KEN McGRATH AND his wife head for Croke Park every September to watch the All-Ireland hurling final, and each year when the full-time whistle sounds, thoughts of what might have been creep into his head.
McGrath was the talisman in a Waterford team that was undoubtedly one of the finest never to taste success on All-Ireland final day. His inter-county career yielded a National League, four Munster Championships and eight All-Ireland semi-final appearances.
They made it to the final hurdle once, but McGrath admits in his excellent autobiography Hand on Heart — which was released last week — that Waterford were “embarrassed” and the players “probably should have gotten counselling” following their 23-point defeat to Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final of 2008.
“I’ll be honest, every All-Ireland final weekend is tough,” McGrath told The42 this week. “We normally come up, myself and Dawn, we go to the All-Ireland or whatever and when the final whistle goes on Sunday you’re saying, ‘Why couldn’t that be us ever? Why couldn’t we ever just get the final piece of the jigsaw?’
“But look, it’s not something I think about every day. We had four Munster titles and a National League, and with where we came from in Waterford we had to accept it. We had enough chances. We had 15 years playing and we didn’t take it so we have only ourselves to blame.”
McGrath has made peace with the fact that so many chances passed them by and he’s grateful to have been a central figure in one of the best teams to play inter-county hurling in recent memory. However, the regrets will always come to the surface when he reflects on a playing career that also brought him three All-Star awards.
“It’s hard,” said McGrath, who won six Waterford senior hurling titles and one Munster crown with Mount Sion, the club he now serves as manager. “When you win a Munster Championship you want to win an All-Ireland semi-final, you want to win the final.
“When things developed over the course of our careers we wanted more and more every time. It was the same with Mount Sion; we wanted to win the County Championship, the Munster Championship, and you’re always thinking that the whole time. Unfortunately in both codes, county and club, we never won the final one.
“There’s always a tinge of regret there. You want more and more. But that’s what makes a sportsman. That’s what makes a player want to give up everything they have outside of it for county hurling and club hurling.”
Waterford lost four All-Ireland semi-finals between 1998 and 2006, with only a score separating them and their opponents at full-time each occasion. But McGrath feels that the 5-11 to 2-15 defeat to Limerick in 2007, when the Deise went in as Munster champions and considerable favourites to make the final, was perhaps the one that got away.
Asked if he could go back in time to any stage in his career and make one adjustment, the 38-year-old says Waterford should have requested that the game be deferred. Having been taken to a replay by Cork in the quarter-finals, the game against Limerick was their third at Croke Park in the space of 15 days. The demands had taken a toll.
“I think maybe ’07 was a big one. We probably should have asked for the Limerick game off. I think it was three games on the trot. There was talk afterwards that if we had asked we would have had the game pushed back for an extra week.
“I think we were on such a high after beating Cork in the replay that we probably kidded ourselves, thinking everything was fresh and everything was grand. Limerick were lined up perfectly for us; they tore into us and beat us. That was a massive, massive regret.
“We were League champions, Munster champions, things were flying, so that’s definitely a regret. I lost [seven] semi-finals so it’s the small things you’d be thinking about, like why didn’t I tackle Joe Deane or why didn’t I put that point over the bar [against Cork in 2006]? You could be in a different place here now. But that’s sport, isn’t it?”
He added: “As the team developed more, I think the ’02-to-’07 team was definitely good enough to win an All-Ireland and it’s a massive regret that we didn’t win it.”
In 2017, Waterford’s wait for an All-Ireland senior title will extend to 58 years, but McGrath believes the current crop are capable of ending the drought. A minor All-Ireland title in 2013 was followed by a national triumph at U21 level this year thanks to a 16-point win over Galway, which was engineered by a promising team playing an attractive brand of hurling.
McGrath: “I think they have massive potential. We saw that in the U21 [final] against Galway. To go in as firm favourites, play the way they did, turn up on the day — not every Waterford team would have done that over the years. It’s the way they played as well.
“I think that’s what suits Waterford. We kind of feed off that. The crowd feed off open hurling, going for goals, going for points, out-scoring teams as such. These young lads, some of them have minor [All-Ireland] medals, U21 All-Irelands, they’re going for the full set already, which we never had starting out.
“We were coming from maybe a lower ebb and trying to push into the big bracket. These lads are coming into a top-class set-up and they have everything at their disposal, so they have a right chance. A right chance.”
Loves Mind games this fella. Hope we batter them, because behind the mind games is a bitter coach who is under massive pressure.
@Gary O’Rourke: is he under massive pressure? Seems English RFU have accepted that 6 nations results can suffer provided World Cup performance is there. He’s already made one WC final (playing ridiculously well). He isn’t going to be sacked even if they finish bottom half again this year. Also he’s made huge money and his record means he’ll get another job easy if England do let him go.
On top of that – what he is saying is correct rather than mind games. We are favourites!
@Augustus hoop: Accept for the fact they have gone considerably downhill since he took over in late 15 from Lancaster who let’s be honest built an unbelievable setup. Let’s see how they get on in the next world cup.
@Ron: they made the World Cup final – completely outplaying New Zealand in the semi – I wouldn’t consider that to be ‘downhill’ from not getting out of the group in 2015!!!? It was a full 4 years after Lancaster had moved on. I think it’s a stretch to be giving Lancaster more credit for it than jones.
I dont particularly like how the man goes on, but his record of repeatedly managing/coaching teams that peak for world cups and perform better – not just results also performance (Australia, Japan, England and even s Africa when he was no2) – is surely no open to debate!!!?
@Augustus hoop: they made the world cup final 3 years ago in fairness and the lack of expansive rugby they have played since compared to Lancaster era and just after is clear to see. Agree that WC didn’t work out for Lancaster but by the time he left Eng were one the best teams imo. You could see how dangerous they were getting. Also going from 2020 to now it’s clearly a downward trajectory and you can see he knows it. I didn’t question his past coaching achievements.
@Gary O’Rourke:
Such a soccer manager! The game should be played on the field, not in the media!
Any compliment from him feels backhanded somehow. Waiting for the other shoe to drop
@G: His compliments have T’s & C’s.
We’ll have to be extra vigilant then Eddie, won’t we!
It will be tough and England will have worked out every weakness in our play. I hope it’s a great game. C’mon Ireland!
They will target us at the breakdown. They way to beat Ireland us to slow down our ball hence the Underhill inclusion. He is a breakdown specialist. It will be interesting to see how Farrell can counter this.
According to Eddie have England been favourites for any game in this 6 nations yet?
This guy…sly as they come…thinks he is anyway!
Can’t stomach that Jones fella he’s some spiteful ballix who just trys his best to wind up the opposition coaches and players. He has a serious chip on his shoulder with the Irish lads especially. Hope we batter them
In fairness Ireland probably are slight favourites. As someone else said England will target us at the breakdown. The best way to stop us playing is to target us there. But they’ll need to do a much better job than they did last year. I fancy an Ireland win by 10.
Soft talk from Eddie once again.
Probably his Last Game in Charge Won’t be Missed
@pat seery: can only hope….
No matter what this fella says it calculated for his own interests. Basically he’s saying they’re good why wouldn’t they be, sure they play together week in week out. Always a bitter narrative with him never take him a face value awful bitter.
He’s playing games again.
For once he seems to have told the truth. Yes, there are always mind games at play with him, but Ireland are and should deservedly be favourites and so what if he says so?! It is also true that his team is a work in progress. That’s obvious. Now all we have to do is prove him right! Wouldn’t that be nice?!
Eddie in wrong sport..should be in boxing with all his pre match mind games and fighting talk….