Hailing from the Ballygunner area of Waterford but currently doing his stuff in Dunmore East is Passage's forward star Mossy O'Keeffe. It was through school in Ballygunner under the guidance of headmaster Jimmy McGinn that Mossy first developed his innate love of the game that is hurling. And only a few weeks ago he played a leading role in helping Passage to their first ever Waterford Senior Hurling Championship Final! O'Keeffe started to play underage for his native Ballygunner club around the age of eight, before gradually working his way up through the ranks into the senior team. He spent only one year in the Ballygunner senior team before switching clubs to Passage. With Ballygunner Mossie won an under 13 schools medal, an under 16 Eastern Football Championship and an Intermediate Football and Hurling medal. He was unfortunate not to get the opportunity of playing underage fare for the Decies. Born just the wrong side of Christmas on December 19th, he was always just slightly over the age limit when it came to selecting a team. Mossy did play for an underage (under 13) schools team in Croke Park when the Waterford schools team played the Dublin schools team, however. The dual player is a common enough breed in Waterford and O'Keeffe is no exception. He hurls for Passage and also plays a bit of soccer, n but not much. Mossy has been a regular fixture on the Passage senior side since he joined the club in 1985. He blended into the team quickly and success was instantaneous and in 1987 the club reached senior status, winning the Intermediate Championship. Defeat in the final of this year's Waterford Senior Championship at the hands of Lismore was the closest yet that either player or club have come to capturing a senior championship crown. Mossy may not have won a Waterford Senior Championship medal yet, but 1988 was a big year for him nevertheless. That was the year he won an intermediate double. He collected an Eastern Championship and a county championship in hurling with Passage, and Eastern and County Football Championships with Gaultier. So the following year Mossy found himself playing both senior football and hurling! Having already hurled at junior level for his county, the Passage player made his senior inter county debut against Laois in a National League game in 1989. Mossy has played in some memorable matches in his time, none more so than this year's county championship semi final replay. "I'd have to say that that replay against Mount Sion is the most memorable game I've played in. We were two points ahead with not long to go when they scored a goal and a point to put them two points ahead. We were then two points down with about two minutes to go when I scored what proved to be the decisive goal. We held out for the last couple of minutes to make it to our first ever appearance in a senior final. We had been in two semi finals before that but never actually made it to a final. Mount Sion only beat us by a point in the semi final replay in '92, so we had two good battles with them in semi finals over the last couple of years," points out the goal poacher supreme who hurls as a left corner forward but switches flanks to top of the right when he's playing the bigger ball code. When asked who is the most difficult opponent he's ever come up against, he replies diplomatically, "It's hard to single anybody out, I just take them as they come." The biggest disappointment so far in Mossy's career came hot on the heels of his greatest moment. Having helped Passage to their first ever Waterford Senior County Final, it was devastating to lose that decider by the minimum of one solitary point. Having come so close, the Passage players were shattered for days after the game. That cruel defeat came on October 3rd last, but the Passage hurlers have had plenty of time to recover and start looking to the 1994 Waterford Championship. "We have a young team with a few experienced players," points out the Ballygunner native. "We'll be back next year without a doubt." Looking back at this year's Waterford county final, O'Keeffe will tell you that the weather conditions didn't exactly help Passage's cause on the day. "The weather was terrible," he reflects. "It was raining hard and it was very windy. The game should really have been called off but I suppose it was as good for them as it was for us. It was an absolutely terrible day for hurling. We're no good with the wet ball. We had beaten them by twelve points earlier in the year in a Sergeant Cup game in dry conditions. The turning point of the game was Barney Prendergast driving over two points from the middle of the field. That really lifted them." Even though the Passage forward is obviously disappointed not to have picked up a senior championship medal this year, he has good reason to be optimistic for the future. Passage boast more than one good player in their ranks at present. "We have a nicely balanced team. Sean and Eamonn Cullinan would be the main strength of the team. For the sheer commitment he gives on the field, Noel Connors would be another very important player to us. Our underage scene is very good. This year we got to the Minor 'B' and Under 21 finals and our underage teams in general have been doing very well. We have some very good young players coming through," explains O'Keeffe. On the intercounty stage, Waterford hurling has always promised so much while delivering so little. Waterford is reputedly a hurling stronghold and each year rumours that the senior county team are going to burst into life do the rounds. But so far in recent years very little success has actually materialised. Surely it can't be too long now before they win something. Mossy agrees. "We've got an awful lot of good hurlers here in Waterford, and I think it's only a matter of time before we get the breakthrough, hurling is certainly there. All we really need is a bit of luck. If we get out of Munster we'll do some serious damage. It's such a hard province to get out of. We're long overdue a provincial title at this stage. When we won the All-Ireland Under 21 title in '92 I thought that was a great omen for the future, but it just hasn't happened yet. A few of those players have come through into the senior team and some others might come through shortly," he explains. 1993 was a very disappointing year for Waterford's senior hurlers. Defeat in the first round of this year's Munster Championship at the hands of a fired-up Kerry outfit meant that the Decies '93 championship season was well and truly over before it had even begun. Their former player explains what exactly went wrong. "I had played against Kerry in the championship in 1991 down in Fitzgerald Stadium and I can tell you they've been threatening a good result for years. We were lucky to beat them that day. I scored a goal in the second half and then Billy O'Sullivan added another not too long afterwards. Only for those two goals we would never have beaten them. They certainly have the hurlers down there and they were always going to catch somebody on the hop. It was just a very bad day for Waterford. I can tell you we won't get caught like that again! No way!" Coming, as he did, from a family with a very strong hurling tradition, it was only natural really that Mossy O'Keeffe should take to the game which has hurls an sliothars as the main tools. All his family were actively involved in sport. His sisters are all keen camogie players and his uncle, Charlie McCabe, played for Waterford for a short spell in the seventies. As to the two biggest influences on his career, Mossy mentions his father and Jimmy McGinn. "At school you could forget your schoolbag but you couldn't forget your hurl," he jokes. Married to Dunmore East lady Stephanie, Mossy has two children: Tara (8) and Grainne (3). For the past six years he has been operating as a self employed contract cleaner, running 'Mossy O'Keeffe's Contract Cleaners'. He tells us that his greatest hope at the moment is to put right this year's disappointment and win a senior county title with Passage next year. "I'd also love to see Waterford winning an All-Ireland title shortly. If we can win one, we'll win a few of them. It's just a matter of the team getting used to winning," he says. It's all fine and well talking about one's hopes and ambitions, but does the Passage star believe that Waterford can really turn the tide? "They have a very realistic chance. There is great talent in Waterford - as much as there is in any county in Munster. If they can get it right there's a great future for hurling in Waterford. Ballygunner won this year's All-Ireland 'Sevens' and Mount Sion were in the final last year and Passage themselves the year before - that illustrates that there is great potential here. They'll have to get their act together at board level because the players are certainly there." Mossy feels that the current hurling season is a bit too long and strenuous. "They should shorten the season. We played in the county final on October 3rd and we had started training in February. It's a very long season - especially if you're playing both codes," he points out. The Passage player believes that it could be very difficult to shake off Kilkenny's stranglehold on the Liam McCarthy Cup. "They're going to be a very hard team to beat," he accepts. "I can't see anything to rival them at the moment. They learned a lot when they lost to Tipperary in 1991. Kilkenny have a real never-say-die attitude. Look at the way their Under 21's came back in the last ten minutes of the drawn final against Galway. You've never beaten them until you're sitting down in the dressing room, they play right up to the final whistle." If the Waterford are to meet with some championship success in the future, they could very well be pinning their hopes on a young Passage player whom Mossy O'Keeffe holds in the highest esteem. The player in question is seventeen year old Barry Welsh. "This is his first senior season and he can't play for Waterford this year because he's concentrating on the Leaving Cert. He's a brilliant hurler though and he'll walk onto the senior team when he's ready," enthuses one of Waterford's greatest hurling sons. It looks as if the Decies could be set to come good in the near future. Let's hope they do - the game of hurling could be doing with a strong Waterford side. "In my years playing with Passage hurling club, I have enjoyed my association with the club both on and off the field. "It is an honour to play beside our club captain this year - Noel Connors - who has given a lot to both club and county, a man with the heart of a lion. It was disappointing he didn't hold up the cup for the club this year, but please God in '94 we will bring back the cup to the fishing village of Passage. If we put in the same effort as last year, I don't see why not," says Mossy in his tribute to his beloved club. Taken from Hogan Stand magazine, November 1993 Tweet

Most Read Stories