It could be something to do with the lack of crowds, it could be something to do with the management team.
But Ken McGrath is liking what he sees in this Waterford team and he freely admits that they have something that his team never had. That’s an ability to take the highs and the lows and to remain calm throughout.
“I think Cahill deserves unreal credit,” McGrath said on Monday’s GAA Hour Show.
“There’s no nonsense with this team, they’re just going out there and playing the game. Even after the match, I remember we won an All-Ireland semi-final, the only semi-final I ever won in 2008 – I was rolling around the ground for five minutes after it!
“Whereas these lads did the fist-bump, nice and calm and were off the pitch. But that was it, it was like ‘job done.’ Cahill was nice and calm too. These lads seem a bit different. You would forget that these lads have won minor and under-21 All-Irelands too – which a lot of us never had…”
McGrath’s club man Austin Gleeson came in for particular praise.
“Austin stood up as well, he was great in the second half,” said the Mount Sion man.
“That man is my club look, and I’ve seen him the whole way growing up. He’s able to do that like, and that’s why we might get frustrated at times because we know how good he can be. I’ve pitied him, the criticism he’s been getting the last couple of years because there’s no player spoken about as much as Austin, and that’s hard. But this year, he’s got more of a job to do…”
Meanwhile, both McGrath and Eoin Larkin were in agreement that Gearoid Hegarty’s ‘flick’ at Joe Canning didn’t warrant a red card. Larkin saw Hegarty’s side of it, claiming that a late dummy from the Portumna man threw him off.
“I thought it was soft enough to be honest,” said Larkin.
“Lads were calling for a red card for that and if we’re giving a red card for that, we’re at nothing.
“If you look back on it, Joe went to go to his left to hit it, and then he dummied and came back to hit it off his right. Gearoid Hegarty thought he was going off the left, was putting the hurl up to block him and next thing Joe turned back to his right. Momentum nearly took him then. He tried to turn his hurl to make a hook, and in fairness made a bad job of it, but if we’re giving red cards for that we’re at nothing. It was nearly out of a fright that the hurl swung.
“If you go back to Kilkenny Waterford Saturday night. Paddy Deegan got a slip on the shin from a hurl. Are we going to look at a red card for that as well? Technically if you look at the rule-book, that’s a strike of a hurl.”
McGrath felt it was a clumsy attempt at a hook more so than a mean striking action.
“For some reason, people love going on about this kind of stuff on social media. But that’s not a sending off, I’m sorry now but it’s not. He was awkward there and he thought Joe was coming off the left and his whole body shape was wrong. I saw Henry was saying he didn’t read the rule-book, no way would I know the rule-book, I know the basic rules. That’s not a strike, it was a flick. If it catches you wrong it could be sore. It would be our benefit in Waterford for Hegarty to get a red card, but as a hurling person, no way is that a red.
You can listen to The GAA Hour Hurling Show with Colm Parkinson, Ken McGrath and Eoin Larkin here.
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