Michael Walsh, former Waterford hurler, pictured at the EirGrid Timing Sponsorship launch at Beann Eadair GAA in Howth, Dublin. EirGrid, Ireland’s grid operator, is now in its eighth year as the Official Timing Partner of the GAA. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
The Munster hurling championship has been the highlight so far of the Gaelic games summer, but not if you’re a Waterford supporter.
Three defeats from three matches means they only have pride to play for against Tipperary in their final round robin match on Sunday.
Waterford legend Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh hopes that’s all the motivation they’ll need to finish a disappointing campaign on a high, and give supporters cause for hope ahead of the 2024 season.
“Ah look, it’s disappointing - there’s no point in saying otherwise,” says Walsh about Waterford’s championship campaign to date.
“The players will be disappointed and look, you want to be in that mix and want to be competing with the four teams that played yesterday. It’s very disappointing from a Waterford perspective.
“They’ll be hurting over the last couple of weeks, they've had two weeks to sit back and look at that and take the criticism on board and hopefully come out with a big performance, that’s what you’d be looking towards at the weekend.
“It would show they are competing, it would show they are able to compete and it gives them confidence going into 2024, that’s what you want.
“Tipperary probably are in the conversation for all Ireland champions and while Waterford to compete with them wouldn’t cover over all of the games of the last couple of weeks, it would certainly give a lift to the team and the supporters.”
Despite underperforming in this year’s championship, Walsh still believes there’s reason to hope that a Waterford panel that won last year’s League can compete for silverware again in the future.
“There has to be,” he says. “The core group are still there, the older fellas are still 27, 28 or 29 so you aren't in the 30’s or anything like that yet, so you are going to get another few years of those players.
“You do have good exciting players coming through as well, Waterford may not have had the underage success but they still are good players so hopefully they’ll be brought into that and brought up to speed.
“It’s not that long ago since last year when Waterford were looking like a very strong outfit. Those players haven’t changed and you still have all those players still playing. Look, hopefully they’ll come back and go again, and the Tipp game obviously has no great meaning to it, but you’d be hoping they’ll come out and go at it as best they can."
Jack Fagan of Waterford dejected after his side's defeat in the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Round 3 match between Waterford and Clare at FBD Semple Stadium in Thurles, Tipperary. Photo by John Sheridan/Sportsfile
Reigning All-Ireland champions Limerick will be out of this year’s championship if they fail to beat Cork on Sunday, a scenario few people would have predicted at the outset of the campaign, including Walsh.
“It’s interesting, if you look at Limerick, everyone was saying Limerick this, Limerick that and they were favourites so far out,” he says.
“I was thinking Kilkenny, even when I was playing, they weren’t as strongly tipped as this Limerick team was.
“They are up against it now. Cork have had a very good record with them in the last number of years, they’ve always troubled Limerick. It just goes to show that people, ourselves in terms of hurling people, past players, current players and yourselves in terms of journalists were always saying that Limerick have a brilliant panel, they have this, they have that.
“No matter who you are, if you compare it to soccer and compare it to rugby, the same players play in the big games and you are missing one or two of those - like, Sean Finn gone, massive loss to Limerick.
“On the flipside from a Limerick point of view, you learn an awful lot more when you lose. So like Kerry in the football at the weekend, if you get through, it’s very difficult to win the whole season through. Limerick have been I suppose carrying that.
“Throughout the league they hadn’t lost a game and all that, you learn a lot more when you lose and that little bit of hurt and things like that come back.
“So the fact that Limerick hadn’t lost a game in so long, the hurt of losing is back and that’s what drives you and you can be sure that’s what will be driving Limerick this week.”
