Dan the man loving new life on the line

ALL-IRELAND Semi-Finals haven’t been too kind to Waterford over the past two decades.

The solitary win over Tipperary in 2008 has proven the exception from 11 appearances at this stage of the Championship, which has led to all kinds of unavoidable whatiffery in the Deise county.

Dan Shanahan has been involved in some way, shape or form in most of those trips down Jones’ Road and he comes into Sunday’s face-off against Cork with a unique perspective as both a player and selector given his level of involvement at this stage of the hurling summer.

“To get into an All-Ireland final would be unbelievable,” said the former Hurler of the Year.

“And I’ve always said it: semi-finals are about winning. No matter how you win them, it’s about winning; it could be eight-seven and it could be a dull game – what harm once you get to the final.

“I’ve always felt we were bit unlucky in my time; we had great players and we caught Tipp on the day in ’08 and we’d been there from ’98 on and we hadn’t won one. And I’d love for the lads to experience the three or four weeks going into the big one, but to do that they have to beat Cork.

“We’re not getting ahead of ourselves, we know what we have to do against Cork and sure they’re in the same boat; they see this as an opportunity. And back in our day, we didn’t take our opportunity to get into finals, we let it slip.

“Now we were beaten by great Kilkenny teams as in Henry’s team and Cork with Sean Óg [Ó hÁilpín], they were brilliant teams, but please God, on Sunday, we can turn the tables a bit and just get over the line. We played unbelievable hurling last year in the two semi-finals and what happened? We didn’t win. Sometimes when you play bad and win, well that can be good for you.”

Is there any particular semi-final defeat that stands out in particular for Dan?

“Ninety-eight for definite,” came the instant reply.

“And zero-seven against Limerick really sticks out too, for me. But in ninety-eight, we were pretty unknown going into the game and while I wouldn’t say there’s ever a poor Kilkenny team, that wasn’t the best Kilkenny team ever and they caught us on the day by a flukey goal, a miss-hit free by Niall Moloney, I think, and they beat us by a point.

“We wasted a lot of a ball that day and it was a great opportunity for us. Then in zero-seven, we’d beaten Limerick in the Munster Final and we gave them a three or four goal head start and we nearly pegged them back.

“As I said, semi-finals are about winning, we haven’t won too many of them; I was lucky enough to be involved with Davy in zero-eight but apart from that we haven’t won any, and it’s about time we started winning a few more of them.”

It’s clear, from both Dan’s game-time body language and the pre and post-match perspectives that he welcomingly offers in the press pack’s direction, that he’s thriving in this environment.

“It’s brilliant,” said the Lismore man, when asked to contrast his sideline role with his days squaring off against current Cork selector Diarmuid O’Sullivan during so many epic Championship Sundays.

“As a player, I had a job to do: get fit, win my ball, etc. But now I have to lads to look after as well. Back in my day, when I was playing, we’d some wicked talented players, unbelievable players.

“I’m probably sick of fellas telling me we were probably the best team to never win an All-Ireland. But Steven Gerrard was a great soccer player who never won a Premier League medal.

“But am I enjoying it? Absolutely. I’m loving what I’m doing at the moment. Absolutely loving it. Down there, training with the lads two, three nights a week, and you’re involved in the phone calls with Derek and Murph and all the lads and I absolutely love it.

“They’re a great bunch of lads. I couldn’t speak highly enough of them. When I pack this up, and you never know when that’ll be, but in five or six years’ time, and meet them on the street and I’m able to say hello to them and have a chat with them, that’s all I want, to be honest with you.

“At the start of this campaign, at the start of every year, our aim is to win the All-Ireland. To be down on the pitch on Croke Park, looking up at the lads in the Hogan Stand with the McCarthy Cup on the first day in September would be massive, but to do that, we have to beat a massive Cork team who are, without a doubt, the best team in the country

at the moment.”