What the Waterford players got up to after crushing loss shows exactly why these lads will be back

These lads will be back.

Waterford went down in Sunday's All-Ireland final, but they went down fighting. There's something about this group of lads that you just have to admire. Their bond, their unity, their spirit, their camaraderie, their togetherness. They are a bunch of young lads, they have grown up with each other, playing on underage Déise teams with each other, gone to school with each other. Each one of them would die for the man beside him on the field, and they're friends off it, too. They win together, they lose together, they socialise together. These lads are a team bound together. Derek McGrath is a genius. Waterford should do absolutely everything within their power to hold on to him for next year, because he has brought Waterford hurling from the doldrums to the very top of the game. How has he done it? He stuck with his own convictions, he stuck with his players. He trusts them and they trust him. They understand the flak that man took for them when they were struggling and they would do anything to repay him, to protect him. Sunday wasn't their day, and despite these lads' disappointment and their frustration at how their dreams slipped away from them, they suffered together, and you just know well they will be back. When they won last year's All-Ireland under-21 Championship, they celebrated together. That spirit will transpire, and the people of Waterford will be so proud when it does. https://www.instagram.com/p/BJJPII7DnZT/?taken-by=tadhgbourke06 Shoulder to shoulder in bad times and in good. https://www.instagram.com/p/BYnYQ9RBdus/?taken-by=aussiegleeson Colin Dunford has years ahead of him in the blue and white. https://www.instagram.com/p/BYnb9xhlijV/?taken-by=colin_dunford15 Brothers. One in. All in. No wonder their county is so proud of them. https://www.instagram.com/p/BYnepEegYXu/?taken-by=jbarron_26 The biggest hero of all. https://www.instagram.com/p/BYoaiQ9AwHR/?taken-by=beat102103