By Michael Devlin

Páraic Fanning’s decision to walk away from the Waterford hot seat caught his predecessor Derek McGrath by surprise.

Fanning bowed out a year into his two year term, with his selectors James Murray and Pa Kearney also departing. In that time the Déise put together an impressive league campaign, reaching the final in March before being beaten by then All-Ireland champions, Limerick.

However fortunes took a huge downturn in the Munster championship, where they lost all four matches by a double-digit average. Fanning’s decision last month not to continue means they are now looking for a sixth new senior hurling manager in 12 years.

The vacancy is something that doesn’t attract former boss McGrath, but he refused to dismiss entirely the possibility of taking up the Waterford reins again.

“Is it interesting to me? At the minute, not really. I'm not sure I'd have the energy to invest everything I have into it again. But it's not something I'd completely rule out either.

“I thought it was a very honourable statement [from Padraic], the way he went about it had real integrity to it.

“I was on holidays and I haven't really thought about it. I was saying to my wife on holidays, 'Would you be made to even consider it?' Then I was saying to myself, 'Would you consider it?' So my mind is a muddle on it really and that's being completely upfront with you. There's very, very good candidates in Waterford that are interested in the job.”

McGrath, who led Waterford to the 2017 All-Ireland final, did express an interest in going back and getting involved with school hurling at De La Salle College, where he teaches and won back-to-back Harty and Croke Cups with back in 2007 and ’08. Another shot at the Waterford job would have to be worked up to, he maintains.

“You can't just walk into it either, you have to go through a process where there's a committee appointed and if they deem you a suitable candidate they'll interview you and they'll have that right to do that.

“They're just a smashing group of lads as well in terms of their overall work ethic and how they hold themselves. Obviously they had a bit of a fall-off in terms of last year, the last year of my term we had tough year, and it was a tough year for Páraic this year.

“Getting to the league final and discovering a couple of good players along the way in fairness to him, Jack Prendergast and Calum Lyons. That's the way you'd think anyway that the only way is up, attitude. That's what you'd certainly think. They're a fine group of lads.”

McGrath admitted that Waterford’s need for a Munster Championship title is something that still hangs over the group, but he believes that whoever steps into the role has as much to do in terms of changing the mindset rather than introducing new tactics or a radical style of play.

“We're chasing a win in Munster. That's well documented. That's going to follow us around. I'd say it's just a matter of going back, keeping the heads down, working as hard as possible, changing up things in terms of overall, not structure in how they play but just almost acceptance within Waterford circles that this is where we are.

“Have a more pragmatic, realistic viewpoint in terms of 'here's where we are'. That will almost lessen the expectation. So I won't a media front, but a little bit of guile in terms of how they deal with media.”

The media is where McGrath has been spending his year away from management, and while he is not in that inter-county bubble like previous years, he is still “fixated and entranced” by this season’s action looking in from the outside.

“It leaves you tired watching it. The semi-final weekend was two brilliant games, two sets of players giving it absolutely everything they had. There was a huge amount of talk about the start of the year that it won't live up to last year's championship and that's probably materialised as much because there was so much talk about it as anything else. We had two brilliant semi-finals and I think we'll have a brilliant final too.

“I expected Tipp to be there, I thought it was going to be a Tipp and Limerick final to be honest, even though I'm not really surprised that Kilkenny are there either.

“I can't be a hyprocrite - when Kilkenny were playing Cork I thought Cork would win, and when Kilkenny were playing Limerick I thought Limerick would win. But nothing surprises you really about Kilkenny ultimately.”

Getting down into the nitty-gritty of this Sunday’s contest, McGrath pointed out a number of aspects that suggest to him a Tipperary win.

“I don't think there'll be a huge amount of space like there was two years ago where Joey Holden found himself one-on-one with Seamie Callanan for a lot of the game. That space will be cut down and it will be a complete war zone in the middle third between the half-forward lines of Tipp and Kilkenny.

“I fancy Tipp to find a way to win. Maybe a bit of hurt from the semi-final, someone like John McGrath to come up trumps on the day of the final or Bubbles to come up trumps. Fellas that started the season unbelievably well, had a little bit of a mid-season dip, I know Bubbles still got three points the last day but maybe the final is their platform to perform.”

Tipperary began the Munster round-robin in fine form, and looked like many people’s favourites for the All-Ireland until Limerick derailed their campaign with a crushing Munster final defeat at the LIT Gaelic Grounds.

They were far from polished in the All-Ireland quarter-final final against Eddie Brennan’s plucky Laois, but the rip-roaring manner of the resurgence against Wexford seems to have removed that mid-season blip from the system according to McGrath.

“Everything was on the line. They combined character with tactical nous and just went for it. Everything you'd want from a team was on display. What they did as well was they garnered some of the confidence that was evident from the U20s victory over Cork in terms of Jake Morris coming on, even their bench and the fellas that weren't involved in the U20s - in terms of Mark Kehoe, Willie Connors, Ger Browne.

“They hit upon a panel all of a sudden, which was the interesting thing for me in the semi-final whereas at the start of the year the general perception was: they're going with the older legs, how will that sustain? There was an element of finding their team and impact subs.”

Kilkenny meanwhile are not to be perceived as a team in development, rather than the traditional powerhouse of old says McGrath. Despite their youthful make-up, they looked every inch the classic Cody outfit in their granite-hard battles with Cork and Limerick that have got them to Sunday’s decider.

That doesn’t mean to say that the game will be simply be decided by brawn, hunger, passion, all the usual clichés. According to McGrath, there will still be plenty of tactical nous and forensic planning on show inside the white lines on Sunday.

“I don't accept any of the arguments that Kilkenny are in transition. Likewise with Tipperary, the team is a serious outfit and has been contesting semi-finals and finals for the last 10 years.

“I think it'll be more conventional than it has been. Say if Colin Fennelly is in full-forward and whoever is picking him up, you'll still see Padraic Maher sitting only five or ten yards from him at different stages with Dan McCormack coming back picking up his man.

“I don't think you'll see the Kilkenny half-back line follow their men more than 45 or 50 yards. They'll rely on Walter Walsh, TJ [Reid], Adrian Mullen and John Donnelly to get tackles in on the opposing half-forward line. That will probably be presented afterwards as it being a shackles off game or traditional game. I think what gets lost then is the fact there was lots of planning even in the detail of the match-ups.

“If Brendan Maher for instance picks up TJ Reid, does TJ go into the corner early on to bring him into that unknown territory? He marked Aaron Gillane at corner-back, but does he say, 'I'll bring him in full-forward for a while.' Do they go with set match-ups and say to Joey Holden, 'You're picking up Bubbles' and leave one of their defenders sit with one of their midfielders. If Cillian Buckley is picked in the middle of the field, because he's had time in the half-back line does he sit back and rely on the half-forward line coming deep.

“I think both teams will keep the ball as well. The Kilkenny backs have gotten way better at keeping the ball, using it short, hand-passing away and working it. But they also have the ability to go long to Fennelly or Walter Walsh or TJ, so they have a huge advantage in terms of mixing it up.

McGrath’s prediction? “I fancy Tipperary.”