By John Harrington

Waterford selector Dan Shanahan couldn’t hide his delight after yesterday’s dramatic All-Ireland SHC Semi-Final win over Cork.

For just the fifth time in the county’s history, Waterford are through to an All-Ireland Final and the achievement clearly meant a lot to the Lismore man.

"Jesus, we're back to an All-Ireland final and we're back where we want to be, we haven't been here since '08 and it was a long time before that,” said Shanahan.

"But to be there is unbelievable. Semi-finals are about winning. We performed well today and we pushed on and the sending off had a bit of an effect on it, being honest with you, space opened up in their backline.

“We have been getting grief about the sweeper system but we knew coming here that we had to get goals, and we did, we got four today, and we made three or four other half-chances.

"But the lads so deserved this it's unbelievable, they've put in a massive three or four years, Derek has probably put in five, working away behind the scenes before he got the job.

"They deserved it, especially Tadhg (De Búrca), we said it before the match that he's done it for us, whether there was bereavements or anything like that, Tadhg was always there.

"I don't think it was much of a distraction. We knew from day one that he was out and that getting him back would be a bonus.

"We could have had three men in there and had a massive discussion about who would go in.”

An otherwise perfect day for Waterford was slightly tainted by the late red-carding of Conor Gleeson for a rash off the ball pull.

Even a one-month suspension would rule him out of the All-Ireland Final, and Shanahan revealed the half-back was hugely upset after the game.

“He’s distraught, absolutely distraught, we have said we’ll do what we have to do to get him back. We tried with Tadhg.

“He’s a man-marker. He’s been man-marked himself playing football before. He’s a good corner-forward in football and he’s been man-marked by men and he knows how to mark fellas.

“He’s leggy, he’s saucy, he’s everything you don’t want to be on and that’s what he’s all about. If Conor’s not there, please god he will be, Tadhg is back and we’ll just have to drive on.”

With Waterford not having won the Liam MacCarthy Cup since 1959 and Galway without one since 1988, both counties will likely be struck down by a severe case of All-Ireland Final fever.

“There will be hype. Those lads will go back training on Tuesday night, training hard, because they know there’s one opportunity to win an All-Ireland.

“Galway will be the same - they’re training hard. They’ll enjoy it, don’t get me wrong, they’ll have their media day and then park that and we’ll concentrate on what we do which is going training, working for each other and hurling hard.”

Shanahan’s appreciation of reaching an All-Ireland Final was all the keener because he knows just how much effort everyone in the Waterford has made to reach the promised land.

He knows too though that an in-form Galway will provide a hugely stern test in three weeks’ time.

“It's easy to enjoy these days, obviously when you win it's easy, but we're dealing with a most professional group of lads. I think they deserve this day,” said Shanahan.

“I don't think anyone would begrudge us this day because we're four years trying to get there. Since '08, whatever number of years, we're trying to get there.

“But Galway are an unbelievable team. The way Joe Canning is playing...it's interesting, the Cooneys, they're outstanding lads.

“Again, with the death of Tony Keady they'll have this thing for it as well. What a man, my condolences to his family and to everyone involved in Galway.

“That will kind of lift Galway, so it will. They're a good outfit. To have Waterford and Galway in an All-Ireland final I think is great.

“No disrespect to the lads who were in it last year, or over the years, but to have two teams that mightn't have won it (much) there is great.”

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