Joxer's long-term plan comes together for Waterford
Waterford manager James 'Joxer' O'Connor always believed that his minor hurling project would produce results in year three. At the end of 2024, he only had one championship win to show from nine games.
'I'm pig-headed like that to be honest with you! If I think something is going to work, I'll stick with it. I believed that I had the players to win. At no stage did I say to myself 'you know what, I made a bad decision here, I should get out.' Never. If anything, I was more bull-headed after last year.'
The position wasn't on his radar whatsoever until county board chairman Sean Michael O'Regan made an enquiry three years ago.
'He was the man that set this ball rolling. He rang me one day and asked me would I be interested. To be honest, it was one thing I never envisaged myself doing. I always saw myself as an adult trainer. I thought I might be too hard on younger lads.
"In fairness to Sean he said 'we'll give you everything you need to do this job.' The man stood over it 100%.'
The board stayed loyal through thick and thin. 'There were some tough days. It wasn't all plain sailing by any means. The first year, we won no match. The second year, we won a game and this year, we're in an All-Ireland. I'm delighted that they've stuck with me and hopefully, we'll have silverware at the end of it.'
An All-Ireland minor title would be the pinnacle of his coaching career. Back in 2011, he helped Carrigtwohill to their first Cork senior hurling title in 93 years. The Lismore man recently led Fr O'Neill's and Shamrocks Ballyhale to All-Ireland club finals but lost both.
"Three All-Irelands in six years is not bad going. All I have to do now is win one! I'll be happy then.'
The question on everyone's lips after the semi-final win over Kilkenny was: what happened the team bus? 'I'm not really going to go into it. A bit of a logistics problem. We got to the match, we kept our timeframe that we set which was brilliant. If anything, it took away a bit of the pressure.'
The backroom team brought the starting 15 up in cars from Carriganore. 'We shoved them into the cars and off we went! The bus was late in coming and they picked up the rest of them. They were 40 minutes behind us. Fellas were amused going up in cars with the management. It was funny for the lads. They enjoyed it; I probably didn't! The main thing is we won. Once we win, I don't care what way we travel.'
Will they go by bus or by car this time around? 'We'll plan for the bus but we'll have the cars ready if needs be!'
Sean Power was Waterford minor manager the last time the Irish Press Cup crossed Rice Bridge in 2013. Seven days out from the final against Galway, he also had to deal with a stroke of bad luck.
'All of them got new gear. William Hahessy got new boots, new socks, everything. The Sunday before, he went out just to hit a few balls and run around and he twisted his ankle in his garden. William Hahessy was central to everything we did at number two. So, Hahessy's ankle was out like a balloon on the Sunday. Brendan McCann was our team doctor. McCann looked at it and very soon after he said 'No way in a week will he be ok.'
"We said we'd do a fitness test on the Thursday. Peter Hogan was the baby of the group, he was just gone 16. We put Peter on Hahessy to run him and twist him and turn him. Brendan McCann said 'I'll eat my hat if he passes this, lads.' Peter went at him and William Hahessy tore into him like William Hahessy does at corner back. I remember Kieran O'Gorman turning and saying 'Doc, I hope you brought red sauce to eat your hat!' Sure enough Hahessy was ready for Sunday.'
The homecoming was unforgettable. 'Monday on the Mall in Waterford was incredible. It's something that will stick with me to the day I die. When we went over the bridge into Dungarvan that night, in the dark, it was like the Wild West! It was like a rock concert!'
Twelve years on, the Mount Sion man will be on co-commentary duty for WLR alongside Kieran O'Connor. 'I see a lot of similarities. I see a group of forwards that are lethal. A very exciting team, they play with a bit of purity that we like to see. The semi-final was as good a game as you would see at any grade."
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