IT WASN’T PLANNED
Barron lifts lid on goal that led to landmark Déise win
THERE wasn’t a score like it in last year’s Championship. Only afterwards, when Jamie Barron was presented with photographic evidence, did he realise its rarity.
If there was a moment worthy of bridging a generation gap, of ensuring Waterford would beat Kilkenny in the Championship for the first time since 1959 in a thrilling, extra-time qualifier, it was the midfielder’s goal right at the end of the first period.
It started with a disguised low pass from Austin Gleeson to set things in motion, a no-look through ball to find Barron ghosting into space between the Kilkenny 45 and 65 metre lines. Then he spun to face goalward. He jinked left then right — the double side-step that is a trademark — to juke Cillian Buckley no less. Maurice Shanahan was outside him on his left as he sprinted into the danger area as Kilkenny’s last defender Joe Lyng tried to cover both angles. The dummy handpass with his right hand meant his hurley was suddenly being gripped with his left by a right-handed hurler — it was upside down.
Like a super computer juggling multiple calculations all at once, his brain a decision his body just went with. So when he sidestepped onto his right-hand side and sent a skidding shot off the surface to beat Eoin Murphy, it was still in that position — upside down.
‘That was accidental,’ he admits. ‘I can’t say I meant that. I found myself in the position where it was pass or keep going myself. I said, “If I pass this and miss it will be the worst thing I could do”. I just thought, “keep going”. The defender went the wrong way, thank God, and I managed to put it past the keeper which was a bigger relief. If the photo hadn’t been taken I probably wouldn’t even have realised it.’
The skillset to show such a conjuror’s sleight of hand is remarkable. One of Cork’s original sticksmiths, Joe Deane, once managed a similar feat, putting the ball over the bar from out the field in the 2008 qualifier against Galway with the toe of the hurley facing the ground. Other instances are rare to document.
Barron’s score was the signal for Waterford to finish with a flourish, as they threw off the yoke of their long-time oppressors in jubilant fashion with Shanahan batting home his team’s fourth goal of the night.
It felt like Waterford were liberated because of events the previous year when Kilkenny fashioned a back-from-the-dead recovery in a drawn All-Ireland semi-final at Croke Park and escaped to victory in the replay. Last summer, the ghosts of those games came back to haunt Waterford in normal time when they let an eight-point lead slip.
‘Around the 40 or 50-minute mark we were in a comfortable position,’ says Barron. ‘It was time to close out the game. Unfortunately for us, we saw the finish line. Kilkenny being our archenemies over the last 10 years, we found it hard to do that. Thankfully, once we didn’t lose it in normal time and got to extra-time we got a new lease of life. Thanks be to God we were able to overcome Kilkenny for the first time in a long time. It was a real monkey off our backs.’
He insists though that he wasn’t spooked by the previous year’s turn of events against the same opposition. ‘I don’t think anything of what’s gone before goes through my head. When you’re in those situations you’re just living in the moment. You’re trying to get your breath, trying to think of what’s going to happen next, what you can do to help your team get over the line.
‘We just went into the dressing room after normal time, regrouped, had a small chat about “If we’re going to beat them, we have to beat them now. We can’t fall short again”. Thankfully, we got goals. They were the comfort we needed to get over the line.’
As the teams prepare to meet in a Division 1A Allianz League game that has taken on added meaning with both sides pointmade
less after two games, Waterford used that first Championship victory over Kilkenny in 58 years as a springboard to making what was only the county’s second AllIreland final appearance since 1963.
‘The longer something like that goes on, the more it can play on your conscience, “Will we ever beat this crowd?” or “How come we can’t beat them when it comes to it?”. I suppose we beat them in the League and stuff like that. That gave us confidence going into the Kilkenny games, thinking we can beat them. That was a massive factor.’
THE corresponding fixture last year was a seriously intense, hardhitting affair that saw Waterford jump another psychological hurdle by beating Kilkenny at Nowlan Park for the first time since 2004.
Barron is expecting more of the same this afternoon.
‘People are saying at the moment that Kilkenny are in transition or gone back a bit but at the same time they’re serious All-Ireland contenders again this year. If you’re ever going to beat Kilkenny, you’re not going to beat them by much — no matter how much they’re down or no matter how much they look gone, they’ll get within a score or two of you. So you have to commend their fighting spirit. Any day you beat them is going to be a massive day for any county.’
Barron’s form last summer put him on the shortlist for Hurler of the Year and he’s clearly determined to expand his game: the League’ first round clash with Wexford was noticeable for him doing his best impersonation of Austin Gleeson by cutting a sideline ball over the bar from around the 45-metre mark.
After finishing a Masters in food business at UCC in October, he is thinking about taking up teaching. In the meantime, he is currently working with Radley Engineering.
He doesn’t try to underestimate what’s at stake tomorrow afternoon. ‘If you’re thinking about winning an AllIreland, you need to set out your stall early in the year. You want to put yourself up against the best and Kilkenny have always been up there. If you can get over them and the likes of Tipp and Cork, it gives you an extra confidence going into the Championship.
‘We’ve always found it hard to beat Kilkenny, no matter if it’s a transitional team.
‘Kilkenny are in the AllIreland shake-up again this year. They haven’t been far away any of the years when they’ve supposedly been in transition. Any fella who writes Kilkenny off, it’s at your peril.’