Waterford manager Derek McGrath isn’t fazed by the prospect of facing Cork in the Allianz Hurling League Division 1 final on 3 May - just five weeks before the counties meet in the Munster SHC semi-final.
Tipperary, meanwhile, were counting the cost of a damaging League semi-final defeat against the Déise as their manager Eamon O’Shea revealed that All Star forward John ‘Bubbles’ O’Dwyer suffered a suspected broken finger.
O’Dwyer went off ten minutes after half-time but with Tipperary not due to play until 21 June against Clare or Limerick in the Munster semi-final, the Killenaule hitman has time on his side if a break is confirmed.
McGrath also revealed that he presented his Tipperary counterpart O’Shea with a bouquet of flowers before the game after Premier County star Noel McGrath underwent surgery for testicular cancer on Friday.
McGrath was one of a number of key Tipp stars ruled out of the Nowlan Park clash, with brother John, Kieran Bergin and 2014 Young Hurler of the Year Cathal Barrett also sidelined.
Waterford supremo McGrath said: “Look, I should say also to put it into perspective in terms of matches…we passed on a mass bouquet to Eamon in terms of Noel McGrath and hoping he’ll get better.
“I rang him (McGrath) during the week and was talking to him.
“My own son loves Noel McGrath – he’s his favourite hurler so when you compare how joyous we are here with the battle he has ahead of him, perspective will be poured on everything.”
“The most satisfying thing for us is to be able to go toe to toe with a team like Tipperary" - Derek McGrath
McGrath was naturally pleased, however, by the performance of his Waterford side as they advanced to a first League final since 2007.
He smiled: “Great character. How many clichés can I throw in?
“Great response to the sucker punch of the goals early on. We watched the goals at half-time – we were availing of a new system today in terms of the technology we have and we were able to watch the goals at pitch side.
“The most satisfying thing for us is to be able to go toe to toe with a team like Tipperary.
“Even on the line, when it was a draw, I was saying ‘this is great’ because it’s a great indication of where you are.
“We’re trying to live in that moment where it’s just great to be here and at that stage the result didn’t really bother us.
“I just said, ‘we’re here now’, not that we’ve arrived, it’s too corny to say that, just happy to go toe to toe with a very good team.”
Tipperary manager O’Shea suspects that the recent week-long training camp in Spain may have taken something from his players.
“Even when we are ahead we were lacking energy, lacking composure" - Eamon O'Shea
He reflected: “We were a bit flat.
“Even when we are ahead we were lacking energy, lacking composure.
“Having said that we were beaten by a team that performed well on the day, had good energy, good movement so I’d have no complaints.
“We never got a rhythm and we needed rhythm to play.
“I wasn’t really happy with the way we were moving, we lacking in energy a little bit.”
