For all of a dozen years Peter has held down this demanding and vitally important coaching post, and has been nothing less than a revelation in the way he has so faithfully and diligently carried out his many duties.

It was, of course, his livelihood over those last twelve years, but believe me it was also very much a labour of love for one who was born, bred, and reared inside the GAA and more specifically inside the ancient hurling game.

The enthusiasm of the man has never been other than infectious, and it was that enthusiasm which made him an instant hit when he took over his coaching role.

He quickly built up a rather special rapport with the clubs, with the teachers, and most importantly of all with the young boys and girls who came under his talented and skilful tutelage.

In his own playing days with Kilgobinet Peter was then as he is today- a born leader. In game after game he starred in the green and white jersey and he always led the side by example. I doubt if Kilgobinet has had a greater servant on the playing fields over the years than he.

There was also his involvement as a selector in 1992 with Waterford’s All-Ireland winning Under 21 team.

I can still see him almost prancing up and down the sideline equipped with a hurley in each hand and frequently clashing them to make a sound that reverberated all over the ground. It was his unique way of spurring on his charges - and invariably the unusual ploy worked.

And then we had Peter Power the club coach, who guided a virtual plethora of teams countywide to divisional and county championship success. Jocously it has been said of him that he had more clubs than Tiger Woods, and while this to an extent is true it only highlights the demands that were made upon him for his talented coaching services.

Generous to a fault, it is Peter who has been handing out the thanks and the verbal bouquets to the countless people who have undoubtedly been of assistance to him throughout his time as coach. I don’t have a problem with that, but let him sit back and take the tributes that are now flowing his way because at the end of the day he is ever so richly deserving of them.

Incidentally his choice of year to call it a day is interesting. Very interesting. A year when Waterford regained the Munster senior hurling championship after a lapse of thirty nine years.

A year when Mount Sion retained for Waterford the Munster club championship won so magnificently by Ballygunner in 2001. And most of all a year when his beloved Kilgobinet were crowned county junior football champions for an historic first time.

I have had the pleasure, indeed the privilege, of knowing and befriending this extraordinary man for the bones of forty years.

From the very beginning I saw him for what he was, a human being of total integrity and a man who was never prepared to give less than one hundred per cent to whatever it was he turned his hand.

He has been impeccable in every way in his twelve years as juvenile hurling coach in the county, and to quote from the world of politics “he has given some service”.

Many of the heroes of Waterford’s memorable Munster hurling final victory over Tipperary in 2002 were his protégés, and his legacy is in every sense a lasting and healthy one.

If ever a retirement was well and honourably earned Peter Power’s was. However I can’t see the man just “melting” into oblivion because that simply is not his style. Expect him to be at the ready in the coming year(s) to pass on some of his vast coaching experience to clubs that will be only too happy to avail of it.

Meanwhile my sincere personal thanks and congratulations to Peter for his massive coaching input where it matters most - with the youngsters - over those twelve years. He truly will be a hard act to follow.

SOAKING UP THE SUN

As we continue to wrap up in the face of the worst of the winter weather todate we can only cast envious eyes towards Morocco where the county’s senior hurlers are currently on a well deserved holiday break.

The official County Board party flew out last Tuesday and are due home next Tuesday, hopefully refreshed and ready to face into the challenges that are little more than around the corner.

The National League gets under way on February 23rd, but the season begins one week earlier for the Mount Sion contingent when our county champions take on Dunloy of Antrim in the All-Ireland club semi-final which will most probably be played at Dublin’s Parnell Park.

I spoke with Ken McGrath a few days before the trip to Morocco, and while he was very much looking forward to it he assured me it will not be all picnicking for himself and his club colleagues who are members of the travelling party.

“We have given an absolute promise to our coach Jim Greene that we will put in about forty five minutes of decent training each day while away, and I don’t see a problem for any of us in keeping that promise,” Ken said.

“We will do everything we can as players to bring the All-Ireland title to Waterford for the first time.”

Ken is also looking forward to the upcoming league and championship campaigns, and is insistent that we can do well in both.

“As Munster champions of course we are there to be toppled, and it will be very difficult to retain our provincial title. But we are good enough to do so and then hopefully and go on and make up for the disappointment of last year’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat.”

PARK HOTELAWARD

Meantime congratulations to Ken on his nomination as the Park Hotel Sport Star award winner for the final month of 2002.

He now joins fellow county stars Fergal Hartley and Eoin Kelly in the final line up from which the Waterford Supreme Sport Star Of The Year will be chosen and announced at a gala banquet in the Park Hotel on Saturday night of next week.

I am one of the five people who comprise the adjudicating panel, and believe me when I say that even I don’t envy the task that lies ahead of us in selecting the overall winner.

All I will say however is that the twelve nominees are very worthy contenders, and whoever garners the ultimate accolade will be very worthy of it.

TRANSFERS

There’s just a whisper or two doing the rounds as of yet about transfers in the coming year. No big name has emerged todate, but with the deadline date not until next month there’s still time for something to happen on that particular front.

Meanwhile transfers at County Bord Na n"g must be completed by this Friday January 10th, and I’m assured none will be entertained by the board beyond that very specific date. Forewarned should be forearmed then for those clubs intending to indulge themselves in this year’s “transfer market”.

CHAIRMAN ON THE MEND

A bit of good New Year news now. Readers of the column will know that Western Board chairman Paddy Walsh received a bit of a knock healthwise shortly before Christmas that necessitated him spending a week or thereabouts in the Waterford Regional Hospital.

Well the genial Colligan Rockies/Emmetts clubman was home in time to spend Christmas with his wife Mary and family, and there’s even better news now in that Paddy has all but made a complete recovery.

He hasn’t resumed his GAA duties in full yet just yet, but the expectation is that he will be back in harness to chair the first meeting of 2003 of the incoming divisional board next month.

He has proven himself to be a top class chairman since assuming office (is it five or six years ago?), and has well and truly earned the respect he now commands from every club throughout the division.

BILLY O’KEEFFE

Another stalwart gael recovering from illness is Shamrocks clubman Billy O’Keeffe who was also hospitalised for a spell but is now happily at home again and, like Paddy Walsh, speeding towards a full recovery.

Those of us of a certain vintage will always remember Billy O’Keeffe, the teak tough defender who never conceded a soft score to any opponent.

He played through countless championship campaigns in the green and white of his beloved Shamrocks, and if ever the Knockanore based club decides on a “Hall Of Fame” one of the first names that will be pencilled in will be Billy O’Keeffe’s.

He and I have been a long time friends, and it is with more than a modicum of personal pleasure that I have learned of his return home from hospital. Now I’m looking forward to meeting him and doing what he does best nowadays - urging on Shamrocks teams to further championship glory.

THE LATE JOHN AND DAVY BARRY

West Waterford is still endeavouring to come to terms with the deaths of John and Davy Barry which occurred within hours of each other at the Bon Secours Hospital in Cork last week.

John lived at Glencairn, Lismore, and Davy a short distance away with an address at Glencairn, Tallow. They were dyed in the wool GAA men and were members of a family, which rendered extraordinary service to the Association over many years and decades.

Davy in particular will be remembered for as long as the games of hurling and football are played in his beloved Ballyduff. He was a stalwart player in his own day, but perhaps he will be remembered most of all for his contribution to the club off the field.

He served as chairman for eight years before stepping down in the very recent past, and at the time of his death was club president.

He was also a senior hurling selector in 2002, and of course in the great days for the club’s senior hurlers he was very much involved.

Ironically his son David, who received his secondary school education at Lismore CBS, decided to pursue his playing career in the black and amber of Lismore and he has been an ever present at full back for the Cathedral town club for the bones of a decade and possibly more.

Davy’s brother John, with whom he was extremely close, was more renowned for his achievements within the agriculture industry, serving as chairman of Waterford Foods for several years before it joined forces with Avonmore Foods to form the new Glanbia plc.

He was at the time of his death national president of ICOS and was a former Waterford IFA chairman.

But like Davy the GAA was a part of his very soul, and there was no greater supporter of all the county teams than he.

Their respective funerals were among the biggest the West Waterford region has ever seen with a huge GAA input at both.

The Ballyduff club certainly did Davy proud, with his coffin draped in the red and white colours and club members providing a guard of honour.

To the wives and families of both men who I was honoured to have known for so many years as friends, the column extends its deepest sympathy. Go ndeine Dia trócaire ar a h-anamacha dílis.

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