'Is there long more to go …?' asked the patient, long-suffering Waterford fan as Saturday night's Guinness All Ireland hurling qualifiers game at Nowlan Park stuttered to its inevitable conclusion, recalls An Fear Rua …

'About a year and five minutes…', replied his companion tersely.

It was not a joke. Nor was it intended as such, Ger, as Squirrel Farrell might say. Because, for their legions of dedicated and persevering followers, Waterford's 'Saturday Night Fever' performance was far from being a joke. In fact, it was no fun at all for them.

This performance was straight out of the bottom drawer that contains the video tapes of their most recent All Ireland semi-final appearance - against Clare - this year's first Munster championship game against Limerick and the Munster final against Cork. Just a change of jersey, really, on their opponents. All the old stereotypes were present in their mocking glory. The scintillating opening phase of twenty five minutes against the wind, racking up great points from all angles and, then, with ten minutes to go, the other team getting a few scores back (often a goal just before half-time) and Waterford go into the dressing room with their lead hanging by a slender thread and their hitherto domination to no real purpose. Second half opens, Wexford pull ahead, stay ahead and ease the lead out to four or five points despite a couple of desultory scores in reply.

At half time, Waterford fans made nervous jokes about the similarity with some of their recent performances. However, they consoled themselves in the next breath that this was Wexford they were playing. Although this was the first championship meeting between these hurling neighbours in a hundred and sixteen years, League tradition seemed to favour Waterford dominance. Wexford, the team that had struggled so much against Kilkenny in the second half of the Leinster final.

However, these Wexford men have pride in their hurling, allied to a shrewd canniness. What other county in Ireland would be consistently held up to the farmers of Ireland as the 'model' county to learn innovation in methods and crops from? Congratulations are in order to their Manager, John Conran, and his selectors, Dickie Murphy and Martin Quigley, for the way they prepared and marshalled their forces for this encounter. Father Murphy himself was not better prepared at Boolavogue! While Waterford seemed to have fallen back from the relative 'high' of the Munster final, Conran seemed to have learned that the simple, deceptive tactics that held Kilkenny so well in the first half of the Leinster final might work better against a lesser team. So it proved to be. It also proved, in passing, that this Waterford team had no All Ireland in them this year and nemesis awaited them only a step or more further along the road to September glory.

The introduction of Larry Murphy, wearing number 26, galvanised life into the Wexford attack. The switch of Larry O'Gorman from midfield to the '40' mark worked a treat. And Shelmaliers' Chris McGrath, who tormented Kilkenny after his introduction in the Leinster final, in the words of O'Casey's immortal Uncle Payter, 'thwarted and tantali-yezed' the Waterford defence as Wexford asserted themselves. Darragh Ryan repeated his fine performance from the game against Kilkenny and Dave Guiney and David O'Connor at his shoulders were more than able for the Déise full forward line.

There was a strong breeze and a heavy downpour at the start of the game and these factors were an influence. The first half resembled nothing so much as an artillery barrage in the First World War - lengthy puck outs from each goalkeeper traversed the relatively short length of Nowlan Park beyond the opposing half backs, and dropped like shells among expectant and tussling players. In the opening twenty-five minutes, the Waterford backs were well able for it, while their forwards used the supply of ball to pop over some good points. However, the Wexford full forward line - mainly Paul Codd and Rory Jacob - began to get the hang of this tactic, winning the ball increasingly, and heading towards goal. It was from such a scenario that Rory Jacob turned, ball in hand, and filched the vital, differentiating goal.

This was not the first game we've seen where the 'read' of the play by the Déise 'sideline' has been suspect. It was clear from early on that neither Shanahan nor Prendergast were going to do the business, yet the tall Lismore man remained on the pitch to the end and Prendergast was not replaced until well into the second half. Andy Moloney, who has brought championship 'mullocking' to a fine art, replaced the industrious Peter Queally, who at least manages to win and clear the ball cleanly. The substitution of John Mullane - apparently because of an eye injury and straight after he'd scored a good point - caused consternation and seemed to visibly dampen the spirit of some of his colleagues. In assessing individual Waterford performances, the best that may be said is that, in that opening twenty five minutes, they all looked like World beaters, but once Wexford clawed their way back into contention, not a single Waterford man performed to the level we know they are capable of.

No player deliberately sets out to have a poor game or to lose. Waterford and their mentors will have plenty of time - a year and five minutes, to be precise - to mull over what's gone wrong in this and in recent matches. The disappointing results they are getting are the outcome of certain problems, not the problem itself. There is no easy answer. An Fear Rua somehow believes that the roots may lie in the quality of hurling at club level in the Gentle County. The first inkling AFR had that something might be wrong in Déise hurling for 2003 was when he saw a highly-fancied Mount Sion side stroll into Mullingar to face Dunloy of Antrim in the All Ireland club semi-final, only to be outplayed and outmanoeuvred by a more determined and hungrier side. Apparently, the senior championship was suspended this year to give the county panel a 'clear run' and, in retrospect, this may have been a mistake because hurlers need games and competition to keep them on their toes. A successful inter-county platform cannot be built and sustained on the shifting sands of an unsound county championship.

All is not lost yet for Waterford. In Hartley, Browne, McGrath, Mullane and Flynn they have some of the finest of the current generation of inter-county hurlers, while Feeney, Murray, Greene, Queally and Bennett, on their day, are the match of anyone else. It may be that the required target for 2004 is for one of the Déise clubs not only to retain the Munster title, but to go all the way to winning a Saint Patrick's Day final. It is surely no coincidence that the county's first Munster senior hurling title in thirty-nine years followed hard on a Ballygunner victory in the Munster club championship?

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