Connors knows coolness under pressure in defence will be vital if Waterford are to reel in the greatest prize of all
WHEN Waterford last appeared in an All-Ireland final, Noel Connors was about the only person in the county not engulfed by the madness. He had other things on his mind. Having sat his Leaving Cert that summer, he was anxiously awaiting results and making plans for college.
He had been in Croke Park when Waterford ambushed Tipperary in the semi-final and travelled down on the same train that Davy Fitzgerald was carried from as it arrived at Plunkett Station. His father and brother had joined the exodus from Passage for the final but Connors watched Waterford walk into Kilkenny’s perfect storm, laid up on the sofa at home, a consequence of a club game the day before.
‘About ten minutes into the match, I went up to catch and got a little nudge in the back,’ the 27-year-old defender explains. ‘I tore my ligaments. I was in hospital all day Saturday. I had a train ticket and match ticket but couldn’t use them. So, it wasn’t the most memorable final, for a lot of reasons.
‘My mother didn’t go either, maybe she felt sorry for me. It was devastating to be injured, but it was just as bad to miss such a phenomenal event. Despite the result, it was still something most of Waterford hadn’t experienced before.’
That winter, as he rehabilitated, Connors got a call from Peter Queally, one of Fitzgerald’s selectors, inviting him into the senior squad. Queally has been a constant presence in Connors’ career. He brought him into the county minors as a 15-year-old – Connors made his debut on his 16th birthday against Kerry. He was also manager when Passage claimed their first county title in 2013 – which led to scenes of unbridled joy in the pretty fishing village.
‘The lads were away in New York on the team holiday when Peter contacted me. I was only coming back from the injury and was no way near-fit. I was just starting college and trying to mature myself. The training was tough but it was something I anticipated before getting involved. And when you saw the athleticism and physical presence of some of the senior lads, you wanted to try and shape and mould yourself into something similar. It spurred us young folk on when we went in at the time.’
Nine seasons on and Connors is preparing for an All-Ireland final against Galway’s giants. Size may matter today but in the heavyweight hustle of modern hurling, it has rarely been an issue for Connors, who’s height is listed as 5’ 9”
in the Waterford media pack, which seems generous.
‘When we brought him into the minors, he wasn’t the tallest in stature,’ Queally remembers. ‘But what he lacked for in size, he made up for in heart and tenacity. And he was still very stronglybuilt, big shoulders and tree-trunk legs with loads of hurling.’
And he has spent the past eight years filleting reputations of top forwards, both inside and outside Waterford. Queally played him at centre-back for Passage most of the time – but if the opponents had a particularly dangerous forward, Connors was deployed to pick him up.
‘Such was Noel’s reputation in Waterford club hurling, if a forward saw Noel come onto him, it would play on his mind and put him off his game before a ball was hurled because they are thinking how am I going to get the better of this guy? That’s what the best manmarkers have. Noel has that reputation now at inter-county level, too,’ Queally reckons.
Connors claims that he only became a defender through playing with his older brother and cousins in the garden. They were all forwards so Connors drew the short straw.
‘I enjoy going out and knowing that I might be marking the best player in the opponents’ county. I relish that challenge,’ Connors explains before adding with a smile: ‘I am also not great at shooting.’
Connors’ laid-back nature is at odds with the tenacious competitor that has shut down some of the best forwards in the game. His manner, though, was shaped from the scenic village of Passage.
His house is ‘literally a hand-pass from the sea.’ And when Connors wants to escape the all-consuming nature of being an intercounty hurler, or forget about his studies, he likes nothing better than heading down to the strand with a rod, searching for some cod and bass.
‘It’s great to go off for a few hours and forget about everything else.
‘It is such a novelty, just to throw a line out and reflect on everything,’ Connors says with a smile.
‘Or sometimes I come home from college, put on shorts and get into the salt water for 15 minutes. There are people walking the beach with coats and jackets on, who probably think I am a bit strange. But it’s great to be able to do it,’ he adds.
If Connors heads out with his fishing rod at some point this week, it may just be to escape the madness that could yet engulf the county again.