Stephen O’Keeffe has stopped short of ruling out a Waterford return, almost two years after he last lined out for the county.
The 2017 All Star goalkeeper told then Deise boss Liam Cahill of his intention to sit out the 2021 season following Waterford’s run to the 2020 All-Ireland final but last year he effectively confirmed his retirement, insisting that “that chapter is finished for myself now”.
He was notably less emphatic when speaking after his club Ballygunner swept past Kilruane MacDonaghs in the Munster quarter-final on Sunday, however, albeit he gave no firm indication that a return was on the cards either.
READ MORE: Kilruane unbowed by heavy defeat as ruthless Ballygunner move on
It comes after new Waterford manager Davy Fitzgerald stated recently that he would love to entice the 31-year-old back on board.
“Ah look, at the moment I’m fully just concentrating with Ballygunner, it’s not even on the radar at the moment,” said O’Keeffe. “It’s just all full steam ahead now for two weeks against Na Piarsaigh and I can’t be even looking further than that to be honest.”
O’Keeffe will do well to give the upcoming provincial semi-final against the Limerick champions his full focus with it having all the hallmarks of a pivotal tie in the club hurling season as Ballygunner put their Munster and All-Ireland titles on the line.
Na Piarsaigh have won four Munster crowns since 2011, beating Ballygunner in two of those finals, and the only defeat that they have ever suffered in the province was when the perennial Waterford champions turned the tables in the 2018 final.
Reflecting on that win four years ago, O’Keeffe said: “It would have been tough to lose again but any time you get into Munster, it’s an incredibly hard province to get out of.
“There’s some fantastic teams in Munster and they always come in with a winning attitude and confidence from winning their county so it’s incredibly difficult. It took us a lot of goes to finally get over the line and even when you got over the line you felt, ’Now this is it’.
“We got to the Munster final again the year afterwards and we were outworked and bet by Borris-Ileigh then so there’s nothing that can be taken for granted and we’re well aware of that.”
Ballygunner certainly appear to be in fine fettle going into the game at the TUS Gaelic Grounds on Sunday week having cruised past Kilruane with 17 points to spare.
It came a full eight weeks after their last competitive fixture, with Waterford one of the first counties to wrap up their club hurling programme this year.
Ballygunner had a similar lead-in last year and also made light of it, scoring another 17-point victory over Clare’s Ballyea.
“I think there was probably more nerves about it last year and more uncertainty last year when it was our first time trying to manage an eight/nine-week break but I think the fact that we managed it last year and came in and gave a good performance up in Ennis, it gave us a bit of confidence that we had the blueprint to do it again,” O’Keeffe explained.
“It’s the same management as last year so they had it down to a tee, giving us our two weeks and building us up for another two and then getting back into the few matches.”
He added: “We took the two weeks off and a few lads went away on a bit of a holiday to Portugal or whatever, totally reset and then when you go back in you’re doing that bit of harder training as well so it feels like you’re kind of building up to something different, like a different competition almost,” O’Keeffe continued.
“The internal games for the last few weeks have been really, really good so we’re in a good place.”
With Ballygunner hurling-only, some took the opportunity to play football with Gaultier, who reached the senior semi-final, in the intervening weeks, though not O’Keeffe.
“I didn’t personally, I tried a few years ago and it didn’t work out too well!” he laughed. “No, kicking the ball isn’t as easy as it looks on the telly!
“We do have a good few lads that do play the football alright and I think it’s important to refresh a little bit and do something different.”
READ NEXT:
Ireland player ratings as van der Flier shines against world champions
Ireland rugby fans not impressed as music blares during breaks in play at the Aviva
Rhys McClenaghan makes history with gold at World Gymnastics Championships
Erling Haaland grabs late winner off bench to rescue win for 10-man Man City vs Fulham
Tuesday continues Aidan O'Brien's red-hot form at Breeders’ Cup
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts
