A bridge to hurling greatness
WAYNE Hutchinson had waited so long for the moment, he wasn’t letting go. There was something fitting about the very last play of the Munster club final, the sliotar dropping from the sky and settling in the paw of the Ballygunner centre-back. No other player had done more to stem the tide of the Na Piarsaigh challenge in the second half, making a series of inspired interventions to help secure his club’s first title since their standalone 2001 triumph.
Long after the final whistle had sounded, he could still be found on the field, chatting with supporters and cradling the match ball. The question as to whether it remains in his possession brings a smile to his face.
‘It’s sitting at home now on the mantlepiece in my mother’s house and it will be there for ever more. It was a great moment. I think it was the centre-back for Na Piarsiagh got it and there was a lobbing ball coming down. At that stage I was talking to Philip and Harley [Barnes] beside me, urging them to keep it tight. It dropped nicely into the hand and obviously the referee blew the whistle.’
As a veteran of so many of the Ballygunner hard luck stories, the roll call of near misses and final disappointment, he never doubted the Waterford champions would reach the summit in Munster. ‘I knew the potential was in the team, no question. I knew there was a group of players to go on and do something special. If I didn’t think that I wouldn’t be committing to it. From a personal perspective, you might have some lads sit here and say, “Oh no, it was in doubt” but I felt it was never in doubt.’
That county stars Stephen O’Keeffe and Philip Mahony described it as their best day in hurling told its own story. ‘The two boys are well experienced and have been out on All-Ireland final day. Obviously, they haven’t won one - hopefully that will change too - but it was a massive day because the last time we won a Munster was back in 2001. A lot of the talk around the club is always about that team that won a Munster and could this team actually go on and do what they did?
‘I have no doubt that when this team is gone the next generation of players will be winning county championships and winning under-21s and hopefully competing at Munster level as well.’
On Saturday, their opponents in the AIB All-Ireland club semifinal, Ballyhale Shamrocks, hail from just over the county boundary. ‘Only 35 minutes between the two clubs,’ explains Hutchinson. ‘A bridge in Waterford dividing us. It really is a local derby. We have often played against them in challenge games but never played against each other in championship. It will bring a life of its own.’
It’s a match-up that means former Hurler of the Year TJ Reid is sure to be in his vicinity, though he puts the onus on the team as a whole to put the shackles on. ‘TJ is TJ. In my book he is one of the best players in the country. He’s a top bloke too. It’s going to take a good player to stop him. It doesn’t always necessarily come down to a direct opponent, TJ is the type of player who drifts all over the pitch so it’s really about zonal marking and picking up your own spot.’
After showing such form in Munster back in November, he admits the lay-off makes a mockery of previous form. ‘The break is pretty tough. You win a Munster championship in November and you have all of December and January without a championship game - it’s a long, long time to wait.’
Munster final opponents Na Piarsaigh paved the way for the Limerick senior hurlers by breaking the mould at club level and he would love to see Ballygunner lay the same foundation. ‘I think that it can play some part. It’d give Paraic [Fanning] and the Waterford lads some belief that a Waterford team can actually go to Croke Park and win an All-Ireland. But again, it’s a different dynamic. You’re looking at a county team versus a club team. Of course if we went on and won an All-Ireland, as a club team it’d be fantastic, first of all for the people of Ballygunner but also for the people of Waterford who’ll get behind us.’
But that’s one for another day. First, a special kind of local club derby.