Dan Is Still the Man

19 years ago I made my first and only ever visit to Tralee.

The reason for my visit through North Cork and into the Kingdom was like many others to support the Waterford Senior Hurlers in the Munster Championship opener against Kerry.

On the day I sat at the country end of the stand between the 45 and 65 metre lines, getting a good seat as a result of getting to the ground in plenty of time.

On the day if the game was played over 60 minutes, Waterford could well have found themselves in a spot of trouble, as the home side put it up to the visitors who travelled to the game with plenty of confidence, despite a loss to a good Cork side in the League Final a few weeks before the game. But the visitors in the extra ten minutes that is not played in Club games put it up to the hosts and eventually won the game, moving onto a Munster Semi Final.

On of Waterford’s stars that day was a big young man from Lismore – Dan Shanahan.

Dan the Man as he was known to many had come through different underage teams and now was getting to play on the big stage, with bigger games still to come.

Nine years later, under the guidance of Justin McCarthy, Dan Shanahan was a household name, known in every hurling public and private house in the country. He had helped Waterford under the guidance of the Cork man to win three Munster Final’s, that finished as runners up in two other finals, one of which was under the guidance of Gerald McCarthy back in 1998 when Waterford lost out to Clare after a replay in Thurles. He had helped Waterford win the 2007 National League and to reach another final a few years earlier against Galway in Limerick, a ground that has not proven to be a happy hunting ground over the years for the side in white and blue.

It was at the end of that same year that the Lismore man was named in the All-Star team of the year and it was not surprise that he was also named as Hurler of the Year, becoming only the second Waterford man after Tony Browne to win the award. Many still believe that had Waterford got their All-Ireland semi-final against Limerick put back a week after two titanic battles with Cork in the quarter finals, then Waterford’s long wait to bring the Liam McCarthy Cup across Rice Bridge would have come to an end by now. However I guess many of us Waterford supporters forget that in that same year Limerick were also out three weeks in a row before they got past Tipperary in the Munster Championship, so what was good for the goose was possibly good for the gander.

Still key to Waterford in 2010, Big Dan was sprung from the subs bench by Davy Fitzgerald to play extra time for John Mullane in the Munster Final replay against Cork and the Big Man as he had done many times he had played the Rebels in the past banged an all important goal for Waterford as they won a fourth Munster Final since 2002, one that went down in history as the first replay to having taken place on a Saturday evening under the lights of Semple Stadium, the venue where all Munster Hurling Finals should be played in the eyes of yours truly.

While Dan has long hung up his inter county hurley, in games anyway and has got involved in the management side of things, working in Derek McGrath’s management team, on the club scene it is business as usual for Big Dan.

Many wondered had we seen the last of Dan Shanahan at the end of the 2016 campaign, when he helped Lismore win a West Waterford Intermediate Title, a County Intermediate Title and a Munster Intermediate Title and narrowly lost out in the All-Ireland Semi-Final. If he had called time on his playing career after the game few would have been surprised as every hurling lover would have known that he had given it all to both club and county down the years. And every player likes to go out on a high and to go out after winning three titles in a few short weeks with the club, there is hardly a better way he could have bowed out.

But when you love something as much as Dan loves his hurling, it’s hard to give it up and you want to keep going as long as possible.

On Saturday evening last Dan showed he was still ‘The Man’ as he bagged 4-1 out of his sides 6-13 against Passage in the first round of this year’s County Senior Hurling Championship. Not to be outdone, younger brother Maurice also had an impressive evening in Fraher Field scoring 2-8.

At half time Lismore looked dead and buried, and some obituaries were about to be penned. No Doubt those that felt that Big Dan should not have played this year were saying to themselves “I told you so”.

Trailing 3-13 to 1-3, Lismore and the Shanahan Brothers turned on the style in the second thirty minutes.

Dan had got the first of his goals on the quarter of an hour mark when he was in the right place to smash past Eddie Lynch after Peter O’Keeffe batted a high delivery to the lurking Full Forward.

His second goal happed to be his sides third on 33 minutes. Maurice had lobbed Eddie Lynch moments earlier to give his side some hope with the second half just over two minutes old.

It’s no state secret that I am no fan of the short puck out that has crept into the game in recent years and when I see it, regardless of who is playing I like to see them punished. Lismore’s third goal was a result of one of those short puck outs, as Maurice Shanahan intercepted the sliotar and played it to his older brother who made no mistake.

Just before the midway point of the second half, Dan completed his hat-trick when he caught a high delivery from Jack Prendergast to leave his side trailing 3-14 to 4-8.

Six minutes from time he completed his second half hat-trick and registered his fourth of the game when he finished a delivery from Kenny Moore who is throwing his lot in the Cathedral Town Club this year after transferring from Dungarvan, to the net.

Lismore won the game 6-13 to 3-19, totally blowing last year’s Championship Runners-Up apart in the second half, with Big Dan proving that he still is the man.