. He’s a phenomenal manager and he has the respect of everyone in Ireland.’ Waterford face Clare in Ennis tomorrow in a defining game in terms of League placings after a topsy-turvy campaign so far. ‘It’s a bit weird in that our two away games we ended up winning and our two home games ended in defeat.’ In search of his best form again after an injury-affected spring, the Hurler of the Year award hasn’t exactly changed his life. Asked what he does to tune off, he gives an insight into the hectic demands of the modern game. ‘Usually we have the Saturdays off. I’d literally do absolutely nothing, just sit on the couch and watch the sport. That would be my usual Saturday. Sunday we’d have a game. Friday we’d train. Monday, Wednesday you’re in the gym. Tuesday you’re training as well. It’s pretty hectic.’ That kind of routine saw Waterford more than match the physicality of Kilkenny last August as Derek McGrath’s young team develops. ‘It’s what we needed I suppose instead of kind of getting bullied off different teams, to step up and stand up to the teams more. Obviously we won’t be able to bully them, but it’s a step up take those hits and keep moving forward more so than anything.’