In 2018, Waterford joined a list of counties that over the years have struggled to meet the expectations created by reaching an All-Ireland final the year before.
Antrim in 1990, Galway in 2002, 2006 and 2013, Clare in 2003, Limerick in 2008, to name a few. Teams that never looked like putting themselves in a position to go one better.
After losing the 2017 All-Ireland final to Galway by three points, Waterford went a further eight Championship games without a victory, suffering some humiliating losses, before beating Cork in last year’s Munster semi-final.
Dan Shanahan spent his final year on the management team in 2018 and admits there was a hangover from the year before that dragged on. And on.
“After a relatively good year when you do get to a final, there was a disappointment that we didn’t win the final being honest with you,” he says. “We were very disappointed but we put expectation on ourselves. We did everything the same in ‘18. We trained hard, we did everything and it just didn’t happen for us.”
Shanahan believes that had they beaten Tipperary that year, instead of only drawing as a result of a dreadful umpiring decision, the impetus from that result would have stood to them in the Munster round robin and carried them to the knockout stage.
“We’d have been in a quarter-final so it wouldn’t have turned out a bad year but, look, that’s the way things go, I suppose. It does bring pressure on lads. All of a sudden you’re in the All-Ireland final and next minute you’re struggling to win games.
“Other teams kind of respect you too, they say, ‘Waterford have a good team now, if we beat Waterford we’re on a high because they’re one of the top teams in the country’.”
After revitalising Waterford last year, with champions Limerick the only team to beat them, Liam Cahill now has to deal with rising expectations as they open their campaign against Clare tomorrow.
“The element of surprise is gone from Waterford,” says Shanahan. “Waterford, last year, going into the Championship would have been ranked, with respect, eighth or ninth whereas this year they’re probably in the top five so people are expecting a bit more of Waterford than they would have, especially after getting to the All-Ireland.
“I would see similarities with that but the expectation and surprise is gone with Liam Cahill coming in in his first year of management, he wouldn’t have been under much pressure.
“Expectations wouldn’t have been as high as it is this year for his management team. It does happen sometimes when you do get to the All-Ireland final and you do have a good year that the second year can be a bit more challenging.”
And yet, it can work both ways. After reaching the All-Ireland final in 2008 and suffering a heavy beating from Kilkenny, Waterford made a decent fist of it the following year as they returned to the All-Ireland semi-final and ran Brian Cody’s side to five points.
“To Davy’s [Fitzgerald] credit, he kept it going and we won Munster in ‘10 so it wasn’t too bad,” recalls Shanahan, a Waterford player at the time.
Shanahan is optimistic about Waterford after seeing them in the flesh against Tipperary recently, but laments the fact that, largely due to injury, the spine of their team has been ripped out.
“I couldn’t get over the energy Waterford had against Tipp in Walsh Park. It was unbelievable. From the minute the ball was thrown in to the 75th minute of the game it was non-stop running at Tipp and I was very impressed.
“The big question I have for the weekend is, Jamie Barron is probably out and Conor Prunty so when you think about what it, you’re missing Stephen O’Keeffe, Conor Prunty, Tadhg de Burca, Jamie Barron, Pauric Mahony and Paddy Curran, who’s out injured as well.
“That’s everything up the middle. Your 1, 3, 6, 9, 11 and 14.
“It’s going to be hard to fill them spaces but that’s why you have panels, fellas get injured and that’s why you have panels but it’s going to be a tougher game for Waterford against Clare for the fact they’re missing so many key players in key positions.”
It was in tomorrow’s very setting - a Munster preliminary round tie against Clare in Thurles - that Shanahan’s inter-county career really took off in 2004 at the age of 27.
He couldn’t make the starting team when they won the Munster title two years earlier but a 3-1 haul against Clare that day in a resounding 3-21 to 1-8 victory set him on the path to being named Hurler of the Year in 2007.
“It was the best team performance that we had as a team. On that day we all played well as a team from one to number 18 or 19 or 20 that came on, everyone did everything right that day. It was an outstanding performance.
“We were coming off being hammered the week before by Galway in a League final. People were writing us off, the media were writing us off, some of our own supporters were writing us off but Justin [McCarthy] had the belief and we believed in ourselves.
“I got 1-3 in a defeat in the League final and it gave me the confidence going in that day against Clare.”
Having been somewhat peripheral up to then, he emerged from that match as one of the game’s most deadly attackers.
“I always believed in my own ability, Justin always believed in my own ability but the one thing that I have to say is that Gerry Fitzpatrick came in and really, really brought Waterford fitness levels up, my fitness levels up to a different level of fitness compared to what I was used to the two previous years so he really changed my inter-county career.
“I hadn’t scored a goal in Championship until that year and I happened to get 21 of them after that. It really set me off if I’m being honest with you.”
