| The 19th (02/09/08) |
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| Tuesday, 02 September 2008 15:31 | |
 THERE’S always been more than a sneaking regard for Waterford hurling in the home house up in big city – you see Waterford and their bands of hurling brothers and the family go back to before there was a family in the first place. Nothing sinister there, just an old story with which to wean a Gaelic Athletic Association family on. We were just that and the Waterford hurlers can take a bow for that one, even if the Kerry footballers were always poster boys in my sisters’ bedrooms. But this week belongs to the Waterford hurlers and at home over the weekend that oft told tale about the Deise and my mixed up Dubified Kerry family has been trotted out with all the enthusiasm of old. September 1, 1959 was just another ordinary Saturday – an eve of All-Ireland Saturday with the dogs in Shelbourne Park to go to as a preamble to the big day when Waterford and Kilkenny crossed sticks on Jones’ Road. More about that anon. IT was the last All-Ireland of the 1950s and an eagerly awaited one at that. The 1957 final went Kilkenny’s way by one point. Nothing strange in Kilkenny’s win, but that final is only really remembered because of the cameo appearance made by English actor John Gregson on All-Ireland day. Gregson was Kilkenny’s 16th man that day – parading around Croke Park behind the Artane Boys Band in his black and amber jersey. Gregson was James Ignatius Rooney that day – a street cleaner who dusted himself down, beat off a legion of female admirers with his camán and won an All-Ireland. The film called Rooney was no epic to rival anything David Lean could put into film – instead it was a low-enough budget production that also starred Barry Fitzgerald and Noel Purcell and was based on a Catherine Cookson novel. It was a harmless work of fiction, but the important thing from Jame Ignatius Rooney’s point of view was that he went home with his All-Ireland medal, as well as being the object of many a woman’s desires. The latter will certainly apply to the winners’ enclosure this Sunday evening, but is it too much of a work of fiction to suggest that Waterford can win this All-Ireland? Certainly if it happens, the roller-coaster that will have brought them to the mountain top couldn’t have been predicted at the start of the year. And, if it happens, it will be one of the most romantic tales ever to come from the hurling fields – up there to rank with Cúchulainn’s minor days when he as the boy Setanta he killed Conchobar’s hound by driving a sliotar down his throat from distance. Waterford! A team that reached their sell-by date when being hammered by Clare in the Gaelic Grounds; a team that revolted against a manager who had brought them three Munster titles and a National League in six years; a team that opted for a rookie manager in Davy Fitzgerald; a team that stuttered past the challenges of Offaly and Wexford to reach the All-Ireland semi-final. A team that’s now on the cusp of an All-Ireland title – a first title since 1959 when there was a different kind of romance in the air. The auld pair (term of endearment in the big city) got married on that September Saturday before the All-Ireland in ’59 – as pioneers they downed a few lemonades downtown somewhere, went to the dogs in Shelbourne Park to get in on some of the All-Ireland atmosphere and then to the match the following day. It was the natural thing to do – where else would you want to be on the first Sunday in September. What better place to start the honeymoon. Waterford slugged it out with their illustrious neighbours and for once got the better of them after a replay. JOHN Keane was the man who did most to cultivate that generation of Waterford hurlers. The greatest figure, dead or alive, in the history of Mount Sion and Waterford hurling. Team of the Century, greatest centre-back in the history of the game and all that. Fellow Mount Sion man Ken McGrath had a hard act to follow when he moved into the centre-back position in 2004. One thing for sure, McGrath will need to produce a John Keane like performance if Waterford are to win their first All-Ireland in 49 years. He’s already spoken of in the same breath as Keane, but victory on Sunday will finally put him on a par with Keane as an All-Ireland winner, albeit that his story will never touch the heartstrings as much as Keane did at the end of his days. Sitting in Mikey Kerins’ bar in Lifford one Christmas in the early 1990s the late and great Jackie Power recalled Keane’s last few days. Keane was only 58 when he died in 1975, but in the days before his final calling he knew that his time was short. Rather than fade away he embarked on a tour of the country to visit the homes of many of his former opponents. In Kilkenny he met Jim Langton; in Cork he met Ring, while he headed all the way to Tralee to make off Jackie Power; after Tralee he made tracks for Limerick and Mick Mackey’s house but along the way died on the side of the road. The hope for Waterford is that they summon the spirit, power and glory of John Keane in his pomp on Sunday – Keane did it as a player in ’48 and then trainer in ’59. That’s the prize that Davy Fitzgerald is fighting for. It could happen and the auld pair are determined to be there to see if it does happen. They’ve no tickets yet, but there’s no truth in the family rumour that they’re prepared to renew their marriage vows on the eve of the match before going to Shelbourne Park as ‘newly-weds’ to garner two Hogan Stand tickets as a wedding gift from some sympathetic soul. No, going to the final in ’59 on the first day of their honeymoon, continuing on their way up north to the fourth green field for a few weeks before being back in the Free State and Croke Park to see Waterford win the replay was enough commitment to the cause. The family still want Waterford to win though. |