“It was the hardest phone call I made in a long time” says Shanahan

Moving from Ken McGrath’s Under 20s to Peter Queally’s seniors in the off-season was a tricky one for Dan Shanahan. He shared the Waterford dressing room with both men during the nineties and noughties.

“Peter would have come to me on a few occasions, when he was going for the job, to go in as coach and unfortunately he didn’t get the job. I think this was his third time going for it and thank god he got it this time. Other people would have walked away. I was with the 20s and I really, really enjoyed it with Ken. It was the hardest phone call I made in a long time when I had to ring Ken and say that Peter was after asking me to come in with him. Ken McGrath, the man that he is, said ‘Dan, the best of luck.’ The one thing we said at the end of the phone call is that we’re all here trying to do our best for Waterford hurling. Peter with the seniors, Ken with the 20s and James O’Connor with the 17s. We’re all doing our best for Waterford hurling. When Peter knocked, we had a good chat and it was hard to say no. I don’t feel like I let Ken down. Ken is doing his bit for the 20s. When it comes to senior, you’re with the elite players in the county. I wanted to take this opportunity again to train the elite players in the county and see where we can go.” 

This is his second shot at coaching the Déise seniors, having previously served under Derek McGrath from 2014 to 2018. 

“Derek was absolutely outstanding. What a manager, what a coach. You see what he has done with Doon. I couldn’t speak highly enough of Derek. I went to Bennettsbridge and what I’ve learned below in Kilkenny with the last three or four years is unbelievable. The toughest club championship in the country is down in Kilkenny I reckon. Unfortunately, we didn’t get over the line. We got to two semi finals and won a couple of leagues. I’ve really learned as a coach I’d like to think. We, as a management, want to get our players back enjoying hurling. If we can do that, I think we can go places. I’m not saying they didn’t enjoy it in the last number of years. I just feel if we can get them enjoying it more, who knows what might happen.”

The goal for 2025 is clear.

“To get out of Munster. We haven’t got out of Munster in years. That’s no disrespect to the previous managers. Obviously, they met better teams on the day. It’s about having the belief that you’re going to win every game. Are we going to win them? You have to believe you’re going to win every game. We’re in 1B this year. Don’t get me wrong, we’re away to Carlow for our first game. They drew with Kilkenny last year in the championship. That’s going to be a tough game. We have to believe that we’re going to come out of Munster and push on. We haven’t won Munster since 2010, we haven’t won an All Ireland since 1959. They’re all saying it’s the underage this, it’s the underage that. It’s not. I don’t blame the underage. I think there’s plenty of good hurlers.”

Shanahan feels that the potential is there to achieve that elusive top three finish in the round robin. 

“I definitely do, I’ve always believed it. That’s why I came back. I believe in this bunch of players. I believe we have the talent to win games. I wouldn’t get involved if I didn’t think so. With the 20s last year, I believed we had the talent to get out of that too. We tried our best, the players tried their best. We didn’t get results but we tried our best. Trust me, if these boys buy into what we’re going to do, and they will, who knows what will happen in 2025. It’s going to take a lot of hard work and a lot of belief. When you’re down and you’re not winning that you’re going to get up and win. How many games have we been ahead by four or five points then a goal and next minute it’s a draw game or we lose by a point. So, we’re in games but we’re not finishing games. That’s the mental side more than the physical side. If we can improve their mentality, which we will with Shane O’Sullivan, please god we can get a few good results in 2025.”