Better Deise as Stephen & Co. dream about glory
FROM despair to an All- Ireland final – Stephen Frampton is thrilled to be a part of Waterford’s hurling revival.
No wins in two years and nine games of Championship battle took a toll on the Deise.
Not even the return of Walsh Park as a Championship venue could lift a team that took two years to recover from the All- Ireland final defeat to Galway.
The summer of 2018 ended Derek Mcgrath’s tenure in disappointment, then his replacement Paraic Fanning lasted less than a year in the hot- seat after the hammer blow of losing three Munster Championship games by an aggregate of 51 points.
“I think Paraic was a bit unlucky last year, to be honest,” said Frampton. “A couple of things went against him. It’s very hard to come back from that, so it has been a build- up.
“It hasn’t been like a light switch that has turned off three years ago when we won our last match.
“These things, a bit like winning, they start to gather momentum and confidence falls and falls.
“That’s really what happened with the team. A couple of wins and that has improved already.
“Confidence is building. We have a massive task ahead of us and we are very much very aware of that”. In September of last year, Li Liam Cahill came on board a as the new manager, bringing with him a tried and tested set- up from h his native Tipperary while a adding Frampton and
Ste Stephen Molumphy as selecto selectors.
Confidence was at a low ebb. “I think that’s an understatement,” said former Deise star Frampton ( inset).
“I just wanted to come in and try and make some sort of difference. I think that’s what everybody who gets involved wants to do.
“That’s what we wanted to do and try and drag Waterford back up again. They hadn’t become a bad set of players or a bad team overnight.
“It has gone well so far, but I suppose we haven’t won anything so far. That’s what it’s all about at the end of the day.
“But look, we have come a long way so that’s important. We are making progress.”