WATERFORD WATERSHED
Ballygunner remain on trail of glory as the Déise experience testing times
‘RUNNING A TEAM IS VERY EXPENSIVE ON THE COUNTY BOARD’
WATERFORD hurling finds itself at one of those watershed moments. They are without a county stadium currently fit-for-purpose. Team holiday arrangements haven’t been sorted and the future of the man who guided them to an All-Ireland final – Derek McGrath – hasn’t been officially inked. Club champions Ballygunner are short odds to win the Munster Club Championship, yet they face the trickiest of challenges against Sixmilebridge this weekend in the semi-final.
In a week when the county was honoured with a joint record haul of five All-Star awards, including Ballygunner goalkeeper Stephen O’Keeffe, it’s all happening at the moment.
It’s so important for 2018 then, that the pieces fall into place.
GAA director general Páraic Duffy has stated that Croke Park has already prioritised the redevelopment of Walsh Park with a view to making it a viable venue for the senior team’s two home matches in a new round-robin Munster Championship which is good news. Now, the county just has to get its own house in order.
Fergal Hartley came on board as an ‘advisor’ with McGrath this summer - the decorated former player held in high regard. He will man the line this afternoon at the very same Walsh Park as his players try to avoid a jolt to earth after the high of coming through a classic encounter with Thurles Sarsfields last weekend which needed extra time to find a winner.
Few quibbled with the manager’s glowing assessment in the immediate aftermath: ‘The Munster Club Championship has brought out some great games over the years and that’s as good as any I can remember.
‘It was probably the best game Ballygunner have ever been involved in, and I know that’s not going to be much consolation to the Thurles Sars people.’
The only problem is trying to bring the players back up to that level again after the inevitable comedown that follows such a match high.
Hartley framed the problem well when he said: ‘It’s tough to keep it going. It’s not really about physical fitness. It’s more about mental resolve and mental strength. These guys have that in buckets.’
And they will certainly need it. While Sixmilebridge needed a replay to come through their own county championship, ClooneyQuin pushing them to the brink the first day, they used all their experience to control the replay.
Séadna Morey was a key figure last time out while Ballygunner are backboned by players who underpinned Waterford’s path to what was only the county’s third All-Ireland final appearance since last lifting the Liam MacCarthy Cup in 1959. That includes Philip Mahony, the official recipient of the TG4 man-of-the- match award at centreback last Sunday, and his brother Pauric whose deadball skills are so important to club and county.
The irony is, any extended run in the Munster and All-Ireland Club Championship will seriously undercut Waterford’s Allianz League plans. In order to give the month of April almost exclusively over to clubs, the 2018 master fixture list has been given a radical overhaul. The knock-on effect is that the National Hurling League has been brought forward from mid-February to late January.
In fact, the competition final is scheduled to take place under lights on Saturday, March 24. So if the likes of Ballygunner get a run all the way to St Patrick’s Day, then their county players are in danger of missing the entire League campaign.
A calendar year for all competition is surely the next logical step.
Manager McGrath will clearly have a keen eye on the action at Walsh Park.
At the moment, a shortfall in the proposed team holiday fund has the team boss at loggerheads with the county board, a trip to New York and Cancun is on the cards if all goes well. A number of fundraising initiatives by the players and management are planned to help meet the shortfall. One of those is a dinner at the Granville Hotel in a couple of weeks’ time.
According to reports, county captain Kevin Moran told local radio station WLR FM: ‘It’s no secret it’s going to cost a good few pound. To run a team is a very expensive burden on the county board and Club Déise have been great.
‘All we can do is ask the public for a bit of help and a bit of good faith towards us,’ he added.
After the year they’ve had, they certainly deserve that much.
In the meantime, all Ballygunner can do is keep winning.