The problem with a man like Austin Gleeson reflects a lot of problems in Irish society.
We don’t like people who think they can do things their way. We preach how we all should just believe in ourselves a little bit more and everything will be okay but whenever someone actually does that, when they believe in themselves vocally or visibly, we shake our heads and mutter something like ‘notions’ under our breaths.
You’re not supposed to ‘get ahead of yourself’ in this place.
So here’s a 22-year-old superstar who we’ve all been guilty of hyping up to the high heavens in the past two seasons and he’s on the thrilling trajectory that he was expected to be on but, suddenly, people seem to want to take a cut at him.
The things that Austin Gleeson has produced since bursting onto the scene for Waterford are special. They’re exactly the sort of things that make some kids want to pick up a hurl in the first place. They’re what young ones try to replicate on long summer nights commentating in their heads in their own back yards.
But when Austin Glesson doesn’t lay the ball off, instead opting to deliver one of the most deliciously memorable goals in an All-Ireland semi-final against the Munster champions, there’s always going to be a few grouches who take exception to it.
THIS goal helped 'Na Déise' to reach Sunday's #GALvWAT All-Ireland Hurling Final! Look back at Austin Gleeson's superb run/goal vs Cork! pic.twitter.com/VKifYPPUYO
— The GAA (@officialgaa) August 29, 2017
The audacity, the instinct, the self-belief and the simply jaw-dropping execution. That doesn’t feed into the ‘keep your head down, be humble, get the job done’ Irish Dream though and, despite most of the country marvelling at what Gleeson produced against Cork, there were far too many unhappy that a piece of brilliant individualism would drag Waterford to the All-Ireland final.
So he has a quiet enough final by his standards in a game that Galway dominated despite the scoreline. The young man was daring to burst into life at stages as he plucked one beauty from the sky after rising from amidst a pit of bodies and he emptied two Galway men with crushing shoulders but the trickery and the improvisation that have quickly become his hallmark never got into full flow because the Tribesmen didn’t let it.
So then the cries – or the laughs – of ‘where is Austin Gleeson’ ring out with people who could not be real hurling people at all already queuing up to write off one of the brightest young talents this game has ever seen. A man who was, only a few weeks ago, tipped as a contender for player of the year is all-too-gladly scorned by critics who really ought to appreciate more what they’re going to enjoy for another decade at least.
The moments of pure unfiltered magic that Gleeson has already brought to the stadiums of Ireland and to households all over the country is already a debt that the hurling world owes him.
The things he’s capable of doing, the images he dares to see and the wizardry he can conjure up from a genius, unhinged brain and a masterful, limitless technical ability sets him apart and will set him apart further in years to come.
The man is 22. He had a quiet game in a final that Galway were much superior in. Anyone who thinks they can take a swipe at Austin Gleeson now is drastically premature and naively underestimating what’s to come from the hand that genuinely sometimes seems to be touched by the gods.
Anyone who wants to see him fall just couldn’t appreciate hurling in its purest, most ridiculous form. We’re lucky to have Austin Gleeson.
