ALL-IRELAND SHC KILKENNY v WATERFORD: Gavin Cummiskeyon how the Waterford coach may be licking his wounds now, but is determined to nonetheless learn from the mauling by the Cats
WE CREPT into the Burlington hotel Monday morning. First thing we noticed was the absence of bloodstains on the carpet. This was a good start. No evidence of a struggle.
Spying a cabal of fellow journalists hiding behind a giant bonsai-tree in the corner, we immediately picked up the scent of a good story. After all, isn't camping out in hotel lobbies the high water mark of sports reporting?
Lacking the courage to approach a bloodshot Waterford hurler ourselves, the county PRO was asked to do it for us. John Mullane, a gentleman if ever there was one, agreed to speak, even suggesting a move into the bar area and away from prying eyes.
Mullane, one of the few to perform in Sunday's butchering by Kilkenny, was forthcoming and spoke well, but we needed to see about Davy Fitzgerald.
"I never got hit by a car or anything, like, but it certainly feels as close as you could get to it," began the Waterford manager.
We leaned in closer.
"I asked myself a lot of questions. Preparation wise, would I have changed anything? I probably wouldn't. If I'm realistic and honest, even us playing the best hurling we could play we wouldn't of won the game.
"I think teams in the country are going to have a good look at themselves and say we've got to raise the bar another level.
"Kilkenny brought a new dimension. Their physicality and their tackling . . . their shape, the way they are playing and taking the ball up in numbers. It is a different game now. I learnt a lot yesterday."
In Clare speak he described it as "fair awesome", but then the glint returned to his eye.
"We have got two choices now in the GAA world. Either sit down and let them do what they are doing to us, or try and come up and match it some way or another.
"I'd like to be a part of it. Trying to figure it out in the next year or two. Trying to deal with that, but hats off to them yesterday."
He wouldn't tell us whether that will be with Waterford and we know that some day he would like to guide the Banner back into the light. But for those outside Kilkenny, Davy Fitz yesterday was raising a beacon of hope.
"There will come a time when they will be beaten, so there will. It doesn't look like anyone will do it at the moment, but everyone's time will come. That's for sure and certain. It wasn't a nice feeling waking up this morning, I can tell you."
Fitzgerald reflected upon a decent campaign that included the scalps of Offaly, Wexford and an unbeaten Tipperary.
On the specifics of the final and the lack of change before the Kilkenny hammer came down, he said, "I remember 15 minutes, six-three, I said (to myself) okay, I made one switch at that particular time. I felt one area was in trouble. Then I looked at 23 minutes gone and we were 2-12 to 0-6. That's only seven or eight minutes!
"And then I remember looking out and thinking, 'Jesus, what am I going to do here'? I got word up to my guys in the box, 'what's the crack on the stats'? I think there were 13 positions we were beaten on at the one time. Where do you move?"
He talked about how Clare recovered from the 1993 Munster final humiliation, "Absolutely pulverised. We were afraid to walk down the street after it. We got beaten again in '94. F***ing won an All-Ireland in '95. Psychologically, it is up to the fellas themselves.
"It is up to the manager to make sure he gets it out of them right. I wouldn't accept that. Them boys won't accept that. They have won Munster titles and leagues. You can't feel sorry of yourself and throw in the towel."
Plaudits for Kilkenny and the purity of their hurling continued.
"That was up another two levels from what they played against Cork. I'll never forget what I saw so close to me yesterday. The f***ing aggressiveness in the tackle was unreal, absolutely incredible.
"Our guys didn't get a second to breathe yesterday. These guys swarmed them in twos and threes. In the tackle you will feel it but you will be dispossessed at the same time. Something to learn."
The conversation ended on a sour point as he felt the long running personal feud with Tony Considine was reopened on RTÉ radio.
"I think I took a lot of stick from one particular person yesterday who was waiting a long time to have a go at me. I think that really shows the person up for what he is and what he is about. Vendettas . . . there is no place for them in hurling."
"It was even worse waking up this morning, you know?" said Mullane earlier. "They went up a gear that I've never seen before. It was just a formidable performance. Matched with us not turning up it was a bit of a freak show in the end."
Then he tells us something unique.
"I wouldn't swap the last few months, over the last seven or eight years I've won Munster titles and a national league, awards here and there but the last three months have topped it for me. To get to an All-Ireland final. I mean, I'll never forget running out on that field 'til the day I die."
