Cathal Dowd

Former Waterford minor hurling manager Sean Power labeled the Deise “brilliant” after a stunning win in the All-Ireland Minor Semi Final against Kilkenny.

Waterford came out on top in the blockbuster 2-21 to 2-18 win against their Leinster rivals in Wexford Park, sending the Deise to their first all Ireland final in 12 years.

Power, who has led Waterford to All-Ireland glory at both minor and U-21 level, brimmed with emotion as he described what had gone into the Deise performance, just after the final whistle. “I’m just so delighted for them all, the management, the players, all they did tonight, all they have done all year, those set backs against Cork, the resilience they have shown, their composure, the tackles, the turnovers, the forwards working. Incredible, nothing more than they deserved tonight, fantastic, isn’t it great to be back in an All-Ireland Minor Final?”.

Cormac Spain was the star of the show, scoring 2-6 in a dominant display by the Waterford talisman.

The Munster championship runners up fell behind to an early Cian Byrne goal but refused to be denied this time, coming back to earn their spot in the final. There, they will meet Clare who overcame Cork 0-27 to 1-22 earlier today.

“They dusted themselves off after a mistake within the first minute, that’s what good teams do, they are able to compose themselves and push themselves towards the next ball and that’s what Waterford did. The backs tonight were incredible, those marquee forwards for Kilkenny were really good hurlers and Waterford kept them to a minimum, put them under pressure a lot of being forced wide, half back line were incredible, midfield worked well. What a night, brilliant team” said Power.

Looking forward, Power knew their would be heavy expectations on this young side now, but was confident by how they handled themselves on this huge occasion,”There is an element of this that needs management and this is important, but these guys, they just take it in their stride, they have up to now, they have taken it in their stride, they just played the game tonight, they played what was in front of them, they did the job. Please God they will do that in an All-Ireland Final in two weeks time.”

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