Ken McGrath pictured at home with some stand-out medals and awards from his career. Ken is helping to launch the Bord Gáis Energy GAA Legends Tour Series for 2021. The tours start online on Wednesday, 7 July continuing weekly for eight weeks, and can be viewed on Bord Gáis Energy Rewards page - bordgaisenergy.ie/my-rewards.
By John Harrington
Ken McGrath says he’s “not too downbeat” about Waterford’s “flat” performance in last Sunday’s Munster SHC Quarter-Final against Clare.
He actually thinks it might prove to be a blessing in disguise because Liam Cahill’s team now have a three week break that could allow key players like Conor Prunty, Jamie Barron, and Pauric Mahony to recover sufficiently from injury to return to the team for the first round of the Qualifiers.
"I think so," said McGrath at the launch of the Bord Gáis Energy GAA Legends Tour series yesterday.
“If you are going in against Tipp and you are missing the players who they are missing… Conor Prunty holds that full-back line together. He is 6ft 4’/ 6ft 5’. We actually deliver coffee to him and I was standing next to him last week and I could not believe the size of him.
“He is a big unit, he mans that area and (Jamie) Barron as well who really is motoring this year. Going in against Tipp missing those players, we would struggle so it will balance out and long-term it will be good for us.
“Pauric Mahony as well is coming close to full fitness and we need all those top players back if we really want to have a go at it and I think it will suit us. You get back – they have a few days off after the Clare game – and then they will tear into it and refocus.
“You need something like that to get you going again, players might think that it is a case of rolling on again after getting to the final and you will play some great hurling but it does not work like that. Sometimes a defeat like that is what you need.”
Waterford will hope to have Conor Prunty back fully fit for the All-Ireland Qualifiers.
McGrath gives Clare due credit for their victory and believes it would have been “daylight robbery” had Waterford managed to complete a late comeback and snatch a draw or a win.
But he’s convinced that Wateford’s sub-par performance was largely down to the fact that they were missing so many key players.
“I honestly think the injuries did affect them last week, they were very flat,” he says. “They were flying up to that, against Tipp they were brilliant, they were motoring, there was pace in the team and we did not see enough of that last Sunday.
“That can happen many times in the first round of the championship; you are just flat and you can’t put your finger on it. As a manager and selector you are left asking ‘where did I get that wrong?
“Listening to how Liam spoke after the game and on the Sunday Game I think he is bitterly disappointed over it and he is trying to find out why they were flat.
“There is good enough talent, a good enough threat in that team to get back up to that level. I do think we need all our best players on the pitch and it is going to be hard. Tadhg (de Búrca) is gone for the year and he is such a pivotal player at centre- back, he can play the sweeper, he can play the traditional centre-back and he does it so well and so comfortably. He is a massive loss.
“I still think there is going to be a fair kick in them, I would not write them off by no means because Clare played Munster championship hurling for a lot of that game and we didn’t for a lot of it. The way the modern game has gone, and there is a lot of pop passing, a lot of free play, at times you need to tear into every ball and Clare played with that physicality and aggression.
“That is when Waterford are at their best; we saw that last year in the semi-final against Kilkenny, especially in the second half when we tore into then at one hundred miles an hour. When we are not going at a certain speed of play or a certain level of aggression I don’t think we are as good.
“We need to be at that to be at our peak and that is what we need to get back to in our next couple of games.”
