National Hurling League finalWaterford manager Justin McCarthy is showing remarkable pragmatism towards playing a National Hurling League final seven days before the championship meeting with Clare. It was the topic that dominated yesterday's press conference at the Allianz headquarters in Dublin. And though quietly critical of the timing, McCarthy is focused on dealing exclusively with Galway's challenge this Sunday, Ian O'Riordan reports

Normally when two managers meet before a major final you don't expect to hear sympathy - mutual respect perhaps but not words of consolation. Yet McCarthy's predicament received exactly that from opposing manager Conor Hayes.

Part of McCarthy's reasoning is that Sunday's clash at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick is too significant to approach at anything less than full throttle.

Waterford haven't won the league title since 1963 - their only time to win it - and while Galway won it four years ago this is the game that marks their exit into semi-hibernation before the start of their championship.

For now then, Sunday's final has been cut adrift of all championship thoughts.

"Sure we had to," says McCarthy. "We'll start thinking about Clare at 5.30 on Sunday evening. Right now we're thinking only of the league final, and it's a plus to be there. On the downside we know we'll have to try to peak two weekends in a row.

"And we don't know how it will work out because we've never been in this situation before. It's a new scenario for Waterford and certainly for me. We'll just take the thing on board, but of course another week would have been better. Still it's been a good league for us so far and we always wanted to get to the closing stages."

Even when pressed on the obvious risks involved, McCarthy remained impervious: "The way I see it injuries can happen anywhere. When we play 15-a-side down in training we hit hard enough. And there is a risk on Sunday. But sure we've 30 on the panel, and if players who are also trained and prepared need to come in on Sunday week so be it.

"And there's no point in complaining about it at this stage. It's decided now and we'll just get on with it."

Hayes can afford to take the completely opposite approach to the game. Galway don't even know yet who they'll play in the championship and as far as the manager is concerned the more games they play at this time of year the better.

"It's great for us to be involved in a competitive situation at this time of the year. If we had gone out in the last round we'd already have been relying on club games more than anything else.

"And this final will definitely tell us where we at in championship terms, because Waterford are coming into this at championship level. So win or lose we'll get a good idea of where we stand."

His sympathy for McCarthy's difficulty is genuine. No manager would fancy losing a top player through injury the week before such a severe challenge as Clare will offer, and Hayes knows it's not a situation to envy.

"It is a difficult one, and I wouldn't like to have to go out the following Sunday and play championship. The fact is that is a crunch game between two old rivals like Waterford and Clare. Fair play to them too for going all out to get there, and they certainly haven't seemed to hold back so far.

"There is the real risk of injury too. It can always happen at training but the risk has to be higher in a league final. And say if they win on Sunday, the task is to get them back down again during the week before the following Sunday. That's difficult too. But Justin has been around a long time and knows well how to handle it."

The Galway manager has already suggested some further tweaking of the current league format, primarily to deal with congestion of the kind Waterford are now facing.

"It would help if they could change the second phase, go more towards knock-out, and reintroduce a semi-final," he says. "And also try to get the thing finished before May. That mightn't help us but it would give teams in Munster a little more time before the championship."

Both Hayes and McCarthy have reason to believe their teams are in the form to win. Their clash earlier in the campaign - where Galway won 5-13 to 1-14 - was unanimously agreed to have been a freak result, and between them they boast the two highest scorers of the league: Galway's Eugene Cloonan (8-58) and Waterford's Paul Flynn (5-53).

The pressure to win is also evenly spread, but McCarthy is not letting that get to him.

"My own attitude about coaching has always remained the same," he says. "I would always see myself as a coach first and a manager next. And I still get great enjoyment out of it. I've never once gone training in Waterford where I didn't enjoy it. Once I sit into my car for the two-hour drive my sole focus is Waterford and how I can apply what I know to the training.

"And if we win on Sunday and do nothing else for the year I suppose you would still have to call it a success. I mean 41 years is a long time without winning a national league.

"But if we don't win this time we'll just have to start thinking about the Sunday after."