Liam Cahill urges on his Waterford players in the All-Ireland SHC semi-final against Kilkenny.
By John Harrington
When you ask Waterford players and members of his backroom team what sort of manager Liam Cahill is, descriptions like ‘no-nonsense’ and ‘straight-talker’ are consistently repeated.
Tough but fair is probably another accurate summation of his management style.
Cahill pushes his players hard, but they respect the fact that he is never less than totally honest with them when it comes to advice and feedback.
“I think my job is, and it's always been, to challenge,” explains Cahill.
“When you're in a management role, be it sport or business and livery, your job is to challenge people and challenge them in the right way.
"That's the key, once you're challenging people in the right way and a respectful way I think nobody can have any arguments after that.
"Good managers that do have success, I imagine, like to be challenged back as well. Thankfully I have a good bunch of players who are challenging me as well and we have a good, healthy relationship and that's the way, hopefully, it will remain.
"And once we both have respect for one another and it's replicated each way, things can only get better and stay going in the right direction.”
So, how do the Waterford players challenge Cahill in return?
"If you do identify a player that needs to improve in certain areas and he does that, and he feels that's enough to put his hand up well then you have to reward him and when I say they challenge me, what I really mean is they put their hand up for selection and I have choices to make then, do I keep that particular player or somebody else,” explains the Waterford manager.
"So it's healthy. When you've been challenged by players it's because they're performing, that's how they challenge you, and as long as they stay performing they stay challenging you to pick them and when you have 35 or 36 challenging you every night you come to training, you're in a good place.”
Austin Gleeson of Waterford is congratulated by manager Liam Cahill, right, and selector Michael Bevans following the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship Semi-Final match between Kilkenny and Waterford at Croke Park in Dublin.
The most obvious difference to these Waterford hurlers in 2020 compared to the 2019 version is that their strength and conditioning has gone to a new level.
A voracious work-ethic without the ball has always been a hallmark of teams that Cahill has managed, and it is only possible to execute if the players are supremely fit, which is why he made that his first priority when he took charge of Waterford.
“I think in any sport, whatever your sport is, fitness is a big element of it,” he says. “I suppose myself as a player any time I failed, I failed mainly because I wasn't fit enough. If you're fit physically it helps mentally as well.
“It's a skill as well to make sure from a training perspective, be it a manager or a strength and conditioning coach that you have the savvy and the know-how to tailor that level of work that's required to make sure that you're fit.
“There's fitness and there's overdoing it as well. I think fitness is a big part of improvement in players and I think our first objective with this group of players when we met them on Day 1 was to make sure that if we got them fit enough they'd start enjoying their hurling that little bit more.
“Because their skill level was really good and we just needed to match that with fitness and athleticism which thankfully now is starting to come out.”
You can imagine that the Waterford players have sourced a lot of confidence from their manager because of his own deeply anchored belief in his methods.
He’s entitled to such self-assurance because management is a results business and Cahill gets results.
This is the third year in a row he has led a team to a major final after winning All-Ireland U-21 and U-20 titles with Tipperary in 2018 and 2019 and he also led the Tipperary minors to All-Ireland glory in 2016.
Liam Cahill celebrates a late score during the 2019 Bord Gáis Energy GAA Hurling All-Ireland U20 Championship Final when his Tipperary team defeated Cork.
That experience of getting a team to peak on the biggest day of all is surely something that will help Waterford to hurl to their full potential this Sunday.
“Look, finals are finals no matter what,” says Cahill. “All-Ireland finals are finals whether they're minor, U-21, U-20, or senior. The same butterflies are in players' bellies and your own as a manager or as a coach.
“The run-in here is obviously a little bit more higher profile than an U-20, U-21, or minor final, but it's still an All-Ireland Final and thankfully we've had the experience of experiencing the run in to these games. Occasions like this are great.
“Once ye guys are in front of me I'm happy because it's a case that we're preparing for something big.
“We'll get ready for Sunday and see what will happen.”
Waterford gave Limerick a good run for their money in the Munster Final before being finally overwhelmed in the final quarter of the match.
Cahill and his players will have learned an awful lot from that experience, and he agrees it’s a good thing they’ve already had the opportunity to experience what this seriously powerful Limerick team brings to the table.
“Yeah, there will be no excuses for us,” he says. “We've played them already now and we'd like to think that we've improved since then.
“I know Limerick will say the same, but we would like to think that we're gathering momentum week on week and we'll look forward to going into the match ready to perform.
“We'll do our utmost to perform to the best of our ability and if that takes us over the line, happy days. And, if it doesn't, then fair play to Limerick.”
