Waterford look to a bright new future

Irish Examiner

9 hours ago

All-Ireland MHC final: Waterford 1-18 Clare 0-10
BE it hope, pressure, or expectation, pinning too much of anything on a successful minor team is never a smart move. Such behaviour is even more ill-advised again since the age-grade dropped to U17.
On a greasy Saturday evening at Semple Stadium, Waterford collected a fourth All-Ireland minor crown in the county's history. The 11-point winning margin bridged a 12-year gap to their most recent acquaintance with the Irish Press Cup.
Waterford got right lucky with that 2013 class, if lucky is indeed the correct term. Of those who featured in the 65-year famine-ending win over Galway, the number of players that continued up the ladder to line out in senior championship reached double-digits.
Such numbers from one minor crop is absolutely the exception to the rule. Take as contrast Galway's four-in-a-row of All-Ireland minor wins from 2017-20.
We counted the number of players from across the four teams who played championship this year or pushed for championship involvement. The figure did not reach double-digits.
The conclusion to be taken is thus: consistency of progression from one all-conquering minor team to the next is simply non-existent. Attempting to predict who will climb the ladder is a popular exercise, but ultimately a futile one.
As should be now clear, minor victories are never dealt with in isolation. The focus is always to the future. From final whistle to senior forecasting.
The future will not be overlooked here. There is a need, though, to stay resident in the present for a touch longer than usual. For as much as Waterford will hope and expect to mine senior hurlers from this crop in the years ahead, the Déise, in the here and now, so desperately needed this silverware.
At all levels, Waterford have ceded ground. No emergence out of the Munster SHC in the six seasons of the round-robin structure. A single Munster U20 championship win in the last nine years - and that over Kerry. No win at all in their 13 most recent outings.
The recent minor record not a whole pile better. Across 2022, '23, and 24, there were 13 outings and 11 defeats.
And then happened 2025.
Cork were the only team to better them in Munster, in both the round-robin and decider. The Déise kids regrouped for the All-Ireland series, downing Limerick, Kilkenny, and Clare to achieve a stunning change of direction in the county's underage fortunes.
The Waterford supporters in the crowd of 15,411 will have spent some of Saturday's journey home plotting future silverware around goalkeeper James Comerford, corner-back Darragh Keane, midfielder Gearóid O'Shea, half-forward Shane Power, and full-forward Cormac Spain (the latter three accounted for 0-16 of their 1-18 total).
We must first, though, celebrate the eight-game campaign these young talents and their teammates survived and thrived in.
'Long nights in January and February, and you are just wondering at times is this ever going to come through. It is days like today that makes all the work worthwhile. I couldn't be happier,' said Waterford manager James O'Connor.
'The more wins we got, the more belief grew within the group. Beating Kilkenny in the semi-final was the turning point. The belief shot through the roof after that. And you see then what happened today.
'In a lot of our games, we have started very poorly. And we said today we are coming out of the traps at 100 miles an hour. We didn't want to be trailing five or six points after 10 minutes. It started from the very start today. We got 1-2 on the bounce. It set them up for a strong hour.'
Pierce Quann, put through by Dylan Murphy, buried the goal inside 68 seconds. Cormac Spain and Shane Power, the latter following a Jack Power intercept, pointed to push them five clear inside four minutes.
The May 2 Munster round-robin clash between the pair was level on nine occasions before a late white surge. The closest the gap was here was three.
'This campaign has been unbelievable,' continued O'Connor. 'No words can describe what it will do for the county. And what it will do for those players, which is the most important thing, is out of this world. There is going to be belief there now in a bunch of players and a belief in our county in what we can do and what we can produce.
'It gives massive hope. When you have a winning team, it shows we are doing things right within the county. Going forward, we must keep the standards and structures we have in place 'This is the base of the senior team over the next five to eight years.'
Scorers for Waterford: C Spain (0-11, 0-7 frees); S Power (0-3); P Quann (1-0); G O'Shea (0-2); T Kennedy, E McHugh (0-1 each).
Scorers for Clare: J Barry (0-3, 0-3 frees); P Rodgers (0-1 free, 0-1 sc), L Murphy (0-2 each); B Talty, I O'Brien, D Murrihy (0-1 each).
WATERFORD: J Comerford (Ballygunner); C Lynch (Geraldines), D Murphy (St Mary's East), D Keane (De La Salle); B Penkert (Mount Sion), H Quann (Lismore), T Kennedy (Mount Sion); E Burke (Roanmore), G O'Shea (St. Mollerans); P Quann (Dungarvan), J Power (Ballygunner), S Power (De La Salle); D Murphy (Roanmore), C Spain (Ballygunner), J Shanahan (Erins Own).
CLARE: L Talty (St Joseph's Doora-Barefield); Z Phelan (Sixmilebridge), N Doyle (Éire Óg Ennis), J O'Halloran (Sixmilebridge); E Crimmins (Newmarket-on-Fergus), D Kennedy (Ballyea), C Daly (St Joseph's Doora-Barefield); G Ball (St Joseph's Doora-Barefield), E Cleary (Ballyea); B Talty (St Joseph's Doora-Barefield), R Ralph (Clarecastle), J O'Donnell (Broadford); I O'Brien (Cratloe), P Rodgers (Scariff), L Murphy (O'Callaghan's Mills).
Subs: J Barry (Inagh Kilnamona) for Ralph (29 mins); G Marshall (Parteen Meelick) for Talty (45); D Murrihy (Inagh Kilnamona) for Cleary (52); J Gibbons (Whitegate) for O'Donnell (61); D Mahon (Clooney Quin) for Murphy (64).
Referee: C McDonald (Antrim).