It is a measure of how much expectations have increased in Waterford hurling circles that a first National League success in 44 years, coupled with a third Munster title since 2002, failed to satisfy the players and supporters this year. Only an All-Ireland win will sate their appetite according to centre forward Seamus Prendergast. Seamus Prendergast isn't contented. He may have been part of the first Waterford team to win a National League title since 1963, and picked up his third Munster championship medal in 2007, but his and Waterford's long wait for Liam McCarthy glory goes on after another heartbreaking All-Ireland semi-final loss. Since 2002, Waterford have appeared in four All-Ireland semi-finals and lost the lot. Kilkenny defeated them in 2002 and 2004, Cork broke their hearts in 2006 and this year Limerick toppled them in a stunning upset. Without doubt, the Limerick defeat was the biggest setback this Waterford team has suffered but powerful centre forward Seamus Prendergast isn't losing hope and is convinced they can bounce back. "It was a hard one to take, but you've got to take it on the chin and try to move on," he says. "We were absolutely gutted after this year's All-Ireland semi-final because, as everyone knows, our goal all year had been to reach the All-Ireland final. The National League and Munster wins were great, but the All-Ireland was the one were really wanted. "It's going to be difficult to come back from this, but there is a fierce determination among the players to make amends next year. It can be done - look at what the Armagh footballers achieved in 2002 after all the near misses they had before then." Waterford's first National League success in 44 years, which was achieved at the expense of All-Ireland champions Kilkenny, showed just how close Justin McCarthy's men are to ending their All-Ireland famine. "We beat an exceptional Kilkenny team in the final and beat Cork and Tipperary before that. They're the three most successful counties in hurling, so no-one can say we won a handy league or anything like that," the Ardmore man adds. Waterford had mixed results in their divisional games before really catching fire in the knock-out stages. They opened their Division 1A campaign with a 1-23 to 1-12 victory over Wexford and followed that with a 0-16 to 0-12 defeat of Cork. Clare beat them by 1-13 to 0-9 in their third outing before winning ways were regained with a 29-point mauling of Down in Dungarvan. A semi-final place was now within Waterford's sights, but two goals from Joe Bergin saw them crash to a surprise 1-19 to 3-15 defeat to Offaly in their final divisional game. As a result, Waterford had to be content with a quarter-final spot and a meeting with Michael 'Babs' Keating's Tipperary. Former All-Star Eoin Kelly was on fire in the first half of the Nowlan Park clash, helping himself to 1-7 as the Deise built up a healthy seven-point interval lead. Tipp took the first three points of the second half and when Paul Kelly beat Clinton Hennessy for a goal with 12 minutes remaining, the margin was down to the minimum. John Mullane and Dan Shanahan responded with scores for Waterford, but Tipp were proving difficult to shake off and were level with a minute left thanks to a fine Willie Ryan effort. Extra-time looked to be on the cards until substitute Shane Walsh broke through a posse of Tipp defenders to fire over a magnificent winner and leave the final score reading 1-20 to 1-19 in Waterford's favour. That set up a rematch with Cork at Semple Stadium and once again Waterford showed their mettle to prevail by three points, 1-19 to 1-16. After a shaky start, Shanahan brought Waterford back into it with a 24th minute goal and the sides were level on no fewer than nine occasions before a strong finish from the blue and whites, which yielded scores from Seamus Prendergast and 'Big Dan', secured their place in the final. When Waterford lost the 2004 National League final to Galway, they may have been guilty of having one eye on their championship opener against Clare one week later. This time around, however, they had no such distractions and they duly put paid to Kilkenny's hopes of a three-in-a-row of title wins with a performance filled with fire and passion. Having deservedly built up a three-point lead by the 21st minute, Waterford just about managed to keep their noses in front at half-time, 0-11 to 0-9. Kilkenny had levelled within five minutes of the resumption and few would have bet against them after they tagged on a further four points to put daylight between the sides. But Waterford still had plenty of fight in them, and aided by the contribution of substitutes Paul Flynn and Eoin McGrath, they regained parity in the 57th minute through Shanahan. From there to the end, the game was fought out at a frenzied pace. Kilkenny went back in front through Henry Shefflin in the 62nd minute before John Mullane pointed twice to put Waterford back in front. With the sides locked on 0-18 each entering injury-time, Waterford dug deep and were rewarded with late points from Eoin Kelly and Seamus Prendergast which sealed a 0-20 to 0-18 victory. After a training break in Portugal, it was on to the championship for the new National League champions who opened their campaign with a thrilling 5-15 to 3-18 victory over a Cork team that was deprived of the suspended trio of Donal Og Cusack, Diarmuid O'Sullivan and Sean Og O hAilpin. Waterford's Munster final opponents were Limerick, who had beaten Tipperary after three epic contests in the other semi-final. On a wet afternoon in Thurles, there was little to separate the sides until the closing stages when huge gaps began to appear in the tiring Limerick defence and Dan Shanahan took full advantage - the big Lismore man helping himself to a hat-trick of goals in a nine-point win. In the All-Ireland quarter-final at Croke Park, Waterford renewed their rivalry with Cork, who were by then back to full strength. Another tremendous battle ensued with the sides level five times in the first half. On the restart, Paul Flynn scored an opportunist goal after just 17 seconds and Waterford weren't headed again until the 61st minute when Kieran Murphy goaled for Cork. The Munster champions were rocked a second time when Neil Ronan's second goal (his first came from a 41st minute penalty) helped Cork into a four-point lead. Waterford refused to wilt, however, and after Stephen Molumphy replied with a 68th minute goal, Eoin Kelly slotted over a highly contentious free in stoppage-time to leave the teams level on 3-16 apiece. Waterford's steely resolve and magnificent character were the key factors in their 2-17 to 0-20 replay triumph. An almost super-human effort was required to finally see off the challenge of the Rebels with Dan Shanahan's 56th minute goal going a long way towards settling a contest that had been level nine times. Cork led by 0-11 to 1-7 at half-time and the scores were level on four further occasions in the first 15 minutes of the second half. But 22 minutes in, Shanahan pounced for his eighth goal of the championship to propel the Deise into a four-point lead and with Ken McGrath majestic at centre back, there was no way back for Cork. A Waterford-Kilkenny All-Ireland final looked a certainty at this stage, but Limerick hadn't read the script and, powered by two goals each from Andrew O'Shaughnessy and Donie Ryan, avenged their Munster final loss with a remarkable 5-11 to 2-15 victory in front of over 80,000 enthralled fans at Croke Park. Playing their third game in as many weeks, Waterford were nowhere as assured or effective as they had been against Cork in their two quarter-final clashes, leading to suspicions that those energy-sapping encounters had left them slightly leg weary for Limerick's high-tempo challenge, which saw them storm into a 10-point lead after just 23 minutes. Waterford reduced the deficit to the minimum with six minutes remaining, but unlike the Munster final when they finished the stronger, it was Limerick's turn to power on over the home stretch with O'Shaughnessy (from a penalty) and Brian Begley scoring the clinching goals. "The Cork games took a lot out of us and it was almost a reverse of the Munster final when we went in fresh and Limerick were after having three tough games against Tipperary," says Seamus, whose younger brother Declan made the full back position his own this year. "It was the worst defeat we ever had, especially as all our supporters had been expecting us to get to the final. It was devastating really, but you've just got to keep trying." Prendergast takes encouragement from the emergence of new stars such as Aidan Kearney and Stephen Molumphy, and is confident that the team's more senior campaigners will give it one more crack in 2008. "The young lads that have come in have done really well and obviously everyone is hoping that the likes of Tony Browne and Paul Flynn will stay on for another year. We need everyone if we are to finally get over that finishing line. There was a lot of consistency in our performances this year and if we can learn from our mistakes, we shouldn't be too far off the mark," he concludes. Tweet

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