Derek McGrath basks in moment of revenge over Clare

Derek McGrath stands before us with his eyes closed as he talks, as though the rigours of the afternoon have taken too much out of him to keep them open. He’d remind you of Christy Moore in a way, not so much addressing us as channeling all the effort and planning and work that has gone into the game. In a sanitised world, it’s always a treat to come across someone who talks it like he feels it.

"For the lads to be able to put four or five weeks of absolute work into that performance and see it bear fruit on the actual big day is extremely satisfying," he says. "I thought the goal was similar to Patrick's [Curran's in league replay] in terms of making it more open at the start. There was a valley period during the first half where Clare had a number of wides. The game was bitty, could have gone either way. If the points had have been taken by Clare, I thought we were in a small bit of trouble. We didn't have much structure to our game.

“That flurry just before half-time, that gave us a small bit of security going in four points up, against the run of play or not. In at half-time, we just made a promise to each other to give 40 minutes of absolute endeavour to try and get over the line. Thrilled for the lads. They’ve put some effort into it over the last four weeks given the nature of losing the league.

“I’ve been very open, and in no-way contradictory about this, but the league was absolutely everything to us. Everything to us. We had built up to that game like it was an All-Ireland final. To lose was very, very disappointing. To be able to channel that disappointment in a positive manner was satisfying.”

You always get the sense from McGrath that he is nearly nervous at the thought of how good his young team can be. He’s seen a scatter of them grow up as schoolkids and to be here and now with them, right in the mix for the biggest prizes in the game, it’s something he doesn’t want to mess up. A second Munster final in a row is a step they needed to take.

“That’s the most satisfying thing. I listen to James Horan, I listen to other managers over the years saying that when they come into a job they want to be consistently competitive. And it’s an easy thing to say. But to be in a second consecutive league final, to perform well in it and not to be kinda railroaded by an opposition, and now to be in a Munster final for a second year in a row, that’s where we want to be.

“We’ve captured a league title, we’ve been beaten in a league final this year, now we’ve a prize at stake on the 10th of July so I’m extremely delighted with the chance to play Tipperary or Limerick in the Munster final.”

Davy Fitz has taken defeats in far worse spirits than this. He reminds us that he spoke about seeing the bright side of life in the build-up to the game. No point saying one thing before and one thing after.

"I don't know," he says straight out when asked what went wrong. "We missed a lot of chances, gave away a soft goal, you wouldn't be happy with that, but in saying that Waterford were the better team and deserved their victory. I'm not going to make excuses. The better team won, that's it. Would we be happy with one or two aspects? Probably not.

“You need to get it between the posts. We had some bad wides from players who’d normally score, but they’ve been phenomenal. We won thirteen games unbeaten, and I’m not going to criticise them. We’d be disappointed with wides, disappointed with the goal. The goal was an absolute nightmare to concede, but those things happen in games, you have to get over it.

“The funny thing is that you never know. You think they’re buzzing and you convince yourself - have I done everything, would I change anything? I don’t think so... Small things decide games, and when that momentum goes against you it’s hard to break it, as it was today. The best team won today. We have no complaints.”