It was never going to be easy.
As the streets of Waterford filled up with thousands of fans there was an undoubted sense of pride in the county.
Their team dared the dream when no one expected them to be contenders, they did it their own way and ultimately fell short at the final hurdle.
It was an almost year for the Deise, they lost to Galway in the league as the Tribesmen went onto secure the crown as well as losing a Munster semi final to Cork. A year of what could of been.
When Sunday rolled around though they had the opportunity to bring Liam McCarthy back to Waterford for the first time in 58 years but were ultimately outclassed by Galway.
It was disappointing for the supporters, the players, the coaching staff and Derek McGrath.
McGrath took over at the end of 2013 and has thrown absolutely everything into being successful, he even gave up his job this year to fully commit to the role but it wasn’t to be.
When the former De La Salle manager was invited to speak to the Waterford supporters he did so with sheer class, conveying the disappointment in defeat but the pride from the past year.
“Thank you very much, I’m very overwhelmed by the welcome home, it’s incredible really. It’s very hard to put into words it’s just incredible,” McGrath said.
“It’s just so heartening for us, the banquet itself last night gave us a real lift it gave the players themselves a real lift. We were in a quandary in terms of our feelings in that we’re really disappointed in not getting over the line and we’re pragmatic enough to know that that’s what we went up to do yesterday and yet we’re heartened and we feel very proud of the absolute totality of effort yesterday so it was an absolute complete effort from the lads.
“I just want to acknowledge that we spoke yesterday morning as a group in our hotel in Johnstown House, we spoke about…that we were refusing to take no for an answer and we spoke about perspective, who we were doing it for, who we were representing, our families, loved ones that we’ve lost, our clubs, our teachers, the wider base of Waterford supporters and we just said to ourselves that living a receptive relaxing easy life wasn’t for us.
“If a man can go to the limits and stretch his body and mind to his absolute limit that’s what we were asking the lads to do and they’ve done that for us for the last four years. They’ve given us absolutely everything they have.
“I’d just like to take the opportunity to thank, particularly, the lads’ families and their friends and their partners for the support and the love and the care and the ability to live with them when times are tough and times are difficult and criticism is, as we know, part of the process and they’re willing to accept that and sometimes their moods can be dictated by how they’re going in the hurling etc.
“So we’re completely empathising with the family and friends in particular with the players in that they live it 24/7 and the obsessive nature in what they do is perhaps lost on the wider public so thanks particularly to the families and the really close friends of the players.”
After the personal remarks and praising the Waterford county board and its sponsors, McGrath turned his focus to the county as a whole.
“Finally, just to reiterate our absolute appreciation for the support we’ve received this year and the last four years. It has just been an incredible journey over the last four years for the level of support we’ve received.
“Waterford people are a mirror image of this team, this team are humble in nature, intelligent in what they do, absolutely relentless in trying to nurture and create a spirit for each other like the Waterford people,” McGrath passionately told the crowd.
“The Waterford people when they face adversity they fight back, they say ‘We are not taking no for an answer, we refuse to give in we refuse to yield and we refuse to accept defeat’ and at the end of the day the parallels in terms of our chase or our absolute obsession with the upgrade of Walsh Park, University status, the Cath Lab, all the things as a group we’ve chased are the same things we chase as an absolutely obsessive group of individuals behind you so long may that continue.
“Just finally to reiterate we’ve often said over four years as a group to each other we’ve spoken about the world of the pastoral element of what we try to do. The whole issue of love and care and pride and building a relentless spirit built on togetherness building a team. Not a team that’s from West Waterford, not a team that is from East Waterford, not a team that is from De La Salle, Ballygunner Passage, Ballysaggart, Ballylove, Lismore, a team that is built and is absolutely centred on being from Waterford from where we’re all from and ultimately that is what is all about,” the Waterford manager concluded.
McGrath speaks on stage at the 3’15 mark.
