All Ireland winning minor and under 21 boss Sean Power is back as manager of the Waterford under 14 hurlers this season.
The Mount Sion man jumped at the opportunity. “Jonathan Moore is coordinating the hurling side of the academy teams and he approached me a couple of months back to see if I would be interested in getting involved. I have very fond memories from when I initially got involved in 2007 with regional teams and then the 2008 Sonny Walsh and the 2009 Tony Forristal. I had good times and made some great friends. At my core is Waterford hurling. I’ve said this time and time again, anything Sean Power can do to help Waterford’s development, he will do to help. And I mean that. If my spot in the jigsaw of it all is that under 14 academy level coach, then provided I do my job, it will make our ultimate goal easier to attain. We’re all part of a very big team on this. If my job in this team is to get the players ready, with my fellow coaches at under 14, at the bottom rung of the triangle, I will do that happily and merrily and do it to the very best of my ability. That’s what I intend to do.”
The under 14 management team contains Ger Fitzpatrick, Kieran O’Gorman, Brian Partridge, Vincent Codd, Eddie Barrett, Donie Mac Murchú, Tom Mansfield, Sean Cleary and Michael Cronin. Derek McGrath and Peter Queally will support Power’s set-up as mentors. “It’s a very good idea. It’s a concept that the guys came up with that you have someone, like a consultant, that you can pick up the phone to whenever you need to. It’s great that Derek and Peter are giving up their time for our group and then you have James O’Connor with the under 15s and Fergal Hartley with the under 16s.”
Back in 2009, Waterford lost the Tony Forristal final to Tipperary with Power on the sideline. That under 14 squad contained players that would soon become household names. “That team was littered with some of our senior stars at the moment. Austin Gleeson was playing, Stephen Bennett was playing, DJ Foran was playing, Mikey Kearney was playing. We centred it around all the under 14s for the year. Tom Devine was on that team as well and Adam Farrell. It was a very good group of players and it was lovely to see seven or eight years after that, five or six of them playing senior with Waterford. That’s what it’s all about. It’s very hard on kids to lose a final like that but it’s not the end of the world. As long as they learn from it, that’s what we want in Waterford.”
Listen back to the full interview with Sean Power from WLR's weekly GAA show Lár Na Páirce.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2DvQNmmeZ7JDWeYsKVXXwb?si=hq9GwFTQRBimyPjF5zDLRg
