Ken McGrath is enjoying inter county hurling again.
Alongside former team mates Dan Shanahan, Kevin Moran and Andy Moloney, the Mount Sion great is preparing the Waterford Under 20s for Friday’s Munster championship opener against Cork. McGrath took the role last July after missing out two years earlier.
“I took a step back but I was involved with the minors in Mount Sion last year and it gave me a huge grá for it again. I wouldn’t say I fell out of love with the game but I probably lost a small bit of drive for the game in general, especially county hurling. This opportunity came up and we put our name in the hat again, probably out of the blue. It’s after giving me that massive drive again. For 15, 16, 17 years, Waterford hurling was an obsession and now it’s back as an obsession again. I don’t know whether that’s good or bad! I’m loving every minute of it, I’ll be honest with you. I love coming training. They’re brilliant young lads, 18, 19, 20 years of age. It’s an obsession again. It was probably dwindling a bit over the years after I retired. It’s definitely back here now. I’m glad it’s back, it’s probably something I was missing.”
Since the 2016 All Ireland success, Waterford have only won one championship game at Under 20 or Under 21 level. “We need to win matches,” McGrath admits. “If we’re here after four games not winning a game, we’ve failed and I’ll hold my hands up and say we’ve failed. Moral victories have to be forgotten about. Our gang came along back in the late 90s and that’s what we had to try and get rid of and try and get Waterford up to a different level. I want these young lads to get the feeling we had of playing these huge matches and winning games and having a bit more respect around our clubs and our county. That’s what we want. We need to win games. I’m not putting everything into this, for six or seven months, for moral victories.”
The top team in Munster will qualify for the provincial final while the second and third placed sides will face off in a semi final. All Ireland champions Cork are first up in Fraher Field and McGrath expects his team to deliver a performance to be proud of. “They’ve bought into everything we’ve tried to do; their effort has been unbelievable. I want them to show how good they are. I don’t think they give themselves enough credit; I don’t think people realise the potential in that room. I want to see that. That they go out on Friday and produce the hurling that I know they are capable of. If they do that, I’ll be happy. I’ll be shocked if they don’t produce a massive performance on Friday. I just want it for them. It’s not about us. It’s not about me, Dan, Kevin or Andy. We want to get these lads to a point where they can be proud of playing for Waterford again.”
Throw in is at 7 o'clock in Fraher Field.
Hear the full interview with Ken McGrath on Lár Na Páirce from 6.10.
