Shooting for the stars

There is a scene in the factually based movie Hoosiers in which a small-town basketball coach, played by Gene Hackman, shows his wide-eyed players around the vast championship arena on the night before the biggest game of their lives. Made them see it was just another hard court.

Waterford's Gerald McCarthy is no ringer for Hackman and chances are that he has paid scant reference to 1950s high school coaching methods, but before his team played Galway he showed Croke Park to his players.

They strolled round a couple of evenings before the match, breathing in the gleaming Cusack Stand and the darkening Hogan Stand. McCarthy sat them on the dressing-room benches and took them on to the quiet field. Made them see it was just like any other.

"It was a big thing for our players, the fact that it was the county's first time up there since 1963. I didn't want that aspect of the occasion becoming too distracting so we just walked around, got comfortable with the surroundings," he says.

Against Galway, his players performed as though they'd been reared on the Hill. "I was pleasantly surprised by the way the game went. It was probably our best performance to date. Familiarising ourselves with the place was probably worth the exercise but we were mentally right for it as well."

McCarthy admits that he was worried after the Munster final replay, concerned that the disappointment and physical strain might have burned his players. He found that the subsequent fall-out placed a needless burden on the squad. "To say the least, it was a distraction. I think we all grew sick and tired of the shenanigans of accusations and counter claims. But it's over and some things are just best left unsaid."

Although the players finished the Thurles match weary and jaded, they arranged to meet again the following evening, a day ahead of their usual training pattern. "Everyone just had a say. I explained to the players what I needed them to learn from that game and I think almost everyone said something.

"From then on, it was all positive. The Munster final was forgotten and we just began preparing. We felt we were three games away from an All-Ireland. It's just a matter of taking every game as it comes."

And here come Kilkenny, dragging their heels, claiming they can all but carry the weight of their own magnificent history. "We have all seen Kilkenny like this before, not performing especially well and then suddenly they step it up and win an All-Ireland. I experienced it myself while playing for Cork. There is a fierce rivalry between Kilkenny and Waterford and it's going to be a tough old match."

Since May, all of Waterford's games seem to have been high-profile and intense, as though they were trying to make up for all the wilderness years in one short season. It's been draining but enjoyable for McCarthy and some times, in the frenzy of it all, he longs to take up a hurley again and play.

"I'd give anything to be out there on Sunday. It can be frustrating on the sideline, because during big games it is virtually impossible to communicate, with the restrictions imposed," he says.

He feels that the managers' input is marginal once the game starts anyway. "The role of the high-profile manager who uses the sideline a lot is over emphasised, I think, and can reflect badly on managers who prefer to remain quiet. Basically, though, managers need better access. The obvious solution would be to employ a designated runner, who could pass messages or water to the players with no interference."

Maybe in the future. But McCarthy is just concerned with now. On the silver screen, Gene Hackman's outsiders moulded history and McCarthy believes his team has the belief and ability to do the same. "We are as good as any team left in this Championship. We have to feel we can win it."

If they do, wonder who'll play him in the movie?