Those kind of unforeseen circumstances that ushered in the end of Harold Macmillan’s luckless Tory Prime Ministership in Britain in the early Sixties – ‘Events, dear boy, events!’ – prevented An Fear Rua from making the journey to Cusack Park, in Ennis for the Division 1A National Hurling league game between Clare and Waterford…

However, unlike the hapless MacMillan’s government, AFR’s ‘events’ included neither Russian spies nor glamorous East End prostitutes. Instead, he settled down in front of the television to a great afternoon’s hurling, courtesy of ár seancháirde in TG4.

If Waterford fans were to focus merely on the scoreline, and on the consequent loss of a place in the NHL quarterfinals, valuable though that is, they would be missing the real pointers in this game. From their point of view, one of the encouraging aspects must be the willingness of the new manager, Just-In MacCarthy, to make shrewd positional changes when they are needed, and to make them to good effect. Much though AFR was an admirer of Gerald McCarthy’s achievements with the Déise in his day, he often felt that the ‘sideline’ was slow to notice when things were going wrong – or had very fixed plans – and was even slower to take the hard decisions.

The half time dropping of the patently struggling full-back, James O’Connor – who had been roasted by Tony Carmody - and his replacement by the ultimate TG4 ‘Man of the Match’, Tom Feeney, alone brought Waterford thundering into the game within minutes of the restart. Carmody never really featured after that, and the increased confidence and skill in the Waterford full-back line percolated through to the rest of the team and the second half saw the Déise men outscoring and outplaying the Banner for much of ‘second moiety’ – to use a favoured term of the late, lamented GAA scribe, John D Hickey.

Ken McGrath had a Jekyll-and-Hyde of a game. The Dr Hyde of the first half was often tentative in his approach and missed several scoreable chances that might have made a huge difference to the final result. The Jekyll of the second half, by contrast, was decisive, at times inspirational, and picked off a number of excellent points from play, from difficult positions. Paul Flynn, to borrow another phrase from a British Prime Minister – Winston Churchill – describing the brave Soviet wartime allies under Stalin, ‘is an enigma wrapped up inside a puzzle’. He hardly touched the ball during the entire match, except for one good effort at goal, foiled by a workman-like save from little Davy Fitzgerald. AFR, like many’s the Waterford fan, is left wondering will we ever again see a day when all the ‘stars’ of this team sparkle together – Browne, Flynn, McGrath, Hartley? If that ever happens, their opponents could be in for a nasty surprise.

To use the old soccer cliché: this was a game of two halves. In the first half, Clare took their chances, while Waterford missed theirs – including two good chances of goals, mis-hit by Eoin Kelly and John Mullane. Clare kept a few points ahead of Waterford and anytime the Déise threatened to come too near with a stolen point, the Banner men were not above giving them a ‘touch of the shtick to show them who’s boss’. However, Tipp referee, Johnny McDonnell, was always in good control of the game, never let it get out of hand and contributed to an enjoyable contest. At this stage of the game, Just-In’s decision to substitute Eoin McGrath for Eoin Kelly revitalised the Waterford effort at mid-field. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said for the second half substitution of Tony Browne by Dan Shanahan, neither of whom has ever recovered their mighty form of ’98.

The second half saw the Waterford substitutions leading to dominance throughout the pitch, with Prendergast coming into his own in the forward line. We saw the two McGraths – Eoin and Ken – combining in a magnificent length-of-the-field movement that saw Ken rifle over a great point, to nudge Waterford ahead by thirteen points to twelve. Clare, however, were not found wanting. Like the British generals at Balaclava, Cyril Lyons and his mentors threw strong reserves into the battlefront and, gradually, the likes of Ollie Baker and Jamesie O’Connor re-asserted a measure of control, to see Clare take the spoils by the narrowest of margins.

Afterwards, there was a good atmosphere in both camps. Normally, defeat for Waterford in such a vital game unleashes a tirade of olagoning from their sorely tested fans. This time, however, there was much in the team’s performance, especially in the second half, to give them a basis of hope for their championship tussle with Cork in less than two months’ time. Obviously, the players would have preferred to have won, but they looked far from downhearted at the end. Equally, this was an excellent test of Clare’s ‘will to win’ – passed with flying colours. A good run in the final stages of the League could be just the tonic they need before facing into the rigours of the Munster championship. So, to paraphrase an old Déise proverb - from the days of the faction fights – ‘Beidh lá eile ag an bPéire!’

Tá TG4 molta dá mbeadh An Fear Rua ina thost! (loosely translates as ‘TG4 doesn’t rely on An Fear Rua alone for praise!’). Their presentation of the game was absolutely first class. It was preceded by interesting profiles of the teams, good interviews by Mícheál Ó Domhnaill with the managers and commentary-box expert, Pat Fleury, while the match commentary by Brian Tyers and the coverage itself was excellent. There was a kind of polished enthusiasm about the coverage that is sadly lacking on RTÉ and TV3. As TG4 repeatedly demonstrate – not just in sport – good television is more than about having enough money to spend (as the crowd in Montrose seem to think). Sure, it’s about effort and resources, but above all it’s about creativity and imagination. And if you haven’t these in the first place, money can’t buy them for you …

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