Heroes of the Past

After a highly entertaining County Final yesterday, there was a special event organised by the Waterford County Board in honour of the 1959 All-Ireland winning senior team.

As it was the 50th anniversary of that last AI crown, there were VIP invitations to all the surviving team members and/or partners or representatives.  In addition, there were also the captains of the county-winning teams from the last 25 years.  These included such luminaries as Fergal Hartley (who was actually still in action for Ballygunner on the day), Ken McGrath and, representing Tallow’s famous 2-in-a-row from ’84 and ’85, Kieran Ryan and Mick Beecher respectively.

I was fortunate enough to be there along with my mother and it was great to meet some of the Waterford legends whom I had not met before, as well as some of the sons-of and daughters-of.  Strangely enough, this was the first time that I had met people “like me”, so it felt rather like a strange and very nice sort-of support group where there were conversations about what it was like being “sons-of” and “daughters-of”, hurling books and Waterford Crystal trophies – soon to be pure collectors’ items.

“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.