Waterford are less than two weeks away from the All-Ireland hurling semi-final against Cork, but their boss Derek McGrath has had to deny allegations he will be managing another country next year.
Speaking to WLR's Deise Today on Tuesday morning, McGrath revealed how he has had to deal with rumours around the county of him joining the Dublin hurlers next year.
He revealed that he had to speak some of the players about the stories circulating around the county, during the week of the historic win against Kilkenny at the start of July.
In a meeting with Tadhg de Búrca and Austin Gleeson ahead of the game, he told WLR how he broached the topic.
Jees, I’ve a funny one for ya lads. My mother just came in from Mass this morning and she met a lady who said to her; 'Derek doesn’t really care how Waterford are going this year. He’s the new Dublin manager next year. Not alone is he the Dublin manager, but he has the director of hurling job lined up in Dublin for €150k. He’s leaving his teaching career, blah, blah, blah.’
So, when I said this to the lads, Tadhg said to me: ‘Jees, my brother said that to me last night.’
The lads know my position anyways. There's certain things you don't leave out in terms of the relationship you have with players. They know, and they were just laughing at the rumour.
He went on to reveal how Gleeson went on to tell McGrath and de Búrca about rumours he had heard regarding "fistycuffs" between himself and the manager in the days following the loss to Cork.
McGrath also admitted to hearing rumours about himself and Philip and Pauric Mahony, where he was supposedly hit with a hurl by Philip.
Despite the rumours, McGrath revealed the three most-likely reasons he will be in Dublin next year, and none of them have anything to do with managing Dublin's hurlers.
I can assure you now the only thing I’ll be in Dublin for next year is I’ll be on the TY trip with De La Salle College to Dundrum at Christmas to go ice-skating. If I’m going to Liffey Valley with my wife when she goes to on the odd Saturday and that’s the only reason why I’ll be in Dublin next year - or the zoo, which I absolutely love.
So there you have it. Derek McGrath says he will not be in charge of Dublin's hurlers next year, and he loves Dublin Zoo!
Openly talking about the rumours before such an important match shows how tense things are in Waterford right now. You can listen to the whole interview below.
