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Gleeson: ‘We believe in ourselves'

BGE Under 21 ambassador Austin Gleeson.

BGE Under 21 ambassador Austin Gleeson.

**By Cian O'Connell **


Every year the Bord Gais Energy All Ireland under 21 Championship carries intrigue so Austin Gleeson is thrilled that Waterford are involved in Wednesday’s Munster decider against Tipperary at Walsh Park.

Gleeson and several of his colleagues responded to the pain of losing a senior provincial final by defeating Clare at under 21 level and Wexford in last Sunday’s senior quarter-final.

Suddenly Waterford are hopeful again. Gleeson, who suffered a nasty ear injury in the Wexford triumph, is relishing the upcoming clash with Tipperary.

“It is the first under 21 Waterford are contesting in a number of years, I suppose it is massive for us,” Gleeson admits. “Bringing Tipp down to Walsh Park, I know they beat us three years ago in the first round of the minor. It is massive for us, we are just hoping to go out, to give our best performance on the night.”

Waterford recovered despite a tough start in the Clare encounter proved just how talented a group they are according to Gleeson.

“It was the total opposite of the Munster Final three days earlier,” Gleeson reflected. “We were way down coming up to half-time, but we ended up winning the second half by a huge margin.

“We believe in ourselves, we know we have the calibre of player to do stuff like that. Guys like Shane and Stephen Bennett, Patrick Curran, Conor Gleeson, Conor Prunty. They are all going to have massive futures in the Waterford jersey. Anyone in Waterford knows that.

“Clare came down, we knew what they were going to bring. They started well, it was something like 1-5 to 0-1 at one stage; it took us a while to settle into the game. Once we settled into the game, we just drove on. We went at Clare with the belief that we could win the game. Thankfully we won it.”

The resolve Waterford, managed by Sean Power, demonstrated augurs well.  “We met up on the Monday night. Sean Power emphasised that we had to park the senior game.

“We just had to let it go, to forget about it basically. To be honest I'd say the senior players on the team found it a lot harder to handle because they didn't have a match three days later to forget about it.

“That helps some of us move on. From an under 21 point of view we felt it was massive that we had that game. Thankfully in the end we got over the line to get our confidence back up again after the demoralising defeat against Tipp. We just knew that Tipp were much better on the day than us.

“We wanted to get the fans back on our side, even if it was under 21. The Wexford win has helped aswell. It will be a massive game in the Munster under 21 final now.”