By John Harrington

Before the ball was even throw in, Tipperary’s Eoin Kelly feared he and his team-mates might be up against a different sort of Waterford animal in the 2002 Munster SHC Final.

Body language can speak volumes, and when Kelly cast his eye over his opponents as the two teams marched behind the pipe band he couldn’t help but feel concerned.

“I remember one thing that struck me that day,” said Kelly.

“In 2002, Justin McCarthy made the Waterford team wear blue shorts.

“Before then they would have been dressed in white shirts and white shorts with blue socks.

“For some reason, when you’re dressed in all-white you look that bit smaller.

“Someone had told me this was why they were now wearing blue shorts.

“I remember in the parade walking beside them and looking over and all I could see was how big and powerful their legs were. I remember saying to myself, ‘These are different men today’.”

It wasn’t an optical illusion, because as they marched around the pitch the Waterford players themselves were utterly convinced they were going to defeat the then reigning All-Ireland champions.

Waterford hadn’t won a Munster title since 1963 and lost six provincial finals in the interim, but in 2002 they had a new-found self-belief.

That was due in no small part to the appointment of Justin McCarthy as manager, a man with no shortage of self-confidence himself, as well as terrific coaching nous.

He was probably exactly what Waterford needed at the time. They had an outstanding crop of young hurlers, and no better man than McCarthy to fan the flames of their youthful optimism as well as natural hurling ability.

A one-point victory over Cork in the 2002 Munster semi-final was a significant morale-booster too, so when Munster Final day dawned the players were in no doubt they were good enough to chisel their names in the rock-face of hurling history.

“We were in a different frame of mind that day,” recalled Brian Greene. “It’s a pity we didn’t bring that mindset into a lot of other games after that.

“When we stood up for the national anthem, I remember looking around at our lads and there was a steel there in everybody’s eyes that wasn’t there in Tipp.

“You can see it still in any of the old photographs. I just knew at that moment, it was meant to be our day.”

Tipperary started the match well, with Eoin Kelly in particular looking dangerous whenever the ball came his way.

But when Paul Flynn goaled from a 21-yard free in the 16th minute, the mood of the match shifted decisively.

Players like Ken McGrath, Fergal Hartley, Tony Browne and John Mullane thundered into the contest, and Tipp were steadily withered by Waterford’s effervescence.

Three goals helped the Premier County hold back the rising tide until midway through the second-half, but thereafter they were utterly swamped by a torrent of Waterford attacks.

McGrath and Mullane hit a combined 11 points from play, Tony Browne struck a decisive goal, Eoin Kelly clipped three points from play and all over the pitch Waterford just ran Tipp ragged with their speed of body and mind and unquenchable win to win.

“We didn’t put a foot wrong in that second half,” says Greene.

“We all moved together that day like a finely-tuned machine.

“It’s what you dream of happening when you’re bursting your a*** in training in the winter.”

The final ten minutes of the match was a procession, and with every point that Waterford lofted their supporters bellowed with a mixture of joy and disbelief.

If you’re going to end a 39-year famine, all the better to do it in such style.

“They were more focused on the job at hand that day,” says Kelly.

“We were blown away, and when you’re blown away in a game you can have no complaints.

“It was sickening really afterwards because you could see the joy and emotion in the Waterford lads.

“I was marking Brian Greene and he just collapsed on his knees with his fist clenched and started crying.

“It meant so much to them and that made me realise we had not brought the same hunger and desire to it.”

Like every other Waterford supporter in the stadium that day, Brian Greene’s father, Jim, could scarcely believe what he was seeing.

He’d played in and lost two Munster Finals himself in 1982 and 1983, so he could really savour the enormity of the achievement that was playing out in front of his eyes.

“I never thought I’d sit in a stand at a Munster final watching Waterford beating Tipperary and the match as good as over with eight minutes or so still to play,” recalled Greene snr.

“Points were flying over and we were cheering them all to the rafters. Fergal Hartley’s father was beside me and I turned to him and said, ‘Jesus Christ, we’re going to win this, aren’t we?’

“It was hard to believe and you nearly didn’t want to let yourself believe in case it didn’t come true.”

When the final whistle blew, Jim Greene was a man on a mission.

His son Brian had succeeded where he had failed, and all he wanted to do was share the special moment with him.

He reached the gate at the bottom of the Pairc Ui Chaoimh stand where he was met by a steward who told him nobody was allowed onto the pitch.

“I’m not nobody!” replied Jim. “My son’s just won the Munster Championship and I need to be out there with him!”

That did the trick, the steward stood aside, and Greene made a beeline for the area of the pitch he’d last seen his son standing.

Brian instinctively knew his father would make it his business to get onto the field, and when they found each other it was a powerful union of emotion.

“When we finally locked eyes it was a special moment,” says Brian. “Any father and son who have both played at that level know how much it all means.

“I remember the amount of training he used to do and I’m sure he would remember me going out the door and coming back in after another defeat.

“My father had been beaten in a couple of Munster finals and didn’t do too well in both of them.

“I was well influenced by that experience. I knew what it meant to the household. So to be on the pitch with him at that moment was something else.”

That Waterford team would go on to have more great days in the following years, but there was a unique feeling about the 2002 provincial success.

It was the first time the vast majority of Waterford supporters had ever witnessed their team win a major piece of silverware, and it remains a day of days for anyone who was there in the flesh.

“In 2002, there was so much tension after 39 years without winning one,” says Brian Greene.

“We had some brilliant teams and players down through the years and there are some great hurlers in Waterford who don’t have Munster medals.

“If you knocked on doors in neighbouring Co Kilkenny, there’d be an All-Ireland medal in every second house.

“So for a county like Waterford where we haven’t had great success, it just meant an awful lot.

“I’ve often said it was like our Holy Grail. It was like our All-Ireland.”

2002 Munster SHC Final

WATERFORD 2-23 TIPPERARY 3-12

Scorers for Waterford: P. Flynn 1-6 (1-5 frees); K. McGrath 0-7; J. Mullane 0-4; T. Browne 1-0; E. Kelly 0-3; D. Bennett, E. McGrath and S. Prendergast 0-1 each.

Scorers for Tipperary: B. Dunne 2-2; E. Kelly 1-4 (1-3 frees); T. Dunne 0-2 (0-1 free); L. Corbett, C. Gleeson, J. Carroll and B. OÆMeara 0-1 each.

WATERFORD: S. Brenner; B. Flannery, T. Feeney, B. Greene; E. Murphy, F. Hartley (capt.), P. Queally; T. Browne, J. Murray; E. Kelly, S. Prendergast, P. Flynn; J. Mullane, K. McGrath, E. McGrath. Subs: D. Bennett for Flannery (53rd minute); M. White for Flynn (61st); A. Moloney for Prendergast and D. Shanahan for E. McGrath (69th).

TIPPERARY: B. Cummins; T. Costelloe, P. Maher, D. Fahey; E. Corcoran, D. Kennedy, P. Kelly; T. Dunne (capt.), N. Morris; B. OÆMeara, C. Gleeson, B. Dunne; E. Kelly, J. Carroll, L. Corbett. Subs: E. Enright for Morris (43rd minute); P. Ormonde for Kennedy (55th); M. OÆLeary for Costelloe (58th); P. OÆBrien for Gleeson (injured, 62nd).

Referee: A. MacSuibhne (Dublin).