Waterford and Cork will meet in the NHL final for just the third time on Saturday.
Peter Queally lined out at midfield in the 1998 decider at Semple Stadium when the Déise appeared in their first final for 35 years.
"The outstanding memory I have is running onto the field that day. The noise and the colour hit us like a wall when we came out onto the pitch. Everyone commented on it afterwards. We couldn't get over the atmosphere and the crowd. It was our first taste of that. The hair stood on the back of our heads and it did. It wasn't just a cliché, I do remember the hair standing on the back of my head that day."
The Ballydurn man never thought that he would get to a major final with Waterford. "If I'm being honest, no I didn't. My memories would have been going to Munster finals where we were on the receiving end of heavy defeats. I was jealous looking on at the Corks and the Tipperarys playing out classic Munster finals and thinking 'we're a long way off that.' I was a late developer as well. I wasn't really involved in my early 20s with Waterford so for me, back then, thinking that I could be involved in these major finals would have been a pipe dream to be honest."
Queally will again manage Roanmore in 2022 and act as coach to Cork side Sarsfields.
Hear more from Peter Queally on Friday's Lár Na Páirce from 6.10.
