Kevin Moran
By Sinead Kehoe
This Sunday, hordes of Tipperary and Waterford fans will flock to the Gaelic Grounds, all hoping for an epic encounter between neighbours looking to settle an argument. Munster Final day always brings that special sense of anticipation and excitement and signifies the business end of the championship.
Waterford captain Kevin Moran who put in an outstanding performance in the Munster Semi Final is feeling the same sense of eagerness as everyone else as he awaits Sunday’s tie. Preparations, he says, have gone well.
“We went back to our clubs for a week and we’ve had 3 good weeks of training. We’re easing down now and so far so good. We’re looking forward to it, we’ve waited long enough for it, so bring on Sunday”.
Waterford has already had three tough battles with Clare to assist with sharpening them up for what is sure to be a difficult test against Tipperary.
“Look, the two league finals definitely helped us, and the Munster semi-final on the 5th of June,” says Moran. “We’ve got a few games in but it’s hard to prep yourself for championship matches. It might take a few minutes to get up to the speed of things”.
Moran believes Tipperary are in the same boat after two good games against Cork and Limerick and is under no illusions about the scale of the task ahead of Waterford.
“I think everyone knows the potency of their forwards and the way they move the ball around,” he says. “The thing that we’d be aware of and what we’ve suffered over the years against the likes of Tipperary is their ability to create space and ultimately get some goals on you so it’s about limiting that.
“You know they’re a top team and hard to beat so we know what we’re going to get with them so we have to just try to play better than we have all year and see if it’s good enough”.
Waterford came into this year’s championship off the back of a very pleasing 2015 campaign and so far the Waterford train is moving steadily in the right direction. Their progression to League and Munster Championship Finals for the second year in a row along with the return of Pauric Mahony and the blossoming of Patrick Curran and Shane Bennett has created a considerable amount of optimism about Waterford this year.
“It’s gone well so far I suppose, we came back and we wanted to build on what we did in 2015,” says Moran. “We didn’t want to take a backward step and that can easily happen. We have to try and keep making progress and Sunday’s an example of a statement or a step in the right direction. Derek and his management team put a huge emphasis on the team being the most important thing. There are no individuals; there is no one bigger than the team.”
Kevin Moran
This will be Derek McGrath’s third year at the helm of Waterford hurling and Moran insists the impact he’s had can’t be overstated.
“I’d know Derek very well. He’s managed me at colleges hurling, club hurling and now county hurling,” says Moran. “He’s an encyclopaedia of hurling but not only that, it’s the small things that he does outside of that, that really makes the camp gel together and knit”.
After a difficult first year in charge of the team in 2014 that saw Waterford relegated from Division 1B of the League and knocked out of the Championship by Wexford in the qualifiers, McGrath made the bold decision to cull some long-serving players from his panel and rebuild with a new generation.
He also implemented a new tactical strategy that put a premium on a tight defence marshaled by a deep-lying sweeper. That game-plan won them the National League, but ultimately came up short in the All-Ireland semi-final against Kilkenny. This year they’ve added a greater attacking thrust to their game, and Moran doesn’t think it’s fair to peg them as a defensive team simply because they still play with a sweeper.
“When you look at Clare in 2013 when they won the All Ireland, some days they played with a sweeper, some days they didn’t and it worked for them. You know, I don’t think we’re that defensive as a team to be honest, I think it’s just people looking for an angle on where this team came out of. People are just latching onto that. It’s always hard to keep everybody happy but look we’ll keep going with what’s working”.
If Waterford win Sunday’s Munster Final there will be no disputing that their genuine pretenders to Kilkenny’s throne. But when Moran casts his eye over the teams still left in the Championship, he’s convinced there are others who are also good enough to lift the Liam MacCarthy Cup this year.
“You look at Galway in the 1st half last weekend, they could beat anyone based on that performance,” he says. “Then you look at Kilkenny in the second half, and you’d say they’d beat anybody on their performance so it’s just about who performs over those 70 minutes. Every game is different, I think.
“You can’t look beyond what’s in front of you. Hopefully as it continues this year and into the next few years, it’ll be a very competitive all Ireland championship in the hurling and you could see 2 or 3 or 4 winners. That’s the way I believe it is.”
