54 The Championship Irish Daily Mail, Friday, July 10, 2015 by SHANE After a ropey start, Maurice McGRATH Shanahan is free and easy ATERFORD for- wards, like the appendix, the Irish language and Jim Corr, are Wbeside the point. It is their lot to be incidental to bigger stories, but just as the virtues of some body parts, the native tongue and plain band members should not be quickly overlooked, so the effectiveness of Waterford the Waterford forward line must not be underestimated. For most of the spring, though, their hurling story has been about prevention and structure. Derek McGrath was bold enough to place a high importance on security when producing a system for his young team. The team did record big scores on the way to finishing top of put their Division 1B, and their proficiency in attack continued in the knock- out stages as they won the compe- tition outright, scoring 0-20 in the quarter-final against Galway, 1-19 in beating Tipperary in the last four, and snaffling 1-24 against Cork in the final. WATCHING BRIEF... best foot TIPPERARY v WATERFORD Throw-in: 4pm, Sunday, Semple Stadium. TV: LIVE on RTÉ2 from 1.15pm. Referee: James Owens (Wexford). They treated themselves to another 3-19 when shocking Cork in the provincial semi-final last forward month, but still the analysis of between us as well. To see Dan get Waterford centres on their the goal in the Munster final, that structured game. was a day I’ll never forget.’ The most effective forward they The career of Shanahan the FRIDAY PROFILE younger has flickered rather than had snapped his shin bone playing for his club before the Munster Age: 25 flamed since then. Difficult years semi-final, and being deprived of followed for Waterford, and as the Pauric Mahony meant they were COUnty: Waterford freewheeling generation of the last expected to become even more decade retired, intimidating gaps MAURicE SUMMer statUS: He looks ready were left. obdurate in the Championship. By dint of a second comprehen- to lead the Waterford forward There were occasional glimpses sive shelling of Cork in little over a line the way his illustrious older of the talent of Maurice, as when month, though, Waterford are now brother did a decade ago. he scored 1-3 against a bamboo- being appreciated for what they SHANAHAN zled Jackie Tyrrell in a League create as much as what they stop. match three years ago. However, And that means more focus on there were questions raised about Maurice Shanahan, the 25-year-old belted in against Cork a favourite as his brother, if slighter seventh season in the county sen- his work-rate and his dedication to Lismore forward who finished last part of his repertoire. Maurice than Dan. ior squad. He came on as a substi- tackling. month’s win as man of the match, Shanahan caught a ball over the It will be impossible for the tute in the Munster final loss to He was just one of the players after scoring 1-9. head of Damien Cahalane and ran younger sibling to avoid having his Tipperary in 2009 when he was still transformed by the arrival of He took on the free-taking hard at the opposing goal before efforts measured against those of a teenager, and the following year McGrath as manager two years responsibilities in the absence of cutting left to make an angle and the brother who went before him. the pair shared the pitch in Water- ago. Structure and work-rate were Mahony; because of the accuracy lancing a shot high past That his career is following a ford’s last provincial title win. introduced and the freshness of of the latter, it was feared Water- Anthony Nash. similar arc doesn’t dissuade com- It was also the occasion of Dan the approach invigorated the team. ford would suffer especial hardship The strike dragged Waterford parisons, either. Shanahan’s last great inter-county The addition of Dan Shanahan as from placed balls. level on the scoreboard, but its Dan Shanahan was seven seasons act, sweeping in the decisive goal a selector was a clever move by After a ropey opening, Shanahan effect was more powerful than into his inter-county career before in extra-time of the replayed final McGrath, linking this generation settled into the responsibility and that, triggering a scoring burst he scored a Championship goal. against Cork. Like his brother, he with the storied one that went scored seven frees as well as a 65. that left Cork floundering. He was seen as big and promising had come on as a replacement in before them. It was the goal, though, that left McGrath’s team are unbeaten in but people waited and waited for the match. ‘The big reservation was that the lasting effect; it sent Waterford 2015, playing nine matches and the detonation. He exploded into ‘I remember going to the final Maurice was there,’ said Dan fans into a tizzy, and for neutrals winning eight of them. For that hurling prominence a decade ago, and we were at the back of the bus during the League. it was evocative of another record to be extended on Sunday, but his best days were in 2007. together,’ Maurice Shanahan As Waterford have matured into a Shanahan. Shanahan the younger will have to He finished up as Hurler of the recalled. ‘That was a bit different, team scything through every chal- Dan, older brother of Maurice by star again. Year after smashing in eight goals alright. To play with your own lenge posed by 2015 so far, reserva- 13 years, became one of the stars of He was used as part of a two-man through the summer. brother for Waterford was tions are falling before them. the game in the mid-2000s with full-forward line against Cork, and His brother has managed nothing something special. goals like the one his little brother at 6ft 5ins he is as obvious a target on that scale, but this is his ‘There is a fair few years’ gap @shanemcgrath1 IT’S JUST ANOTHER MATCH — CONNORS NOEL ConnorS has urged his By MICHEAL CLIFFORD many Waterford have won backroom staff, just be experienced Waterford rookie team-mates to close in comparison to Tipp and yourself and keep the defender. their ears to the annual in line for their first final Cork, that have great outside out,’ he added. ‘When you are 19 years of hype around the Munster start in Sunday’s showdown tradition,’ said Connors. In his first four seasons as an age, you are very young and SHC final and treat it as the against Tipp in Thurles. ‘It was something that inter-county hurler, naive and probably don’t game that it is. Lauded as the most special triggered in the back of my Connors played in realise the situation that Even though it is only three day in the game’s calendar mind, saying that this was Munster’s showcase you’re in. years since Waterford last after the All-Ireland final, going to be an event that game every season. ‘Another aspect to that was contested a Munster final — Connors, still just 25, will be was definitely going to be However, he has just one I was going in with lads that losing by seven points to appearing in his sixth final something different. medal to show for it, after had been there so many Tipperary in Páirc Uí (including the 2010 replay Ultimately it wasn’t, losing to Tipperary in 2009, times before and I was Chaoimh — as many as eight against Cork). But he insists it was a match. ’11 and ’12. fortunate enough to play of Derek McGrath’s team are that, if he had a chance to ‘At 19, it’s hard to detach He returns to the final this in four Munster finals in likely to start in their first go back in time to his first in yourself away from such Sunday with a new-found a row,’ he added. provincial decider. 2009, he would take a outside views and people appreciation for what it ‘It was something that you Keeping the Barry Coughlan, Shane Fives, different approach. having discussions with you takes to reach a final, thought was going to outside out: Austin Gleeson, Tadhg de ‘I would definitely be myself. about what it really means. something he admits he was happen on an annual basis. Waterford’s Burca, Colin Dunford, Jamie From the outside of the ‘I would firmly believe that, unaware of previously. Looking back on it, it was Barron, Jake Dillon and camp, people go on about for people that are playing ‘I didn’t cherish it as much as something that was over in Noel Connors Stephen Bennett could all be Munster titles and how it, or the 26 or on the I should have,’ admitted the the blink of an eye.’ Irish Daily Mail, Friday, July 10, 2015 The Championship 55 Henry: Why Main man: Maurice Shanahan Holden is no (main) was sensational against Cork (inset) as the leader of the attack sportsfIle ordinary Joe HERE will only ever be By PAUL KEANE one JJ Delaney, but as far as Henry Shefflin ster final win. There were high balls is concerned Joey going in and it’s something that peo- Holden is doing a ple wouldn’t see but his holding off of Tpretty good job of imperson- Joe Canning or Jonathan Glynn, just ating the all-conquering holding them away to leave Eoin Murphy to get the ball, those simple full-back.