Ned Power’s contribution to Waterford GAA over the course of his life was mostly at grass roots level rather than at the inter-county level.

It’s fair to say that he was more of a revolutionary working from within rather than anyone who would toe the line, so to speak.  He had his own views on how things should be and he was steadfast on these.  There was a way of taking free, for example.  There was a technique to it that had to be followed, involving the correct stance, position and approach, which included rolling, not scooping, the ball.  You can be successful 99% of the time if you scoop it, but you could be successful 100% of the time if you roll it.

Roll it... Don't scoop it up like a shovel!

There was an ad for a certain Dublin-brewed stout on the telly a few years ago where a player is lining up to take a free.  The thought of being given a pint of stout keeps him going mentally as he prepares to take the free.  But when he lifts to take the shot, what does he do?  That’s right – he scoops instead of rolling.  Sure enough, if you look carefully at the frame where the hurley connects with the ball, you’ll see that it’s the upper part of the stick that hits the ball.  Why?  Because the guy didn’t roll the bloody ball, so in this case his scooping resulted in the ball not being exactly where he wanted it to be; where it should connect with the bas.  In reality, therefore, although the tone of the ad would lead you to believe that drinking porter is important to your fitness and that this particular alcoholic free-taker actually scored, his shot was almost certainly weak and off-target.

Waterford to win the All-Ireland in 2010.

“My Father: A Hurling Revolutionary, the life and times of Ned Power” is out on paperback at the end of November 2009.  Click here for further information, pre-order and excerpt.

Hard to catch the ball with a Kilkenny man looking over your shoulder

What a match. It was much less stressful this year to be watching the All-Ireland Final from a position that, as a Waterford fan, I’m far more accustomed to – that is, from the point of view of a neutral observer. And, do you know, I’ve noticed something that I haven’t noticed in years – that this Kilkenny team is a brilliant team! Seriously; they’re very good.

All jokes aside, though, Waterford could learn a lot from today’s display as to how to face a Kilkenny team in an All-Ireland Final: You fight for everything; you sharpen your skills until you have every member of the team with skill levels to match the Kilkenny men; you frustrate and harry them without any let-up; you block and hook them to the point of confusion and failure to be able to execute the most simple of tasks; you ensure that you’re first to every ball. The one thing they failed to do, in fact, was to make their dominance count on the scoreboard.

It was an extraordinary game on so many levels, not least when it comes to picking the Man of the Match. The main contenders for the title were all Tipperary men. However, as it’s the usual custom to pick a man from the winning side, then my Man of the Match would have to be PJ Ryan (and I don’t care what anyone says, he does look like Graham Norton when viewed from the side as he lines up for the puck-out), who was the most vital Kilkenny player over a prolonged period when Tipperary were dominating every aspect of the game. His remarkable goalkeeping literally kept them in it before their rally in the last 10 minutes ensured them a five-point victory that in no way reflected how close this contest was.

The penalty that turned Tipperary’s hard-fought lead on its head six minutes from time was an incorrect decision but in fairness to the referee, he was sharp and fair-handed overall. In fact, if anything, 50/50 decisions went in favour of Tipperary. The free awarded to Lar Corbett in the 28th minute is a good example of a referee punishing a Kilkenny side more for their overly-physical reputation than for their actual play on the day.

Corbett himself was one of the best men on the field. In the first half, he and Eoin Kelly were the stars who stood out most for Tipperary and led by example.

On the Kilkenny side, some players were having an ever-so-slightly off-colour day at the office. I sighed when I saw Henry Shefflin miss a golden goal opportunity and then miss the resultant 65. Why couldn’t he have played like that against Waterford in the semi-final, I wailed to myself. Even Tennyson was a shadow of the colossus he was against us in the previous match.

It was such a free-flowing and entertainingly full-blooded encounter, you could not keep your eye off it for one second. The Tipperary defence was magnificent and were shading it compared to the performance of their opposite numbers, catching every high ball and not giving the Kilkenny forwards any time to settle. When the half-time whistle sounded, you had the feeling that the Tipperary players must have been scratching their heads and wondering how on earth they managed to be losing, albeit by just two points.

Because they were playing Kilkenny, that’s why.

Sure enough, it was the Kilkenny players who looked the more composed coming out of the dressing room after the break, but that confidence was to be tested to almost breaking point during the course of the next 25 minutes or so. Time and time again, Tipperary’s keener hunger and sharper play put them in what was looking more and more like an unassailable winning position. Conor O’Mahony snatching the ball in mid-air from under the nose of Henry Shefflin in the 41st minute of the game epitomised the Tipperary attitude and dominance. Benny Dunne’s introduction gave the Tipperary team the injection of fresh pace that you now felt could finish out the game. But the potential hero became the villain of the piece when, in an apparent rush of blood to the head, he smacked Tommy Walsh full in the face on 54 minutes and referee Diarmuid Kirwan had no choice but to produce the red card.

Even at 14 men, Tipperary still dominated and they actually increased their lead after the sending off. Then just as it was beginning to look like Brian Cody had finally shot himself in the foot by not bolstering his midfield in a Kilkenny team that seemed to be crying plaintively for “Cha”, his substitutions, aided by a rub of the green at the right time (i.e. the afore-mentioned penalty decision) paid off handsomely as the penalty goal was swiftly followed by some vintage Kilkenny goal-scoring from substitute Martin Comerford that seemed to mock the various failed opportunities of Tipperary earlier in the half, and there was no way back for Tipperary from that point.

Kilkenny were worthy champions. It was a wonderful way to cap a four-in-a-row, being challenged both in the semi-final and royally challenged in the final itself – surely one of the best in championship history.

Finally, although it is a bit of shame that the elaborate middle-of-the-pitch presentation ceremony, complete with pyrotechnics, failed to materialise due to the insistent nature of the Kilkenny fans, I was glad to see the Kilkenny triumph of the spirit win the Battle of the Pitch Invasions. Stewards’ positions were completely overrun by jubilant Noresiders much in the same manner as the Soviets did against the Nazis in the Battle of Stalingrad. The incident produced a somewhat surreal and Monty Python –esque moment as the electronic scoreboard flashed the message “PLAN B” and the cup had to be presented in the traditional manner in the stand. For fans that may not get another opportunity to witness a four-in-a-row victory, I think that a good old-fashioned pitch invasion is the least that they deserve. When Waterford achieve their four-in-a-row at some point in the future, I fully expect to be able to express my joy in the same manner.

“My Father: A Hurling Revolutionary, the life and times of Ned Power” is out on paperback at the end of November 2009.  Click here for further information, pre-order and excerpt.

The upcoming Irish biography on Waterford hurling legend Ned Power is a biography about an extraordinary sporting personage and is a mixture of personal memoir, historical analysis and, of course, biography.

The Irish biography tends to be about a lot of misery, but this one is, broadly speaking, free of such lows.  It’s perhaps a reflection of the constantly positive outlook of the man himself.  He was one who always trusted in things turning out for the best in the end and having a strong faith in both God and his fellow human beings – always giving people the benefit of the doubt and giving them not just a second and a third chance, but a fourth and fifth one too.

We do have this vision of Ireland in the 1940s as being a somewhat miserable place where people didn’t have anything.  But there is more to life than tangible assets and the times have been described to me as being as plentiful as any.  If things were low on the credit side, there was even less to worry about on the debit side.  There was no mobile phone bill, no fixed line bill, no fuel bill, no car maintenance or NCT and no credit available to cause you any further angst.  If you were in the countryside, there was no electricity bill and you didn’t need a rod licence to fish.  Because you had to rely solely on your body for transport, you were fitter and healthier and you also communicated with your neighbours.  Your food was better.

“My Father: A Hurling Revolutionary, the life and times of Ned Power” is out on paperback at the end of November 2009.  Click here for further information, pre-order and excerpt.

Ned Power was someone who always looked upon County Boards as an ineffective bunch.  He probably took this as a necessary evil for most of the time, but there were times when it was of immense frustration to him.

There was one time when he was coaching the Waterford senior hurling team along with Joe McGrath back in 1991 when they asked the board for two hurleys for each senior player.  For a hurling team, hurleys are generally regarded as a necessity rather than a luxury, but that wasn’t the way that county board saw it.

A Hurley

They wouldn’t allow the issue of the hurleys.  Believing that it was a matter of expense, Ned & Joe went to get the supply of the hurleys sponsored.  They were successful – a modest amount of cash is all that was required – but even after this, the County Board still refused permission for the deal to go ahead.

That was a long time ago and things have certainly moved on since then, but how far have they gone?  Kilkenny are reaping the rewards of a system, not of a great manager.  If Brian Cody went to Waterford and started managing the Waterford team, would they also get an All-Ireland or three within a few years?  Possibly – they’re not far off the mark.  It would be a great coup for the Waterford county board, wouldn’t it?  Look at what we’ve got! We’ve got the man who engineered a four-in-a-row!  But all that business is just a three-card-trick; something that cloaks the real story and that masks the reality of the situation.  Kilkenny deal in reality.  They are one of the few counties that do and that is why they have a successful series of teams that has no equal at the moment.  If Waterford are to achieve their four-in-a-row (or even one or two in a row), then there needs to be a system put in place that will achieve that.  As I said, we’re not far off the mark at all.

We don’t actually need a fired-up screaming man from Clare to get our team going.  We don’t need a star from outside to come in and perform his three-card-trick.  The talent to create the conditions that can lead to a number of All-Ireland victories is there already and it has been there for decades.  There are people there who won’t need to be paid extravagant money either.

It’s a matter of collective will and an organisation that will do it.  Hopefully that day will come soon.

“My Father: A Hurling Revolutionary, the life and times of Ned Power” is out on paperback at the end of November 2009.  Click here for further information, pre-order and excerpt.

Plaque outside Tallow's hurling field

In a well-lubricated conversation many years ago, a man once told me over and over again that there would be “a monument to that man” when talking about Ned Power.  He was alive to see it actually happen when the plaque went up outside Tallow’s GAA Field a couple of years ago.

“My Father: A Hurling Revolutionary, the life and times of Ned Power” is out on paperback at the end of November 2009.  Click here for further information, pre-order and excerpt.

The forthcoming biography on the life of Ned Power is one of the very few, if not the only biography of a Waterford GAA star.  Apart from book on the late John Keane, there are few efforts at getting down on paper the stories of Waterford’s hurling legends.

Ned Power in Goals in Football

Perhaps it’s the unfortunate lack of success that, relative to certain counties, Waterford have been unfortunate to experience.  Our neighbours Kilkenny have had outstanding success in recent years, culminating in a fourth successive AI title yesterday.

I’s not easy to look on and see one’s neighbours succeeding where we fail to get one title in 50 years, but the Cats are successful not because they’re lucky or because they have a system that their county structure has worked hard to create over the years.

There’s no reason why Waterford can’t do the same.  It’s a hurling county, after all, with very little football getting in the way of such a programme.  What it would require is a certain level of cooperation.  In the past, that hasn’t been there.  The great gains made in the 1957-63 period seemed to dissipate into thin air quickly afterwards and it seems incredible, even now, that it took a full thirty-nine years before the next Munster title was achieved.

“My Father: A Hurling Revolutionary, the life and times of Ned Power” is out on paperback at the end of November 2009.  Click here for further information, pre-order and excerpt.

Ned Power’s tireless work in the GAA was done at grass roots level and he never really got to grips with the whole idea of politicking and back-slapping that are part and parcel of the job at committee level, or at least when it gets to county level and above.

In 1960, he did reach a point in his life when he could have been an administrator.  It wasn’t to be as he was outvoted by the narrowest of margins.  But, in truth, he was not made of suitable administrative material, in my opinion.  He was far too steadfast of opinion and he would not have been able to play along with such Machiavellian moves as are necessary in such a career.

His apprenticeship in Gaelic sport at inter-county level was with a tight-knit team that rarely asked for anything in return  for their efforts and rarely got it – not even a pair of socks.  Socks were not provided by the County Board.  For the Mount Sion lads, that was all right because their socks were the same colour as those of the county team (blue and white), but for others, they had to go and buy their own socks if they wanted to be properly togged out for their county.

On the day of the All-Ireland Final (exactly 50 years ago to the day), it was the same story, despite the fact that the County Board had mooted the idea of giving the players socks for this special occasion.  However, this never came to pass, so Ned decided to wear two different coloured socks in a form of silent protest that very few actually noticed.  It’s only visible in a colour photograph, but it’s there plain as day.

“My Father: A Hurling Revolutionary, the life and times of Ned Power” is out on paperback at the end of November 2009.  Click here for further information, pre-order and excerpt.

The biography of Waterford hurling legend Ned Power is to be launched by the President of the GAA on November 26th next at the Park Hotel in Dungarvan.

Also officiating on the night will be WLR‘s Kieran O’Connor.

The book tells the story of the life of Ned Power – one of the most famous goalkeepers from one of the most golden eras of hurling.  It was later, as a hurling coach, that Ned Power made even more of an impact on the world of hurling as he transformed the fortunes of his home club Tallow by bringing them from zero to winning almost every single county honour in both hurling and gaelic football.  He assisted in many clubs around Munster and around the country too, bringing successful results and energy wherever he went.

It’s written from a very personal perspective by his son, so it covers many more aspects of the man’s character apart from the GAA one.  That said, it was GAA that dominated his life and devotion like that of Ned’s was always perhaps a bit of a rarity.  In today’s world, it’s probably rarer still.

But that’s what is unique about what Ned Power did – he did not go around counting up his achievements and he never wanted to be compensated for his efforts.  Nowadays, it’s common for coaches to get €150-€200 per session or even more, but Ned’s attitude was that he didn’t want to make himself available to the highest bidder and he wasn’t interested in the money.  As far as he was concerned, the money was something that sullied the whole enterprise.

“My Father: A Hurling Revolutionary, the life and times of Ned Power” is out on paperback at the end of November 2009.  Click here for further information, pre-order and excerpt.

Alas, this senior All-Ireland will be without Waterford this time, even though it will be 50 years to the day since the scheduled final where Ned Power et al overcame a Kilkenny side after a replay.

Smaller logos but bigger men?

This time, it’s Tipperary who will have their work cut out for them.

I’m sure they’re looking forward to it.  Compared to Waterford, Tipperary have a much more successful history of winning All-Irelands.  Not for them, the nagging doubt that no matter what we do, we just can’t win it.  No – Tipp, I think, are a team who will be well prepared.  Or at least I think so.

I would go so far as to stick the old neck out and predict a Tipperary win.  They’ll win because they’re brimming with confidence and because their speed and accuracy will trouble Kilkenny too much for them to able to cope.

This great Kilkenny team is, simply put, not the all-conquering impressive machine that it was last season.  It has weak links; links which were exposed with almost fatal consequences in their semi-final battle with Waterford.  Henry Shefflin’s excellent performance in that game kept the Deise just about at arms length, but Waterford are not as good as the Tipperary team just now and if it weren’t for a few costly slips in concentration, that game could very well have an extremely close contest.

Whatever the outcome, I would dearly love to see the day again when team shirts displayed something that players could feel proud of wearing – truly proud of wearing.  When you look back ten years even, the logos were placed there almost discreetly so as not to be too offensive.  Go back further to my father’s time and there is no  logo to be seen.  The only thing those men wore on their shirts was the Waterford crest.  I take my hat off to men who can take themselves seriously when they’re going around with huge letters written cartoon-fashion across their chest advertising some yoghurt drink.

Wouldn’t it be a lovely gesture from the GAA if they would just allow the teams on the final day to come, just for once, wearing their jerseys – just the jerseys and not the sandwich board.  I’m sure it could be negotiated.  Here’s to dreaming of a “no-logo” final.

“My Father: A Hurling Revolutionary, the life and times of Ned Power” is out on paperback at the end of November 2009.  Click here for further information, pre-order and excerpt.

Even though Waterford hurlers won an All-Ireland senior final in 1948, the county’s golden era was that from 1957 to 1963.

During this period, Waterford were competing for full honours.  They played in three All-Ireland finals.  Of those they won one, they should have won three and they very very nearly lost all three.  As it turned out, the one in the middle (1959) was the one in which they were successful. Even though they were expected to win it, they somehow conspired to let it all unravel as it was Kilkenny who got a goal-blitz that day (Sept 6th, 1959) with the normally reliable backs having an off day.

Thankfully, my father – the goalkeeper Ned Power – wasn’t held to blame for the goals.  The analysis was that he didn’t get enough protection from the backs.  Only a goal in the last minute from Seamus Power saved the day.  The Deise men played a lot of “backs and forwards” for the replay in an early October day of unseasonal sunshine and no mistake was made then.

All three finals were against Kilkenny and it was they who won against the odds on the other two occasions in that period when Waterford were in an AI final.  In 1963, they had a great year, winning the Oireachtas and the League, but it was something of a swansong for that team and the Deise’s fortunes dipped fairly quickly after that, not recovering to those same heights until recent years.  In fact, when they won the League two seasons ago, it was their very first since 1963.

Incredible, but true.

“My Father: A Hurling Revolutionary, the life and times of Ned Power” is out on paperback at the end of November 2009.  Click here for further information, pre-order and excerpt.