Derek McGrath has refuted rumours that a rift between management and Tom Devine was the reason behind the player's departure from the Waterford squad.

The 21-year-old UCC medical student turned his back on the Deise's championship bid this summer to go to Africa for six weeks on a work placement and then on to San Francisco.

McGrath revealed that he 'pleaded' with Devine to put his travel plans on hold.

"I can see how he might have thought he wasn't getting a sustained run on the team, but that never came to us, he was a gentleman to deal with when he wasn't getting a run. A thorough professional," McGrath told The Irish Independent.

"We wish him well - we might need him in coronary care in a few years! The medical career could take over the hurling career, if I were to guess.

"We trained on the Tuesday (after Galway) and we met after training and he said he was going travelling. I pleaded with him - told him how integral he was to the forward line, that the kick he might get from the performance against Galway might be enough to turn his head in terms of staying and being at the fulcrum of the attack.

"On the Thursday he phoned me to say he'd thought about it for 48 hours, and that he was going.

"Tom said it was holistic, it's career-based, he'll go on with UCC and Modeligo, and the rumour mill, the rumblings that he didn't get on with us, that'll continue. But the truth is very different - you saw that in his own words."

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