I was down south for St Patrick’s weekend last month, and over the course of my stay, I made separate visits to my aunt and my uncle, who live a few miles apart from each other in the Waterford Gaeltacht.
Neither conversation (as bearla, to my eternal shame) went on for too long before attention turned to hurling, and more specifically, Waterford’s chances of winning the All-Ireland this year. Keep in mind this was before the dismantling of Wexford, and before the dismantling last Saturday night of the other best team of this spring, beaten All-Ireland finalists Cork.
Given recent heartbreaks, one got the distinct impression that all and sundry would nearly have been happier if I'd be able to construct some argument that precluded entirely the possibility of a Waterford victory, but all one could do was continue to mention how good Limerick were.
And as I pulled into Dungarvan for some lunch on my way back to Dublin, only to be greeted by a pub-grub menu that included such delicacies as the “Seamus Prendergast Chicken Goujon Burger”, the “Colin Dunford Brie Beef Burger”, and the “Jamie Barron Mexican Beef Burger”, I figured that any attempt to dampen expectation in this part of the world was beyond whatever paltry attempt I could muster.
And quite frankly, why would anyone want to pour cold water on Waterford fans? In a league of dubious merit, they have been quite breathtakingly good. They’ve constructed a huge panel of players who all seem to be playing at their optimum, and they have a manager with real steel whose every decision appears to be paying off.
The Austin Gleeson sending-off in the semi-final rout of Wexford seemed to be a low point. It was as if everything was almost going too well, that the county and the team needed a reminder of just how fickle this all could be. Their most flamboyantly gifted player has a penchant for mad moments of indiscipline, and here was another one – made all the more inexplicable by the brilliance which preceded it.
It was the sort of red-card offence that would normally be borne out of frustration, but the game was over, the day was won, and Austin had played a handsome role in it. Red-card offences are seldom entirely excusable, but this was at the exact opposite of the scale.
Liam Cahill’s immediate reaction, captured on TG4, was one of utter rage. It wouldn’t take a team of lip-readers too long to decipher what he was muttering to himself as he glared back at the Waterford bench, presumably directly at his talisman.
Cahill’s more considered reaction later in the week was just as chilling, if you were Gleeson. There would be no appeal against the red card. Austin would serve his time on the outside, and if Waterford had to suffer in the league final as a result, then so be it.
The success Cahill has had already with this Waterford team would probably have insulated him from criticism if they had lost last Saturday, but a thumping six-point win – which could and should have been more – without Gleeson, has strengthened his hand even more.
They have every right to be confident heading into the summer, but they will also realise that they could play out of their skins, could play in fact to the utmost of their ability, and still not end the year as All-Ireland champions. Limerick have shown themselves to be that good over the last two years. They haven’t shown it in 2022, but they’ve shown it in the last nine months.
That’s where Waterford’s situation differs with their league-winning football counterparts. Kerry have set a bar that no other county look capable of matching this year, and they now have to deal with that pressure. They will feel that it’s in their hands. They have proven incapable of dealing with that pressure previously, but it’s in their hands.
Kerry can probably look ahead to All-Ireland quarter-final weekend, June 25th or 26th, without a game of real jeopardy between now and then, but Waterford have Tipperary coming to Walsh Park next Sunday week.
Waterford are the form team in hurling, but their destiny is still not entirely in their control. Fall off their 2022 standards, and there is a chance Tipperary beat them. Lose that game, and the hill immediately starts to look exceedingly steep just to get out of Munster.
And looming over it all, of course, is Limerick. Their anaemic spring form has not eradicated the brilliance of their All-Ireland final performance last year from anyone’s mind. They got plenty of game time and experience into Cathal O’Neill, and they avoided relegation, as they were always going to do. Those two developments alone may well have constituted success for this league.
But Waterford have done all that’s been asked of them. They have selection headaches all over the field given the exceptional level of performance by 20 or more players so far this year. The next step will be the hardest of all.
