DEISE LEGEND SHANAHAN A MASSIVE FAN
SELECTOR Dan Shanahan was one of the first people to contact Austin Gleeson when the Waterford dynamo was crowned 2016 Hurler of the Year.
Waterford hadn’t won the All-ireland, they didn’t even reach the final, yet Gleeson’s outstanding summer couldn’t be ignored.
Shanahan won the same award himself in 2007 in almost the exact same circumstances as Waterford didn’t reach that year’s final either.
He told Gleeson not to put too much pressure on himself this year and to reach out if things got on top of him.
The young Mount Sion man did struggle for a while and was subbed off in their Munster semi-final defeat to Cork.
But he looked back to his best in the morale boosting win over Kilkenny and will surely get plenty of personal attention from Wexford today.
Shanahan said: “There was a bit of pressure put on his shoulders after getting Young Hurler of the Year and Hurler of the Year. Did the rest of the lads question Austin Gleeson? No way.
“He has an abundance of talent and he’s a great young fella off the field as well. He’s never caused us any trouble on or off the field. When lads like Austin give 110 per cent, we can’t ask for any more to be honest with you.
“Austin’s after getting 11 points in the last two games but those games are gone, I won’t have to tell Austin that or Derek Mcgrath won’t because he knows that himself. He’s still a young man but he’s very mature for his age.”
Gleeson said back in January that he didn’t want to put any extra pressure on himself to live up to his Hurler of the Year status.
Gleeson admitted at the time: “That’s going to be the massive thing that I’m going to have to cope with this year.”
But he’s been powerless to prevent opponents trying doubly as hard to shackle him.
Shanahan said: “With the way teams are setting up now, he’s going to have extra markers but that makes space for the other players.”