MUNSTER SHC/Cork v Waterford: Seán Moran talks to veteran Waterford coach Justin McCarthy who is fired up for Sunday's championship clash with his native county, Cork
Tomorrow in Semple Stadium, Thurles, Justin McCarthy marks his fifth decade as a hurling coach by taking the inter-county championship stage as manager for the first time in 17 years. Waterford become the third county he has coached at this level after Clare and his own Cork.
These past adventures are well chronicled in McCarthy's recently published autobiography, Hooked - A Hurling Life, and his lengthy career comes full circle with this weekend's Munster hurling semi-final against Cork. Guiding a team against his own county was an almost sensational feature of his management stint in Clare 25 years ago. Nowadays it barely merits a mention.
Waterford is one of the more challenging jobs he could have taken. Four years ago the county - managed then by McCarthy's old team-mate and namesake Gerald - came within a whisker of reaching a first All-Ireland final in 35 years. Since then only one win has been registered. It seems an unpromising choice for someone who has been absent from the inter-county scene for so long.
"I've always been watching the scene, writing a column in the (Irish) Examiner (which he has given up since taking the Waterford job) and involved with clubs. It's a matter of picking up the pieces. Preparation has changed because players are faster but the nuts and bolts of hurling are the same. It's about people and team management; the hurling is second nature to me."
He retained former Tipperary player Colm Bonner (who played for Cashel when McCarthy was manager) as one of his selectors. Providing continuity, Bonner allowed McCarthy "get into things that bit quicker".
The widespread perception that the team hasn't really moved on in the past four years is disputed - by the facts as well as by McCarthy. Eight of tomorrow's side did not play in 1998. "There's quite a few new players coming in this year," he says.
"Other players have matured and we've made positional changes to freshen things up." Three Eoins - McGrath, Murphy and Kelly - make debuts as does former Tipperary hurler Andy Moloney who after appearing to have won a place on the Tipp team two years ago lost out to injury and made his last appearance as a substitute in the All-Ireland quarter-final defeat by Galway in July 2000.
Moloney transferred initially to the Ballygunner club, where he won a Munster club medal at the end of last year, and then joined the Waterford panel.
Among the positional switches is that of 1998 Hurler of the Year Tony Browne to wing back, a position he's familiar with despite being better know as a centrefielder. "I've been watching Tony Browne training and hurling and he's an exciting, sweeping hurler. He knows how to handle ball and has a great positional sense so his role will be sweeping along the half-backs," says McCarthy.
Along with the attempts to freshen the team there has been a steady drip of players leaking out of the panel for various reasons: goalkeeper Brendan Landers, full back Sean Cullinane, wing back Stephen Frampton. McCarthy attaches no special significance to this.
"Some of the lads decided the training schedules made it hard to give a commitment. That's natural after up to 12 or 13 years on a team, particularly when I can't guarantee players a place on the team."
If intensifying the commitment required of players is some sort of exercise in strengthening the team mentality, McCarthy isn't letting on. He doesn't believe mental fragility has played a role in Waterford's recent defeats, even last year's spectacular blowing of a 2-6 to 0-1 lead in the first half against Limerick.
"In hurling most teams that fail at the end of the day fail because of hurling mistakes." So to what was last year's collapse attributable? He pauses. "I know, but I'm not going to discuss it publicly," he says. "One of the Limerick goals was a bit fortunate and one of the others could have been prevented. If they had withstood those two goals, I think they would have held on."
Fortune isn't smiling on Waterford this year either. Ken McGrath, the county's best forward in recent championships, is out with a shoulder injury and the experienced defender Brian Greene also misses out.
"They're body blows," he says, before the imagery runs riot, "but I can't just close the shop. The ship's still going out and we'll have to cope with the situation." The one palliative is that defeat tomorrow won't be the end of the line. The introduction of the qualifiers series guarantees at least two matches. But McCarthy is wary of the topic.
"To be honest we don't talk about it. Afterwards, if you've lost is maybe a better time. When I came here the hope was to win something and most of our build-up has been towards that. In the process I think we've become a more formidable team." We'll know soon enough.
