CHAMPIONSHIP 2008 NEWS:WATERFORD'S JUBILANTLY received win over Tipperary on Sunday finally got the county into an All-Ireland final for the first time in 45 years.
Coincidentally it will be Waterford's fourth successive final - fifth if you include the 1959 replay - against neighbours Kilkenny, following on from 1963, 1959 and 1957.
Fifty-one years ago the match preliminaries before the final were unusual in that Kilkenny paraded with 16 players. This was to facilitate the making of the film Rooney, starring John Gregson, who played the eponymous hero - in the plot a Dublin hurler. Trained by Dublin dual player Dessie Ferguson, Gregson swung a stick in a few scenes and was required by the narrative to play in an All-Ireland final.
Waterford declined the approach but Kilkenny county secretary Paddy Grace was characteristically unabashed, not caring less whether the team was accompanied by the actor and film crew or not. Waterford felt their players would be unsettled whereas Kilkenny felt if anything it would take their minds off the occasion.
At the end of the parade Gregson broke away and withdrew to the dressingroom - to the puzzlement of those present who did not become aware of the reasons until the following day by which stage Kilkenny were celebrating the county's 14th title.
Two years later there were more unfamiliar cameras when the match was filmed by BBC who sent commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme (of "they think it's all over . . ." fame) to record his impressions of the game. This was the first All-Ireland final in the newly-constructed Hogan Stand.
"Make no mistake about it," Wolstenhome enthused, "hurling is a great game - and when you bring it to England don't forget to bring along the architect of the new stand at Croke Park as well. I'd love to see him get to work on some of our prehistoric football grounds."
The match had ended in a draw and the replay four weeks later came after a spell of drought, leaving the pitch very hard. Waterford legend Tom Cheasty with 2-2 was the dominant influence on the match.
Kilkenny managed only 0-2 in the second half. Eddie Keher, also a minor that year and on the verge of a glittering senior career, scored both. It was Waterford's second All-Ireland success (the first had come in 1948 against Dublin) - and their last to date - and the only time a team had beaten the big three, Cork, Tipperary and Kilkenny, en route to an All-Ireland title until 1997 when Clare emulated the feat.
The 1963 final also attracted overseas celebrity with Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco in attendance with Taoiseach Seán Lemass and his wife. They saw a young Kilkenny side upset expectations by defeating more experienced opponents, who had earlier disrupted Tipperary's bid for three-in-a-row All-Irelands.
The combined scores from the game created a record for a 60-minute final, 4-17 to 6-8. No team has since lost an All-Ireland final after scoring six goals, as Waterford did that day and only one county has scored six at all in the intervening 45 years, Cork in the 80-minute final of 1970.
