Barron: I should have been cuter for the free-that-never-was
IF YOU’RE looking for a first person account of the incident that the Allianz Hurling League final replay hinged on, well, Jamie Barron is happy is give his view of it all.
Injury time in a gripping encounter between Clare and Waterford with Derek McGrath’s team clinging to the slenderest of leads. In the ‘absolute warzone’ of the middle third, as Barron calls it, he shows lightning reflexes to somehow get the ball in his hand in the mad scramble for possession. Sidesteps with the sliotar as Clare defender Cian Dillon lays a hand out and looks to pull him back.
Referee Diarmuid Kirwan doesn’t see the foul that has every Waterford supporter in Thurles roaring for a free and suddenly it’s turned over again. Clare win the free and Tony Kelly nails the equaliser before popping up to thieve a winner in injury time.
The toughest way to lose out on the prospect of back-to-back League titles for the first time in Waterford’s history? Barron remains philosophical ahead of today’s Munster semifinal rematch.
‘I suppose I was expecting to get a free when I felt the tug. Maybe I should have been cuter and just fell to the ground, just held on to the ball and waited for the whistle. You learn from these things. That’s the way it goes.
‘Diarmuid Kirwan didn’t go out to make that decision, whether it was right or wrong. In the meeting afterwards, straight away we turned our attention to the 5th of June, said “that’s gone now”. Work hard and try and amend it.
‘I don’t think we’ve mentioned it since the replay.’
On any Team of the League, Barron’s place would be a cast iron guarantee. For someone who stands at 5’9” and around the 12 stone mark, what’s it like to operate in the middle of the maelstrom?
‘It’s very enjoyable, to be honest. You’re playing against the best players there is out there. Clare have All-Ireland winners, All-Stars, Hurlers of the Year – they’re as good as you’ll get anywhere. It’s good to match it and try better it.’
While the stultifying tactical nature of the drawn League final drew plenty of criticism, Barron makes no apologies about Waterford’s counter-attacking set-up. Not when it has led to a transformation in fortunes.
‘There is always going to be people cutting down on what you’re doing. Look at where we were two years ago, we had to change something. We were being taken to the cleaners. There was goals being conceded in every game. We were losing by high margins. We had to change up our tactics in some way.
‘We didn’t think it would come to the stage of people calling for new rule changes, and whatever goes with it.’
He says the pressure is on Waterford to show that ‘we’re not just a one-season team’ after winning the League last year. That means chasing a Munster title.
‘I don’t have any Munster medal. I think a lot of the lads have no medal. We won the League last year, but that’s it.
‘If you want to go further and get into the last four, be hurling in August, the best route is the straight route.
‘We’ll be going gung-ho to get our hands on Munster medals − if we can. If we can’t, the qualifier route, we’ll take that as well if it enables us to be playing in late summer.’