Model patient Waters just itching to get back in fold
ON THE dark nights in hospital, after his knee had been opened up for the fifth time in surgery and when his daily routine involved popping 15 tablets a day, Tomás Waters couldn’t see a way back to the pitch. As the owner of Dublin-based firm Model Construction, a 48-day hospital stay had put his job under huge strain, never mind his hurling career.
To see Wexford’s All-Star nominated full-back train with the rest of his county teammates on Wednesday night told its own story of how far he has come.
This afternoon, he’ll leave Dublin and link up with the rest of Liam Dunne’s squad for the Leinster Championship quarter-final against Antrim, part of t he extended squad, even if he’s not yet in a position to tog out. He’s just glad to have his life – and his dream of playing again for Wexford – back on track.
‘No lies, if you asked me a couple of months ago I had completely ruled this year out. But now, it’s not looking as bad. I’m not saying I’m going to play but things are looking up.
‘When I was really bad, really sick, I wondered if I’d ever play again. I didn’t even think I’d ever get back. I’m not saying I’m going to be back to my fullest but please God things keep improving.’
Training with the lads during the week did his soul good. ‘I’m not training as much – Liam asked me to come down only one night a week because I’m in the gym a lot doing rehab. I do that up here in Dublin, then go down for collective training one night a week.
‘So I did 90 per cent of the session. Just not the match part at the end. I’m in with the rest of them and feel as much a part of it.
‘I’d say I’m sprinting at 80 per cent. It still feels a bit weak jumping off my right foot for a ball; I wouldn’t have the spring. But it’s feeling good.’
IT MEANS so much to him to be back in the camp and feeling that things are starting to go his way again, though he knows a part of him will be itching to be out on the field when the ball is thrown in at Portlaoise today.
‘I’ll be in the dressing room. Whatever Liam wants me to do, I’ll help out. In fairness to Liam, he’d never make you feel left out. He’d make you feel as much a part of it as any of the lads starting. He’s great that way. Only for him, I wouldn’t have gone back playing county at all this year. I lost so much work, was so long in hospital, thoughts of hurling were the last thing on my mind to be honest.’
In a week when the Gaelic Players Association launched another vital new initiative regarding player welfare, the ‘We Wear More’ campaign seeking to further heighten awareness about emotional health and wellbeing, Waters’ story shows the severe impact the game can have on a player’s health and even employment.
When he turned sharply and ‘felt a snap’ in his knee in the All-Ireland qualifier against Clare last July, the 26-year-old had no idea of what lay ahead. What should have been a straightforward anterior cruciate knee ligament repair saw him pick up an infection, the complications leading to four further surgeries. And all the while his business was suffering. Insurance reasons meant he couldn’t even go anywhere near a job on his crutches when he got out. The support from Dunne, from family and friends, from the Wexford supporters club in Dublin, helped him get through.
And he never lost his sense of humour, either. A couple of days before he was due to be released from St Vincent’s hospital, Oulart-The Ballagh pair Lar Prendergast and Garrett Sinnott conducted a spoof interview with him for Deep South Radio. Waters’ deadpan responses eventually had the pair struggling to keep straight faces, especially when he answered as to his pre-match ritual: ‘a baby powers in the dressing room, a Woodbine or two and a handful of jelly beans’.
And now he has real reason to smile. ‘I’m very busy working now, thank God. It’s not restricting me at work at all, not a bit. It was hard when I was in hospital but in fairness to the GAA and GPA, they’ve been very good to me.’
Wexford GAA rallied round in style, and a benefit match to ease the financial cost to Waters was arranged between Wexford and Kilkenny in December. He admits that pride, initially, made him baulk at the gesture. ‘I didn’t want to do it at first. The last thing you want to be is going looking to people. You don’t want anything for nothing. I wouldn’t be that kind of a fella. But it was a big help too. I was so long out of work, trying to keep the company going, so in fairness it was massive.
‘So much is down to Liam fighting my corner.’
It turned out to be a big success and the level of support gave him a boost in his long road back to full fitness. Being involved with the squad for today’s crucial Championship match against Antrim is all he could have wished for. Tipperary manager Éamon O’Shea recently name-checked Wexford as a dark horse for the Championship after being turned over in a recent challenge game but Waters knows the size of the challenge facing the players against an Antrim team who they have a troubled history with.
IT’S GOING to be a very tough game. This is the one we’ve been looking at all year. They’re a banana-skin team. You wouldn’t know what they could bring. ‘We’ve a lot of young fellas coming up and they’re shaking things up. They’re even knocking a few older lads off their place. I’m not saying what we’re going to do but it’s a different team than has been in Wexford in a good number of years.’
Win and a Leinster semi-final against provincial champions Dublin beckons in two weeks time. For Waters, the prospect of playing even the smallest part in Wexford’s Championship campaign is a tantalising one.
‘To tog and put the jersey on alone would be a dream. Thank God there’s a bit of light at the end of the tunnel.’