What’s rare is wonderful

Mike Finnerty | 30 April 2025

Exclusive to GAA+ this Weekend, Waterford vs Limerick.

What’s rare is wonderful

When the final whistle sounded at Walsh Park last Sunday to confirm Waterford’s wonderful win over All-Ireland champions Clare, the home supporters in the capacity crowd of just over 12,000 celebrated like they’d just won a first Munster title since 2010.

It may only have been their first step in the provincial championship this summer, but it was seen as a giant leap by everyone wearing the Waterford colours.

The home supporters roared their approval from the stands and the terraces and, on the field, the Waterford players showed how much it meant to them.

Days like that don’t come along very often for the Deise. They literally don’t.

Since the Munster round-robin format began in 2018 (it went back to the old knock-out system for the Covid-impacted championships of 2020 and 2021), Waterford have played 21 matches in the province.

Last Sunday’s victory over Clare was only the fourth time the Deise have been celebrating a win when the full-time has sounded. Their previous successes amounted to beating Tipperary in both 2022 and 2023, and getting the better of Cork in last year’s first round game at Walsh Park.

A subsequent draw at home against Tipperary left them in a strong position to kick on last summer, but back-to-back defeats against Clare (by a point after an epic) and to Limerick (by ten points) put paid to Davy Fitzgerald’s best-laid plans of breaking the glass ceiling.

It will come as little surprise then to hear that Waterford have yet to qualify for the All-Ireland series via the round-robin system.

So it was easy to see why Peter Queally, who was taking charge of his home county for the first time in the Munster championship, wore a look of satisfaction last Sunday evening.

Because if Waterford are going to navigate their way through the bear-pit that is the Munster round-robin series for the first time, they needed to hit the ground running.

There is little time for savouring the moment though with Limerick arriving in Walsh Park on Saturday evening, hunting their first win at the second attempt.

“The home fixtures are paramount to get some results from them,” Queally said before a ball was pucked in this year’s championship."

“We're conscious that the stadium in Walsh Park has been revamped. The pitch has also been improved. It's been widened. It's something we're excited about, playing there at the moment. “We're starting to get the supporters back supporting us. They're enjoying it as well.”

Peter Queally hurled with Waterford from 1989 until 2003 and won a Munster championship medal the year before he departed the inter-county scene.

He has been there and done that as a player, and has gone to become a highly-respected coach and manager at club level with the likes of Kilmallock in Limerick.

This weekend, Queally and his team take on a ‘Green Machine’ that John Kiely has built and who are chasing a magnificent seventh Munster title in a row.

We will be a lot wiser about Waterford’s provincial prospects when the dust settles at Walsh Park but, regardless, they will continue to chase the dream.