ALL FOR TADHG!
McGrath’s promise to De Búrca is kept as Déise power on
DEREK McGRATH promised the suspended Tadhg de Búrca last Thursday night that he would play in this year’s All-Ireland final and his Waterford players delivered on that for him yesterday with a dramatic 4-19 to 0-20 semi-final win over Cork.
The absence of their regular sweeper was a motivation for Waterford as more than 72,000 spectators crammed into Croke Park to watch a dramafilled match that saw three second-half red cards, including one for Conor Gleeson which will rule him out of the final against Galway. At the final whistle, McGrath made a bee-line for De Búrca.
‘I promised him the other night coming out of the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel (for the Disputes Resolution Authority hearing) that we’d be in the final,’ said McGrath. ‘I know that sounds overly dramatic but I promised him we’d be in the final.
‘One hundred per cent we did this for Tadhg. We spoke about it as a group on Friday night, and as a group today. We weren’t sure whether we should because you are dealing with a lad, I won’t say he is reserved but he’s just everything we feel we are trying to be as a team.
‘We had a tough couple of weeks with him. He showed great mental fortitude in those two weeks. We did it for him. I make no apologies that was part of the motivation for us.’
Not in a corny way, but it was part of the group’s motivation because of what he had contributed up to this match for four years.’ However, McGrath and Waterford face a nervous few days as Austin Gleeson could be hit with retrospective punishment as TV footage appears to show him pulling Luke Meade’s faceguard in the first half. The 2016 Hurler of the Year turned the game after Damien Cahalane’s second-half sendingoff, setting up Jamie Barron’s first goal with a delightful pass before scoring a sensational one himself. McGrath insisted he didn’t know anything of the incident until he was asked a question in the post-match interview on RTÉ. ‘I have only been made aware of it. I was asked a question on RTÉ. I’d normally be as candid as anything, I just didn’t see it.’ Having been so flat against the same opponents in the Munster semi-final, McGrath was encouraged that his players displayed a different approach. ‘They made a promise to themselves that there would be a good level of aggression and the approach would be that we weren’t going gently into the night. We were going to show a good bit of courage and perseverance and stick with it.’ Cork selector Pat Harnett had no complaints but he did point out that Alan Cadogan was ill prior to the match while Luke Meade had a fractured finger. ‘The better team won,’ Harnett acknowledged.