JUST as the pyrotechnics died on June 17, three of Austin Flynn's grandsons threw themselves into the white flood.

Hurleys in hand, they were lost to the throng in seconds as great, breathless Waterford hordes poured onto the Thurles field in acclamation of a momentous Munster Championship victory over Cork. Flynn's son-in-law quickly took off in pursuit of the children.

Awaiting their return, Austin was approached by an elderly couple. They knew him from old and began to reminisce about a shared past. They remembered how, in '59, they had cut short their honeymoon in London to get home for the All-Ireland final replay against Kilkenny. They spoke of how the emotion of what they saw that day became embedded in them as people.

"Imagine!" said one. "We haven't missed a Waterford game since."

Imagined

Flynn was full-back on that team of '59, the last from the county to win the Liam McCarthy Cup. A teak-tough hurler from Abbeyside, he never imagined then that Waterford hurling could ever again plummet into a barren stretch almost beyond the reach of recovery.

But that's pretty much what they did. After defying Tipperary's bid for a third All-Ireland in a row in '63, Waterford would go 39 years without winning another Munster title. In that time, they - infamously - lost consecutive provincial finals to Cork ('81 and '82) by an average of 25 points.

So following Waterford became a business, largely, of grief and sacrifice. Short of investing in voodoo powders, shrunken skulls and soggy tea-leaves, successive Waterford managers tried every imaginable superstition and stratagem to lift the county from its misery.

Listening to that couple articulate their unequivocal affection for and loyalty to Waterford hurling, Flynn found himself thinking that this was a devotion probably beyond the understanding of hurling's oligarchs.

"It's something the Cork, Tipp or Kilkenny supporters don't realise," he says now. "People have been following Waterford every year in the hope of something happening. It's easy to follow a team if they're winning. Or, at least, a team that's expected to win.

"But, over the years, Waterford supporters just kept going, no matter the setbacks. The big guns haven't a true appreciation of what that means. And you can't blame them for that. It's always been up to us to catch up. But this hurling team means so much to Waterford now. And that creates its own pressure. It's like the first fella to run the four-minute mile.

"Once he does it, it's easy to run it the second time. But the first one? It's so difficult when it feels so far away."

Tomorrow, Waterford bid to win their third Munster crown in six years under Justin McCarthy. So, the "first one" that Flynn refers to is, clearly, an All-Ireland crown. He admits that talking about All-Irelands "is ridiculous at this stage". But all of Waterford is drawn in the direction of such talk.

Caught

On Thursday night in Walsh Park, McCarthy named a team for tomorrow's final against Limerick that caught just about everyone off guard. Kevin Moran had been flying in training but, after a minimal involvement in the county's successful National League run (he played full-back the opening day against Wexford), it was thought unlikely that he'd gain selection.

If James Murray's place was under pressure, most assumed that that pressure was coming from Brian Phelan. As it happens, Moran's inclusion muddies the water. While he has played full-back for the county's under-21s, he is also accomplished at half-back and midfield.

Declan Prendergast looked to have made the number three shirt his own during a fine League campaign, but Waterford's concession of 3-18 against Cork three weeks ago could, conceivably, have persuaded McCarthy to re-calibrate the defence again. If so, it is an old story.

Nine of the side that beat Tipp in the breakthrough 2002 Munster final start tomorrow. Yet only three - Eoin Murphy, Tony Browne and Ken McGrath - are defenders. And, five years ago, Browne was playing in midfield and McGrath at half-forward.

'In some ways, I

hate talking to journalists about 1959. Because that has put extra pressure on Waterford down the years.'

Compare this to Waterford's attack where five of those starting tomorrow - Dan Shanahan, Seamus Prendergast, Eoin Kelly, Paul Flynn and John Mullane - were all involved in 2002.

Under McCarthy, scoring has never been Waterford's problem. Defending has.

Between 2002 and 2005, Waterford tried 14 different players in the full-back line, so the notion that McCarthy may - again - have a scalpel in hand won't exactly imbue supporters with enthusiasm. The hunch here is that Moran will simply slot into Murray's wing-back position, leaving the full-back line of Murphy, Prendergast and Aidan Kearney intact. For now, at least.

Kearney, whose twin brother Paul was seen as an extraordinary talent during their days playing Harty Cup with St Colman's, Fermoy, has been a revelation. Slight of build, he compensates with an uncompromising, tenacious approach to the business of marking. With fellow West Waterford man Prendergast alongside, Kearney has settled remarkably quickly into the beat of inter-county hurling.

Likewise, the third Waterford newcomer this year, midfielder Stephen Molumphy. An army officer, Molumphy is one of four brothers to hurl with Ballyduff Upper and, if there have been occasional flurries of concern for his level of concentration at this level, there have been none for the integrity of his work ethic.

A fourth player who could have made the breakthrough, Shane Walsh, has been hampered by persistent injury and might otherwise have found a place in the Waterford attack by now.

Prendergast, Kearney, Molumphy and Walsh all hail from West Waterford, a side of the county aligned traditionally with football. Their emergence speaks of the changing demographic within Waterford hurling.

The team that won an All-Ireland in '59 was built, essentially, around one of the greatest club sides ever seen. Between 1957 and '65, Mount Sion won nine consecutive county titles, only being deprived a tenth by Erins Own after a replay.

Frankie Walsh, a product of that lineage, captained Waterford in '59. Before the 2002 Munster final, McCarthy invited Walsh, Tom Cheasty and Martin Óg Morrissey to speak to his team. Walsh remembers the experience fondly, recalling the respect and attentiveness shown by players who had not even been born when they were in their prime.

Of tomorrow, he says simply: "I'd be very wary. Limerick must have benefited from their three games with Tipp. In Waterford, unfortunately, we tend to expect a terrible lot. We're that kind of county. But I'd be hopeful that we'd win. It would suit Waterford better to go through the front door if we want to go further this year."

Walsh and Flynn share a desire to see their own place in Waterford's history downgraded now. As Flynn puts it: "In some ways, I hate talking to journalists about 1959. Because that has put extra pressure on Waterford down the years. Soon as Waterford do anything, we're harping back to '59.

"And that's the tragedy of Waterford. People say to me, 'tis a pity ye didn't win more All-Irelands in your time,' but it would have been far more important had we won one in between. I'm sure a lot of the current players are inclined to say 'all this oul talk and bull about the fellas of '59.' And I wouldn't blame them. We wouldn't have been half as fit as these fellas. Or half as fast. Everything has improved. I've the utmost respect for these fellas. They're doing things that we wouldn't be able to do."

Four years ago, in a newspaper interview, Justin McCarthy expressed a view about tradition in hurling. "Tradition" he said "is a killer disease within the GAA. It's an awful thing to get over."

On the eve of the first Waterford-Limerick Munster final in 73 years, he might now - at least - console himself with the thought that he has gone some way towards countering that "disease". Yet, in the last decade, Waterford have played in three All-Ireland semi-finals and never made a final.

That is the bottom line for the county now. Taking the next step. Tomorrow won't make or break them.

- Vincent Hogan