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"Winning is a habit and losing is too": Waterford All-Star Eoin Kelly says Déise need to win Hurling League final

"Winning is a habit and losing is too": Waterford All-Star Eoin Kelly says Déise need to win Hurling League final
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Waterford will be looking to win a first League title in seven years when they take on Cork in the final this evening.

The wait has been a far longer one for the Rebels though, having last won the league in 1998.

Semple Stadium is the venue for the all-Munster affair later and former Waterford All-Star, Eoin Kelly says it's going to be an intriguing game.

Speaking on WLR's On The Ball earlier he said the Déise are an impressive side this season, especially with their semi-final win over Wexford:

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"Waterford are really, really good and are threatening a lot of goals. Goals win matches and if they turn up like that tonight, they could be bringing home the cup."

He says what impressed him most was the the variety in play. "It's not just running with the ball," Kelly elaborated, "there's long balls going cross-field in the corners. The inside forwards are that good - give them the ball. And they're doing that.

"They're paying dividends because they're getting goals in every match."

Of course, one of the stars for the Déise, Austin Gleeson, is serving a one-match ban for his red card against Wexford last week.

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Kelly said his loss will be felt by the team tonight:

"It's massive. It could tip the scales. Hopefully not - hopefully Waterford will do it and Austin will be a bit fresher for the game in two weeks.

"He's a big loss but look, they'll have to get on with it and the lads will have it in the backs of their minds to win it for Austin because Austin basically won the game for Waterford last week.

"He set everything in motion and the lads kicked on from that so, hopefully they go out and do it for him this evening."

Déise boss, Liam Cahill told WLR earlier in the week that a win tonight could serve them very well as they head into the Munster Championship in a fortnight, and it's a sentiment that 2007 League winner, Eoin Kelly agrees with:

"This team is knocking on the door and knocking on the door, and they've been beaten in finals and beaten in finals. This team needs to win something.

"I think if they do, it opens up a whole other ball game to this team but they need one bit of silverware and it will give them massive confidence going into a Munster Championship.

"Winning is a habit and losing is a habit too.

"Waterford are going to take it seriously, so are Cork because they're in the final but it'll be a big thing for Waterford to get a bit of silverware back into that team."

We'll have live commentary from Thurles at 7.15 this evening, with thanks to George Corbett Skoda, with a commentary team of Kieran O'Connor and Michael Ryan.

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