Gaelic Games Munster SHC: Paul Flynn tells Ian O'Riordan that Waterford can still come good after last week's aberration

In these days of sympathy for the Waterford hurlers, Paul Flynn hasn't lost any heart. Beaten well in the league final, and dragged out the following Sunday to play Clare in the championship. He could sit quietly in the corner and mope about it, but instead he looks only on the bright side.

In Dublin yesterday to collect his Vodafone Player of the Month award for April, Flynn responds to questions about Sunday's defeat to Galway with hints of sarcasm. It's as if the Waterford forward knows it will have little bearing on their date with Clare.

"It was our worst performance of the league, by far," says Flynn. "Apart from the other time we played Galway in the league. So if we can stay away from Galway maybe we'll be alright.

"And I suppose the hardest part will be forgetting how bad we played. It's not so much the task of playing Clare, and trying to beat them. It's more trying to figure out why we were so bad on Sunday. But I think we can get over it."

One excuse is that Waterford were focused on May 16th all along. Flynn agrees the reaction in his home county has been mixed. "Sure, it was funny. Last week they were saying it would be great to win the league. Which it would have been, of course. On Monday they were saying they'd prefer to win this Sunday, that it was 'just the league' and all that.

"So you don't know what they're really thinking. And it would have been very interesting to hear what people would be saying if we'd won the league final. But maybe we'll be a bit fresher going in to Sunday than if we'd won it."

Waterford didn't hit their normal heights on Sunday, deliberate or not. Yet talk of excessive training the week before they played Galway is dismissed. "We did our bit alright, but you can't afford not to do it either. You'd be surprised how fast you can lose it. Not in three or four days, but you do want to stay sharp. But I wouldn't buy that as any excuse."

It's more likely that Galway were just more up to the challenge: "I do feel Galway have the best set of backs we've come up against. We thought that before the match and they proved it again. Damien Joyce and Ollie Canning are probably two of the fastest corner backs.

"But it just seemed that last Sunday every ball was coming in the air, and maybe not what we'd prefer. But then we didn't exactly try Galway out that hard and their two goals were both our mistakes. That's one of the big differences.

"It was a bit weird as well in that there didn't seem to be any atmosphere. I remember the last final in 1998, in Thurles, and there was an unbelievable atmosphere. There was none of that at all on Sunday. It seemed like a challenge match for some reason, and nothing like the occasion it was supposed to be. Some of that might have been our fault."

Clare's current form - just missing out on the league final - would put fear in any team, and Flynn accepts only a vast improvement will give Waterford a shot at victory. Flynn, more than anyone, has the maturity to turn things around, with over a decade of senior experience behind him.

He also points to the 1998 season, when Waterford lost the Munster final replay to Clare, but came out a week later to beat Galway.

"I suppose we're not under as much pressure now," he adds. "But it's so important to us that we do perform. If we do, I don't think we'll be too far off. We know we can play alright, but we just need to get the bad parts out of our systems. And it's a good opportunity to prove just seven days later that we're not as bad as we look.

"We just don't know what will happen until we take the field on Sunday. All we can do is get our heads right. And Thurles is a much better pitch and we're much happier playing there. And it's not like we don't know Clare well."

The reminder that Clare have enjoyed the upper hand in recent years is also deemed inconsequential. "No, you can't say we owe them a defeat just because they've beaten us the last three or four times. If we can just knuckle down we know we can do it. And we were happy with the way we were going up until last Sunday, and we'll just have to put that down to a bad day."

Nor will Flynn be going on a personal crusade to prove some of his latest critics wrong (he missed two frees on Sunday well within his range): "Sure I'm 15 years taking criticism like that. If the team can win on Sunday that will be more than enough of an answer for any critic."

Winning the football award for April was Pádhraic Joyce, who produced some wonderful scoring in helping Galway to reaching the league final.