That Déise warrior battling with almost no hip cartilage to help break Munster hoodoo

A GRIM STAT to open with: Waterford have won just four times in 25 Munster round-robin games.

Two draws against this weekend’s opponents Tipperary (2018 and 2024) puts a thin sheet of gloss on that record. But otherwise, the numbers are bleak.

Predictions of another early championship exit are already starting to form since Clare handed them their latest black mark. That’s not unusual for a team with such a poor history in this competition.

What is peculiar however, is that the man-of-the-match award went to the losing Déise side.

It was deserved recognition for Stephen Bennett’s brilliant performance. His 3-12 (1-0 Pen, 12f) from 17 shots far exceeded the individual haul of every other scorer on the pitch. Clare’s Mark Rodgers was second by a distance with 0-11. Jason Forde and Alan Connolly were the joint-top scorers in the Cork v Tipperary game, but only with seven points each.

Bennett is in league of his own.

That won’t offer him much solace though. The Ballysaggart forward could barely summon a smile as he accepted his MVP prize on the Sunday Game, admitting that the result left him feeling “sick”.

“I don’t care, and we don’t care that we performed alright.”

But despite the pain of another Munster defeat, hope started to creep into his voice. They can still launch their charge against Tipperary this weekend.

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“Look, we won our first game last year [against Clare] and we didn’t get through. We won [against Cork] and drew [with Tipperary] in our first [matches] the year before and we didn’t get through. We need to beat Tipp. It’s massive now for us.”

Pain and glory

Bennett’s importance to Waterford hurling stretches back for well over a decade. He belongs to that golden generation of underage talent who delivered minor and U21 All-Irelands within a three-year stretch. Their minor success in 2013 was the county’s first since 1948, defeating Galway by 1-21 to 0-16. 

Unsurprisingly, Bennett’s scoring stats were cooking in those days too. At just 15, he scored 3-2 in a Munster minor semi-final win over Limerick which went to extra-time in 2011.

He racked up an incredible 9-11 during the 2013 minor campaign, with four of those points coming in the All-Ireland final.

Waterford encountered Galway again in the 2016 U21 decider and came away with an emphatic 5-15 to 0-14 win to end a 24-year wait an All-Ireland crown at that grade. Bennett bagged two goals in the final and signed out with a championship total of 6-05.

But amidst all that early success, Bennett was already at war with his body. The pain in his hips first began to flare up when he was 15, and operations followed at 17 for torn cartilage. He went under the knife twice more when he was 20, all while somehow making himself available for those minor and U21 All-Irelands.

Bennett has always spoken openly about these struggles, and has relied on his €10,000 analogy to illustrate the seriousness of his issue.

“You’ve €10,000 and every time you run, you spend the money. And when the money is gone, you get hip replacements.”

Bennett discussed his injury woes again on TG4 before Waterford’s league meeting with Kilkenny earlier this year.

He revealed that the pain has worsened in recent years, that there is very little cartilage remaining in his hips, and that he has been advised to step away from hurling.

“Before the warm-up, you’d be thinking, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to play today.’ It sounds silly but the best part is nearly when you’re playing because you can’t think about it. It’s afterwards – the first day is bad but the second day is terrible. I’m definitely better than I would have been years ago [when] I didn’t know what to do with it.

“It’s easy to say, ‘Ah sure just give it up.’ But while I can, I still want to. I’ll do it as long as I can.”

Bennett was speaking on that clip from Kilmagner National School where he is a teaching principal. He talks about the connections he has forged with his pupils and the gratitude he receives from helping them learn at their own pace.

“I’m teaching in an autistic class. Everyday is different. Depending on each child, they access the curriculum in different areas, you suit their needs. On a personal level, you really have more time with them. They’re brilliant. Every day they’re coming in telling you stories and they don’t care about any issues we have so I just love it.”

Longevity

Bennett became a centurion for Waterford last year. He made his 100th appearance in the opening round of the Munster round-robin, marking the milestone with 2-8 against Clare in a man-of-the-match display.

Bennett made his debut in 2014 and the highlights package continues to swell.

An All-Star award and Hurler of the Year nomination in 2020 are top-line achievements. He was the championship’s top-scorer that season with 1-54 as Waterford reached the All-Ireland final when the pandemic forced a return of the old-style knockout format.

Bennett’s 1-10 in the semi-final against Kilkenny was a memorable performance, helping his team storm back from nine points down to clinch a 2-27 to 2-23 win.

His contribution to the Déise’s league success in 2022 is equally noteworthy. A haul of 8-51 made him the number one scorer in Division 1 that season, and his 2-11 in the league final helped Waterford power past Cork to land their fourth league crown.

The numbers over such a consistent period are staggering, considering the physical toll that Bennett is managing throughout it all. His former manager Davy Fitzgerald previously expressed his amazement at Bennett’s tolerance for pain, saying “lesser players would be gone” in 2024.

The current Waterford boss Peter Queally shares those sentiments.

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“It’s not even the scores,” he told the GAA website last week after that defeat to Clare, “It’s his physical presence, his work-rate. He’s an absolute warrior.

“Again, I’m probably saying this with the last two years, if people knew what he puts his body through, and to be able to go out there and put in a performance like he did and work his butt off like he did there, he’s an incredible player.”

Overreliance 

With every passing game, Bennett’s line of credit on his €10,000 continues to dwindle. The clock continues to tick. His hips can only take so much and his resilience can only take him so far.

Outside of his 3-12 against Clare, the other starting five forwards combined for 1-6 last week while substitutes Austin Gleeson and Peter Hogan hit three between them. Clare had 10 scorers versus Waterford’s six.

It was a similar story in last year’s championship where Bennett emerged as their top scorer in every game of the round-robin series. And despite not qualifying out of the province, he was still Munster’s overall top-scorer with 4-33.

His proficiency is to be admired but it also highlights Waterford’s overdependence on him. Tipperary, who also desperately need a win this weekend to ignite their Munster campaign, will look to exploit that issue.

Waterford need a more even spread of scorers if they are to improve on that 4/25 record and break their Munster hoodoo.

The opportunity to share out that responsibility against the All-Ireland champions in front of a home crowd could be just the spark they need.

The stage awaits in Walsh Park.

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