WHEN Tony Hall arrives back in Waterford this morning there will be a little extra spring in the big man's step as he gets off the plane. The 28 year old from Middlesbrough has seen footballing action in some places he probably never imagined he end up over the last few years but, right now, the south east of Ireland has taken a firm grip on his heart.
With the city experiencing a welcome bout of cup fever, Hall has, a decade after he signed as a trainee with his home town's Premiership outfit, at last become a star and he has already started to realise that this is a feeling that he could very easily get used to.
"It's great down there at the moment," he says, "everybody is just football mad. Everywhere you go in the place there are people stopping you in the street, wishing you the best and letting you know how much it means to them for the team to do well."
Hall has done more than his share to ensure that they made it this far in the competition with his skills, as well as those of defensive partner Tommy Lynch, at the heart of United's progression through the first three rounds not to mention the club's campaign to earn a regular spot amongst the National League's elite.
"We seem to have struck up a good relationship and we've been getting more solid as the season has gone on, even if it does seem a bit odd at times. With me being the captain and Tommy being the manager things can get confused with me giving him a bollicking for one thing and him giving me, one for another but I think we've managed to work very well together overall."
The Englishman is under no illusions about the scale of the task facing the pair tonight but, while the prospect of taking on the country's two top scorers is one that he is naturally cautious about, he is also relishing what is clearly the biggest challenge of his Waterford career.
"The figures don't lie about things like this, I mean they are the best strikers in the game here but to be honest I've been looking forward to it. I wouldn't mind marking one of them, that's the way I prefer to play, but whatever way Tommy decides to play it, it'll be a challenge, a good chance to see how well we can do against a very strong side."
Whether Hall is still there over the next couple of seasons is not yet certain for the player, who has had spells at Tranmere, East Fife, Berwick and Ballymena and is currently starting talks with his boss about next season.
He has no doubts about his desire to stay a while, though, admitting that "I have a house here now and I spend a couple of weeks out of every month here. I've really grown to love it and the club and local, people have been fantastic to me.
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