Maurice Shanahan says Derek McGrath has instilled belief in the Waterford hurlers.

Next up for Na Deise is a mouth-watering All-Ireland semi-final meeting with neighbours and defending champions Kilkenny at Croke Park and ace attacker Shanahan says the underdogs will approach that contest with confidence:

"This Waterford team definitely believes. But Kilkenny are there. They're the best team around. Tipperary aren't far off them, but Kilkenny have the All-Ireland and it's up to us to get up there," he notes in The Irish Examiner.

"We will believe. Whether that's good enough on the day, we'll see, but we'll give them one hell of a battle.

"Dublin gave us one hell of a battle, but we believe in ourselves and that's the main thing. The management team and the players all believe. The management believe in us so much and we're returning the favour.

"Derek is us, you know? He comes up with the tactics and we buy into it. He's the man behind us.

"We tweaked things a small bit, but we had a lot of wides against Tipp. Tipperary are a great team, one of the best around. They and Kilkenny are above everyone else and it's up to us to get up to that level. We're close and we need to drive it on for the next two weeks."

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