COUGHLAN'S AIR OF HOPE: ‘I don’t want this to be the only final we reach’
Waterford FC manager Graham Coughlan at the press event at the House of Waterford on Monday. Photo: INPHO/Tom O'Hanlon
The Waterford manager has experienced enough cup finals during his playing and coaching career to understand the difference between participating and winning. While he has embraced the excitement sweeping through the city, his focus remains firmly fixed on ensuring the Blues do not leave the Aviva Stadium with regrets.
“Waterford is blue at the minute,” he smiled.
“You can see all the flags out on the street and the buntings and all that, and the people are buzzing about the place. So yes, look, that’s nice. That’s a nice feeling.
“But as I say, I’ve been to many a final in my past, in my playing career. I’ve played in many a final and been as a coach in finals, and I’ve come out the wrong end of one or two, and that’s not a nice feeling.
“That’s a feeling that I will definitely be trying to avoid on Sunday.”
It is a sentiment that underlines the mentality Coughlan has instilled since arriving at the club. Reaching the final is an achievement, but it is not the final destination.
The manager knows Waterford’s supporters have waited a long time for a day like this and he was quick to acknowledge the role they have played throughout a season that has reignited belief across the club.
“The fans have been phenomenal,” he said.
“The tickets are flying. There’s going to be a sea of blue at the Aviva.”
From his first game in charge, Coughlan has spoken repeatedly about the relationship between the team and supporters. He believes the bond has been one of the major driving forces behind Waterford’s success this season.
“From my first day in, the noise of the Block E, the lads bouncing about on the drums, and just the energy that drove into the team and drove into the warm-ups and drove into the games, the energy that the fans drive in for us was absolutely phenomenal,” he said.
“They’ve obviously got a huge, huge part to play in it and the day out should be for them as well on Sunday because, as I said, it was a collective. Everybody together kept this team up.
“Not just the players, not just the goalscorers, not just the management, the support, everybody.
“Everybody played a huge, huge part in that. That’s staff, tea ladies, kitchen staff, the lot, everybody, including yourselves in the media as well.”
The collective spirit Coughlan speaks about extends beyond matchdays. It is something he sees every morning on the training ground and inside the walls of the RSC.
While supporters see the goals, celebrations and results, the Waterford boss says what stands out most to him is the character of the people he works with every day.
“The players have been brilliant. The players have been a joy to work with,” he said.
“I’ve got three kids at home and I love them dearly. But I have to be honest, these lads, I keep telling my missus every weekend, I’m adopting 22 new kids for you.”
The joke draws a laugh, but the affection behind it is genuine.
Coughlan’s admiration for his squad goes beyond footballing ability. In an era where respect and humility are often overlooked, he believes his players set an example.
“Everybody sees them as players. I see them training every day,” he said.
“But not only as footballers, as athletes, as professional footballers on the training ground, they’re brilliant characters. They’re so, so respectful.
“The mannerisms and the please and the thank you. That respect costs nothing.
“When they say please, they say thank you. The plates are lifted up in the canteen. They’re helping the girls across in the canteen at breakfast and things like that.
“They help the kit man no end. No job too big, no job too small for them.”
For Coughlan, those qualities reveal more about a team than any league table or statistics sheet.
“I can’t speak highly enough of them as human beings,” he continued.
“They’re so, so really top-class human beings as well. I’m so delighted to work with them and to be amongst them every day because it makes my job so much easier when you’ve got 22, 23, 24 top-class people, top characters and top respectful people.
“That’s something that’s short in the world now, a little bit of respect, and these lads have it in abundance.”
The squad’s togetherness has already carried them through adversity. Waterford’s season has contained its share of challenges and setbacks, but each time they have responded.
Now they stand one game away from lifting one of Irish football’s most prestigious trophies.
Yet even as the club prepares for one of the biggest occasions in its recent history, Coughlan’s thoughts are already drifting beyond Sunday.
Victory, he believes, should mark the beginning rather than the end.
“Let’s go and win on Sunday and let’s build something again,” he said.
“The rewards on Sunday are huge. We all know that. The financial rewards, European rewards, personal accolades, that would be brilliant.
“And then you can roll into next season with a little bit of confidence, a little bit of momentum.”
It is here that the manager’s ambition becomes most apparent.
He is not interested in celebrating seventh place. He is not interested in treating one cup final appearance as mission accomplished. His vision extends much further.
“I don’t just want this to be the first final they reach,” he said.
“I don’t just want this to be the first three-game unbeaten run or four-game unbeaten run.
“Seventh in the league, is that worth celebrating? Not for me, I’m afraid.
“If I’m a little bit too grumpy, too picky, so be it. That’s me. I ain’t going to change.
“But I want more for this group. I want better for this group.”
Those words may resonate strongly with Waterford supporters who have watched standards rise dramatically under Coughlan’s stewardship.
For all the emotion surrounding Sunday’s final, the manager sees something bigger at stake. He sees an opportunity to lay another foundation stone in the club’s development.
The sea of blue travelling to Dublin will dream of cup glory. Their manager dreams of that too.
But he also dreams of what comes next.
And if Waterford can turn Sunday’s occasion into victory, Coughlan believes it may be only the start of something much bigger.
