Regeneration game suits Waterford

Tom Humphries on how Justin McCarthy and his management team used the qualifer system for respite and rehabiliation as they marshalled their forces for a proper tilt at elusive All-Ireland glory

As Mr Jagger advised long ago, you can't always get what you want but if you try sometimes you find, you get what you need.

Back on the first Sunday of June, Justin McCarthy scarcely wanted the championship to start. Riddled with injuries and suspensions, Waterford went out with a side who wrote themselves into the small type as Tipp larged it. Eoin Kelly of Mullinahone (the only Eoin Kelly on the field) scored 2-9! Babs was back!

Waterford, redundant now to the ranks of the pundits, slipped off into the shadowlands of the qualifying system. By the time they had rehabilitated themselves and settled up with Tipperary in Croke Park last month they had used 25 players in championship hurling.

For a team who seemed crippled by inflexibility this was like flower child experimentation.

Recall 2004 and the disappointment of that All-Ireland semi-final first half when Kilkenny ran in three goals before the break to take the edge off the game. Waterford made just two substitutions, neither of them convincing. Jack Kennedy for Shane O'Sullivan and, late on, Paul O'Brien getting a cameo for Eoin McGrath.

Generally that has been the way. If you are a Waterford substitute you could bring a book and game of sudoku to the game with you. Barring some calamity befalling one of the first 15, you won't be needed for at least an hour, if at all.

It has been a mark of McCarthy's generally enlightened stewardship that he has been reluctant to try out new players and reluctant to even substitute underperforming stars. That first outing against Tipperary looks odd now in many respects. Waterford scarcely made a committed tackle. John Mullane was inserted into the action though clearly not match-fit on the basis perhaps that just being John Mullane would be enough.

Séamus Prendergast started although he looked unfit also. And poor young Denis Coffey was handed Eoin Kelly for the afternoon and left to sink slowly.

On the one hand, it looked as if McCarthy was demonstrating the validity of all his doubts about the business of transfusing new blood into a side.

On the other, it looked as if this was a team itching for the respite which the qualifiers would give. Westmeath, Laois and then Galway? Ideal testing ground.

Coffey was given the chance to recover his confidence the next day against Westmeath and with the game wrapped up by half-time McCarthy gave playing time to five substitutes.

Four came off the bench against Laois and only against Galway, where it was neck and neck till the end, did the management abandon its interest in sampling. Paul Flynn got the last 20 minutes with an eye to making him viable later in the summer. Coffey and Jack Kennedy got a minute each.

This year, though, Waterford have found themselves with options. Beaten for the last couple of years by Cork in the Munster under-21 championship, there have nevertheless been signs of light from the underage tunnel. This year's side beat Limerick before performing creditably against Cork. The senior panel has already harvested Shane O'Sullivan (younger brother of old servant Billy) who is one for the long road. Blooded in 2004, he has been involved in every championship outing this year.

There is more, though. Kevin Moran helped Waterford IT to another Fitzgibbon Cup this year and, at 19, is the sort of tough, physical defender that managers love. He got the full journey against Laois in the qualifiers.

It's a little early yet but around the senior panel they reckon Mark Gorman from Abbeyside has the touch and the pace to be the county's best forward product since Eoin Kelly arrived.

And Wayne Hutchison, one of a wave of good young Ballygunner players, will emerge in time as a contender in the backs.

From last year's under-21s, Gearóid O'Connor got a start against Tipperary at the start of the summer while the progress of Ballyduff's Stephen Molumphy has been more impressive.

Another tough, physical player with the versatility to play in just about any line, Molumphy has been pushing hard in training all summer and did himself no harm with his showing when coming on for Séamus Prendergast against Tipp.

Molumphy was the under-21 full forward last year but has appeared this year in cameos as a midfielder and a corner back.

Sometime back in the depths of winter McCarthy realised that if Waterford were going to make their biennial trip to the All-Ireland semi-final a little different they were going to need to look a little different.

Waterford look fresher and more accomplished now than they did a year ago when we wrote them off as wrecking-yard fodder. Jack Kennedy brings some ball-winning bite to his business; behind him is a queue of young men itching to make the breakthrough.

It would have been nice for Waterford to have beaten Tipp back at the start of the summer. They got what they needed though. A more adventurous management, a deeper panel. They return to Croke Park tomorrow for another semi-final.

The difference is that Waterford, for the first time, have more options than the team they are playing against.