When he’s good, there are few better.
Every so often Austin Gleeson takes it upon himself to remind us of how good he is. Moments of magic seem to come naturally to the Mount Sion magician who, having exploded onto the scene as a 17-year-old in 2014, when he stunned Cork with a wonder-goal in Thurles, has made a habit of it ever since.
Take that goal in the 2017 All-Ireland semi-final, when he wandered through the Cork defence for one of the finest goals Croke Park has ever seen. Remember the point in 2018, when, having slid onto the ground, he picked up a breaking ball in the same motion before swinging it over the bar like it was the easiest thing ever.
He’s done it on numerous occasions for Waterford, he’s done it for his club too and even though it’s only January, he was at it again in the Munster hurling league on Sunday. An awkward ball looked to be heading out over the sideline only for a moment of Austin Gleeson magic, swinging his hurl into the sky to keep it in.
Colin Dunford thought better than to ignore the man in form and Dunford’s short stick-pass was all it took to set Aussie away.
Stop that Austin Gleeson!
Pure magic from the @MountSionGAA man against Clare at the weekendpic.twitter.com/9DE5q9q5iS
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) January 18, 2022
When he’s good, he’s good.
Clare went onto defeat the Déise by five points with youngsters Shane Meehan and Mark Rodgers scoring the vital goals but Liam Cahill and Waterford won’t be too worried. Especially when they see Gleeson in such form, having ended his day with a fine 1-4 from play. Another positive for Waterford will have been Iarlaith Daly’s performance at full back.
The Lismore club-man had an injury nightmare last year but he was back in the swing of it here as a commanding presence at full back.
Having spoken to him last week, the 20-year-old said he was delighted that Cahill decided to stay on as manager, despite interest from his native Tipperary.
“I suppose because they decided to stay on it was kind of a vote of confidence in us,” Daly said of Cahill and his right-hand-man Mikey Bevans.
“We weren’t really paying much attention to the whole Tipp scenario. We were kind of more focused on ourselves.
“I think it’s up to us now to pay that back, if you like, and try to reward their loyalty towards us and we’re completely focused on doing just that.
“It was no secret that the players really wanted Liam and Mikey (Bevans) to stay on. They’re an incredibly honest bunch, very straight with us and very easy to approach as well. They kind of brought something different to the set-up. There’s a lot of buy-in there and we’re just really enjoying it and enjoying them while they’re here.”
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