The most improved Waterford hurler this year has been Jack Prendergast. He has grown from being a bit-part panel player to a really consistent performer through the league and will really push hard for a starting spot against Clare this weekend. As I was flicking through last year's All-Ireland final programme, his date of birth jumped out at me – Jack was born on July 20th, 1998. Anybody who knows their Waterford-Clare history will know why.
That was the day after the 1998 Munster final replay between the two counties. What a day to come into the world! Jack was a wartime baby, kicking and screaming in the maternity ward, while outside the battle was raging and the hurling world was in turmoil.
Nobody was expecting a whole pile out of that Munster final replay – the Waterford-Clare rivalry was the poor relation in Munster, let’s be honest. But then the volcano erupted and the lava kept spitting up into the air for the rest of that summer. I was only 16 but I remember it being a huge controversy all the way through.
The principle of establishing dominance is still a huge part of hurling. The details of how to achieve it will just be very different
It all stemmed from the throw-in for the replay. It was like a scene from Braveheart when two tribes clashed – you could nearly hear Loughnane on the sideline to his troops saying "HOLD . . . HOLD . . ." When Willie Barrett threw the ball in, Colin Lynch pulled and hit everything that moved, including his midfield partner Ollie Baker and even himself! It laid down the marker clearly to Tony Browne, who was so influential in the first game and made a lot of things happen. "Not today" was Colin's message.
The fallout was massive. It rumbled on throughout that whole summer. It filled sports pages. It consumed people in both counties and beyond. Colin Lynch's suspension, Ger Loughnane's radio address, Marty Morrissey getting involved, some sort of talk between three priests – it was all high drama.
Young Jack Prendergast arrived on the planet the next day, oblivious to the drama going on in the outside world. Yet here he is, nearly 23 years later, ready to face Clare in the opening game of the Munster Championship. An awful lot of things are different now. The kind of scenes we saw in 1998 aren’t acceptable. They just aren’t part of the game anymore.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a war to be won. The principle of establishing dominance is still a huge part of hurling. The details of how to achieve it will just be very different, that’s all. You assert yourself now by retaining possession, keeping a high win-rate on your own and opposition puckouts, winning the hooks-blocks-turnover count, flocking to the tackle and shutting down the opposition in numbers. Playing intelligent hurling is the weapon you can’t do without.
Brian Lohan is the only constant from 1998 but I expect huge levels of savagery from both teams. It's not the fiercest rivalry in the game but there is a lot at stake here. Liam Cahill oozes fire on the sideline, and Lohan, well, we know what he is about. It might not be volcanic but it has the potential to get tasty all the same.
I find this game fascinating. It's very much a chess game. There are a lot of questions that a watery league has thrown up – more questions than answers, anyway. Where does Aussie Gleeson start? Waterford will surely put Conor Gleeson on Tony Kelly, won't they? Will John Conlon start and finish at centre back? Will Conor Prunty and Davy McInerney be fit enough?
Hurling is a fickle game. It moves on very quickly and a week can be like a year
Questions aren’t a bad thing, by the way. Definitely not at this time of year. I would always be far more concerned about a team that comes out of the league satisfied they have all the answers. No league has ever told you the truth about where you are. Even if you answered all the questions you were asked, it was still foundation level maths you were doing.
Now that you’re heading into applied maths, those answers are of very little use to you. Questions are far more helpful. They give you a focus and a structure. They stop you floating along, full sure everything is fine. Everything is not fine. The championship is here. It’s time to go to work.
I have a really good feeling for Clare here. That would have seemed a silly thing to say after such a disastrous start to the year for them, both on and off the field. But they have the one thing everybody is dying to bring into the championship with them – they have momentum.
Hurling is a fickle game. It moves on very quickly and a week can be like a year. The bad start to Clare’s league is all it was. A bad start that got better – and now they go into championship on a three-game winning streak.
And, of course, they also have Tony Kelly. It would be hard enough to do what Tony Kelly has done basically for the last two years if he was coming in as an unknown and had that surprise factor. But every team knows who he is and what he can do and every team plans for it. When you consider the level of scrutiny and focus this guy gets and yet he still finds a way to get it done, it is really astonishing. He is a joy to watch.
Would he have survived in Colin Lynch’s time? Of course he would. Class survives in any temperature and environment – the hotter the better in most cases. You just wouldn’t be putting him in the middle for the throw-in! It’s all very well giving Ollie Baker the job of standing there and getting a few slaps – team-mate or no team-mate. Tony Kelly has bigger things to be worrying about without having that on his plate as well.
Despite their slow start, Clare have been one of the big winners of the league. When you think of how far they have come since their first game, they have unearthed a gem in Aidan McCarthy, Conlon has found his feet as a really good centre back, Conor Cleary is solid at full back and Kelly is just class. Shane O'Donnell is a loss for this game as he had started to take his own scores, which was great to see.
Clare will have David McInerney back, it seems, which is a huge plus for them. He and Diarmuid Ryan give them a launchpad from the half-back line and when you add in the engine of David Reidy and the aerial prowess of Aron Shanagher, they have a lot of the pieces you need.
What was seen as an over-achievement just six months ago is now seen as the benchmark for Waterford to hit every time they go out
All in all, that adds up to a seriously good supporting cast that Clare have built up for Kelly. When you’re going into championship, life gets a lot easier when you look through the teamsheet and you see names that you can rely on. Names you don’t have to think twice about.
So they have Kelly, obviously. But Clare supporters hearing Marty Morrissey or Ger Canning read out the 15 on Sunday also have McCarthy, Reidy, Cleary, Conlon, Galvin and Shanagher. That’s the spine of their team and every one of them is rock solid. Clare will go to war knowing that these guys can be depended on to deliver. That’s a huge thing to be bringing into championship with you.
There’s variety in there too. McCarthy is an X-factor. He will roam around looking to get involved and Waterford will have to plan for that variation. Reidy’s running will cause problems and Shanagher has more to his game than just high catching and goals. I don’t think they will have a problem putting up a total that can win the game.
As for Waterford, I feel they will find it hard to reach the same levels as 2020 this time around. When you lose the likes of Shane Fives, Tadhg De Búrca, Stephen O'Keeffe over the winter, it's hard to reach those heights again. It looks like Conor Prunty is out now too, which just makes it harder again.
Cahill will drive them to surpass last year but it’s difficult to back up a surprise campaign. Everybody accepts that Waterford over-achieved last year, which was great for them at the time. The only problem that arises out of it is that they now get judged with that as their baseline level of form. What was seen as an over-achievement just six months ago is now seen as the benchmark for them to hit every time they go out.
That is very challenging mentally. Last year becomes this big shadow in the background. You make a big point of not mentioning it but you know it’s there. You know you should be taking everything game by game but at the same time, the context is different now. You’re not the outsiders that nobody expects anything from. You’re the All-Ireland runners-up. You were 70 minutes from glory.
That can play on your mind if you don’t address it straight on. Leadership will be needed here for Waterford to play their way through all that and the loss of some of those experienced guys who are the on-field generals could be key.
For those reasons, I can see Clare coming out on top here. There won’t be any windmilling at the throw-in but that’s okay. Championship is here. Let the games begin.
