Harnedy looking to avenge league final defeat to Waterford

Even by the unforgiving expectations of Cork hurling, Séamus Harnedy seems burdened with almost impossibly unfair demands.

He’ll never be as good as his mother, some say; he’ll never completely please his father, say others; and everyone says he’ll never be able to forget where he’s come from.

Yet Harnedy takes all this on with a smile, happily accepting he wouldn’t have it any other way: and besides, days away from Cork versus Waterford: The Sequel, nothing is about to distract Harnedy from the task at hand.

Sunday’s Munster semi-final will be five weeks to the day since Waterford beat Cork in the league final, and with his mother being from Cork, his father from Waterford, and the fact he represents the tiny St Ita’s club close to the Cork-Waterford border, it would be hard to find any player more tangled up in that fixture than Harnedy.

“You have to distance yourself, try and take yourself back out of the situation as much as possible,” says Harnedy. “Before a game like this, I try to limit the talk about the game, as much as I can, and just go away and do my own thing.

The support

“In the locality, you would have a lot of people from Waterford and Cork in the same area. The local town Youghal, would nearly be half and half, and there would be a lot of stick and banter flowing around. In fairness, the support I get, at home, is overwhelming.”

Harnedy is currently based in Cork city (with AIB), although he’ll always be remembered for putting St Ita’s on the Cork hurling map. In 2013, his debut season, he became the first St Ita’s player (a junior club) to represent Cork at senior championship level, and when he finished up 2013 with an All Star at wing forward, his and the club’s fame was secured.

Although Harnedy admits he’s still following in the footsteps of his famous mother, Cathy (nee Landers), who won four All-Ireland camogie medals with Cork, including 1983, when she captained the team.

His father, Seán, meanwhile, is from Knockanore, on the Waterford side of the border, and also made several appearances for the Waterford hurlers back in his day.

“The last day was a strange day alright,” says Harnedy, recalling the aftermath of Waterford’s win over Cork in the league final. “There have been a few mixed emotions for him, but in fairness, over the last few years with myself being on the panel, he’s converted a bit every year.

“He’d be shouting for Cork now, he’s nearly a fully converted Corkman. And a few of my cousins are still Waterford men, but in saying that they would give me my full support. There is that bit of banter around the family.”

What is certain, says Harnedy, is that his mother is “the boss” – and wouldn’t dream of accommodating much Waterford sentiment this week. “If there was ever going to be someone to convert a man to Cork, it was going to be her,” he says. “When they moved to Killeagh, early in their relationship he wasn’t long transferring his loyalties over to Cork. Although he’d always have a bit of grá in his heart for Waterford.”

So to Sunday’s showdown in Thurles, which Harnedy says has come around just about quick enough to ensure Cork still have that sinking feeling of defeat from the last day to drive them towards some immediate redemption.

“What was tough about it was the way we felt we failed to perform, that we didn’t turn up on the day. It was very frustrating, to be in that situation, in a final. Normally, you’d have to wait another 12 months to get a crack at a team.

“But we are so lucky that we have another opportunity to play Waterford so soon. And all we can do is pull out a performance and hopefully the rest will take care of itself. If you have a lot of people performing on the day, normally the result will take care of itself.”

More efficiently

“We also have to be a lot cuter, with the style of play that Waterford play at the moment. They are very, very good defensively. They have a lot of people behind the ball. People say they set up defensively, yet they showed throughout the league that they can get high scoring tallies. That’s by no means defensive in my book. Their hurling system is effective . . .

“We also feel we are going to have to use the ball more efficiently. Against Waterford, you have to be very careful, with their positioning and set-up, of where you are putting the ball into. With Waterford, you just have to use it very wisely, or they will punish you.”