Class of '92 has made its mark

Tomorrow's Guinness Munster hurling final in Thurles comes to us short on precedent. Waterford and Clare haven't met in championship for six years and haven't contested a provincial final since 1938, the year the old Cusack Stand was unveiled at Croke Park, when Waterford won by 3-5 to 2-5 at the Athletic Grounds in Cork.

Significant recent meetings have been restricted to under-age encounters, specifically in the under-21 grade. As far back as 1974, current Clare manager Ger Loughnane was on the under-21 side which defeated Cork and Tipperary, only to fall as hot favourites to Waterford in the Munster final one wet evening in Semple Stadium.

Four years ago, Waterford also won, outscoring Clare 1-12 to 1-10 with 1-10 of the winning total provided by Anthony Kirwan, Tony Browne and Paul Flynn, all of whom line out tomorrow.

It is, however, the 1992 Munster under-21 final that resonates most strongly. It's not that there are many survivors in tomorrow's match but the match was a link in a chain of consequences for both counties which leads to tomorrow's denouement.

It took place in Thurles on July 15th. Although Waterford won by 0-17 to 1-12, it was a close match. Clare were awarded a late penalty but with the last puck of the match, Padraig McNamara failed to convert and Clare lost by two points.

McNamara (who a few months later was to die in tragic circumstances) wasn't supposed to take the penalty but for some reason he commandeered the responsibility despite the presence on the field of Pat Minogue who had been nominated to do the job.

Loughnane lost out heavily in the postmatch recriminations. Seamus Hayes of the Clare Champion remembers the manager insisting to everyone that Waterford were a very good team and would prove it. By the time he was proved right the following autumn, Loughnane had long been removed from his post with the under-21s.

Waterford went on to win the All-Ireland after a replay against a star-studded Offaly side.

Tony Mansfield says that it had always been his ambition to be involved with an All-Ireland winning Waterford team. He started at inter-county level as a selector with the minor footballers in 1960. Three years later he was a panellist - after catching the selectors' eye in a tournament match which was to be Christy Ring's last appearance for Cork - as Waterford won the Munster title (the county's most recent provincial win).

As the years went by, he involved himself in the mid-1960s with the GAA's prototype coaching courses organised by Donie Nealon, Fr Tommy Maher and Dessie Ferguson.

It would be another 20 years before he got to hold the reins of the county hurling team but during that four-year stint from 1986, Waterford reached their most recent Munster final, a 12-point beating from Tipperary in 1989, during which Waterford lost their heads and had a couple of players dismissed.

When his opportunity came with the 1992 under-21s, Mansfield took it wholeheartedly, confident that the 1989 and '90 minors would provide a good base.

Mansfield and his team sprang an immediate surprise by beating Cork. "We thought Cork would be the big challenge," according to Ger Loughnane. "That was (Brian) Corcoran's team. We thought we'd be playing them in the final."

"Once we beat Cork," says Mansfield, "we thought we could win Munster but we knew we'd be close with Clare. We looked at the video and thought they were stronger than us through the field.

"But we made a team," says Mansfield, "into a very cohesive, organised unit. You have to have that on any team. Look at Offaly (in the Leinster final last Sunday). Their goal wasn't properly lined. And they won an All-Ireland because Limerick didn't line their goal properly. When you're organised, you're hard to beat.

"Players need that environment. Then when a team does well at under-age, there's plenty of people to say: `that's the solution, put 10 of them on the county team'. But in different circumstances, with a different setup, they mightn't do as well."

Mansfield's comments are in the context of a team whose All-Ireland under-21 success created an unreal sense of expectation around the county in the years that followed. Many of the team had some sort of a spin with the seniors but only three survive for tomorrow's match: centre back Fergal Hartley, captain Tony Browne and Paul Flynn who had been a member of the minor team which reached that year's All-Ireland final.

"I'm not really surprised," he says of the relatively low rate of graduation (Clare have six). "I've seen it in the club. You need a few under-age teams to make a difference and even then you need a big core-group which will stay together. There will be exceptional players who will probably make senior themselves but for the rest, it's a matter of minding them. You're generally doing well to get three good seniors off an under-age team."

Loughnane concurs. "Under-age isn't a huge guideline. You can come out with an even standard in a team and win an under-21 title. Waterford were an even-standard team in '92 although they played some terrific hurling with fire and determination. Then again you can have a poor team with three or four outstanding individuals. It won't win anything but all you want from an under-age team for senior is two or three individuals."

On that basis Clare did particularly well with, of tomorrow's team, goalkeeper Davy Fitzgerald, full back Brian Lohan, corner back Brian Quinn (who played in the forwards in 1992), centrefielder Colin Lynch and wing forward Jamesie O'Connor all graduating. Conor Clancy, who played on both recent All-Ireland winning teams, also lined out.

All of them have made a mark at senior level and with the exception of Quinn and Clancy won All Stars. Lohan and O'Connor have been Hurlers of the Year, 1995 and '97 respectively.

That these achievements were developments on early form can be seen from the fate of Lohan. Driven home by Loughnane to Shannon from that under-21 final, Lohan said that the match had been the last time he expected to wear a county jersey. During the match, Waterford's full forward Sean Daly - on the bench tomorrow - took Lohan for five points.

About his team's less celebrated senior careers, Mansfield is philosophical. "Every single one is still playing hurling. A player has to want to play senior inter-county. It's a huge commitment and you have to be totally committed to break through against those who are already there."

No team is "already there" with more of a vengeance than Clare. The transformation from hopeful contenders to lords of all they survey has been a painstaking one which has moved incrementally from an 18-point defeat in the Munster final of 1993 to the awesome display of three weeks ago against NHL winners Cork, with two All-Irelands in between.

Ger Loughnane has been the director of operations on this project. Together with trainer Michael McNamara, who was also part of the management team in 1992, and Tony Considine, he has set a furious agenda and managed to bring the players with him.

Back in 1992 within 24 hours of losing the Munster under-21 final, all of this must have seemed very distant. "Well, the experience of doing it (managing the under-21s) was great," says Loughnane. "It was the aftermath that was the problem.

"The county board met the following night with no time to reflect on it. I was sacked from the under-21s and from being a selector with the seniors. There were 17 of that panel still under-age the year after but they lost to Limerick in the first round. I don't think people in the county realised that Waterford were, in fact, a very good team and that the Clare team was not as good as people imagined it to be."

A year later, redemption was at hand. "I was back for '94," he says. "I think they couldn't get another selector. I agreed only if I could get the manager's job after Len's (Gaynor) term was up. I was always determined to get back whatever it took.

"Between that under-21 team and the one the year before, I felt if we don't make the breakthrough now, we'll never do it. There were rough edges and some greenness but I couldn't wait to work the living daylights out of those fellas.

"It happened quicker than I thought it would. I felt it would take three years to get to the stage we wanted but we're there and can do more. The team is changing all the time. There's been six changes since 1995 and a couple even since last year."

Mansfield can see the changes that have come about in the last couple of years in Waterford. Under former Cork All-Ireland winning hurler and coach Gerald McCarthy, Waterford have progressed to a League final which they lost last May to Cork - the only team this year to have beaten them.

More importantly, the team recorded its first championship win over front-line opposition in nine years when defeating Tipperary in Pairc Ui Chaoimh last month. Playing Clare presents less of a psychological barrier than would taking on Cork but Clare have two of the last three All-Irelands and gave Cork a hiding in the semi-final of three weeks ago.

"There's no hype," says Mansfield. "There was a bit after beating Tipp but the Clare win over Cork knocked it on the head.

"Gerald McCarthy has had the sole use of the players which is a good thing because you need to build up the team unit and the main cause of injury to inter-county players is club activity.

"We got a good start in the League and with the full use of the players, Ger Mac has had another year to get to know the ropes, to be able to put his stamp on the team to a greater extent."

He remembers the manic routines of '92, the search for an edge, the rapid absorption of any lessons that were available along the way.

On the day of the All-Ireland final, he took his team to a club in Kilkenny to prepare for the match. After the match ended in a draw, he was able to review his preparations for the replay, adjust the amount of time spent in the club, the time at which the team arrived at the ground.

"After the drawn All-Ireland final I had to put my foot down. People had organised a banquet for the under-age teams, the minors and the under-21s, but with the replay coming up, I told them that none of my players were going to be at the banquet, that I didn't care about it, that our job was to win an All-Ireland which we now knew was winnable.

"I have a saying about medals: You don't buy them up in Bowman's (local jewellers), you have to win them."