Conor Hayes is obviously one of those who believes that there is no place in hurling for game plans…

Against Kilkenny yesterday, not only did Galway not have a Plan B – they didn’t even have a Plan A. Wexford knew they had no hope of winning either a physical battle or an aerial battle against the Cats, so they kept the ball low, pulled first time and played the ball into space. Even playing at half-cock, Kilkenny still should have won that game, but at least Wexford were still within striking distance when their golden opportunity arrived.

By contrast, Galway were clueless in Thurles. They have skilful hurlers who can look good if they are allowed to, as was the case in the League final. However, it must be obvious to everyone by now that Waterford’s collective mind was elsewhere that day. There was all this talk about Galway having the most lethal full forward line in hurling, but what use is that if they don’t get any ball? They got three scores and three wides in the second half in Thurles. Hardly a ball got through the Kilkenny halfback line. Not only are Galway too small and bereft of ball winners, but they also lack aggression and have no concept of ground hurling. Trying to lift a ball in a tight space surrounded by three bigger Kilkenny players is the height of folly.

An Moltóir has always been of the view that the Galway team of the late 1980s would have won several more All-Irelands if they had played sensible direct hurling rather than Cyril Farrell’s pick-and-run approach. Wexford always favoured that approach too, but showed against Kilkenny that even they could be converted – to such an extent that in the Leinster final they actually played more first-time hurling than Offaly, who have been the leading exponents of this brand of hurling for the last 25 years. Noel Lane did try to change the Galway style, but obviously didn’t have enough support within the county.

Granted, Kilkenny looked very good yesterday. But those who are already regarding them as unbeatable are simply ignoring the facts of history. Two of these facts are that no team is unbeatable and that you cannot draw a line from one game to the next. In 1999 and last year Clare looked awesome in blowing Tipperary away, but didn’t survive the next round. In 1982 Cork looked even more awesome in the Munster final, but were blitzed by Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final. The kind of intensity Kilkenny produced last Sunday is hard to reproduce on demand, and other teams will produce a more physical and/or a better-planned challenge than Galway managed in Thurles.

Turning to events in Killarney on Saturday night, it seems to have become the common wisdom that Cork blew Tipperary away in the second half. Analysis of the match video suggests otherwise. In terms of overall territorial possession and chances created, the game was fairly well balanced. The crucial difference between the teams was that Cork were more economical in taking their chances. In the second half alone, one can recall two misses by Tommy Dunne which in the past he would have put away with his eyes closed, Eoin Kelly’s bad miss from a straighforward free, and an amazing wide from Lar Corbett who seemed to have no idea what he was doing.

In terms of effective plays, Tipperary dominated the first half with 79 against just 56 for Cork. Given their turn with wind assistance, Cork had 84 plays in the second half to Tipp’s 67, giving an overall balance of 146-140 in favour of Tipperary. It may interest readers to note that Joe Deane didn’t play the ball once apart from frees in the first half, and only played the ball four times after the change of ends. This has been a recurring feature of Deane’s performances. His main contribution nowadays comes from frees, but usually with a handy score or two from play thrown in from the limited possession he does get.
The immediate impression one had after watching the game live was that Declan Fanning was destroyed by Niall McCarthy. There is no doubt that McCarthy was the key figure in Cork’s win, especially in the second half, yet the fact is that Fanning played the ball much more than any other player on the pitch – 24 times in all (including eleven times in the second half). Amazingly, the next busiest player was Niall McCarthy himself with 18 plays. Fanning was very good at covering play – mopping up loose ball, taking passes and playing handy flicks. However, he was not the kind of dominating player that one likes to see playing at centre back, and he lacked the physical presence and aggression to compete with McCarthy where it really hurt.

Another key difference between the teams was that the substitutes brought on by Cork were much more effective than their Tipperary counterparts. Apart from Timmy McCarthy’s goal and point, Mickey O’Connell, while only on the field for less than ten minutes (including added time) managed to play the ball seven times and score a point. Between them, Lar Corbett and Mark O’Leary were on the pitch almost fifty minutes but only played the ball five times. In the case of both pairs of substitutes, it was a case of resorting to the usual suspects, and a reflection of the lack of depth and new talent in both camps. However, on this occasion Cork got lucky and Tipp didn’t. It is likely that, if both McCarthy and O’Connell start the next day for Cork, they will both end up being substituted.

The one key area where Cork outfoxed Tipperary in this game was the ploy of bringing Brian Corcoran out the field in the second half. We don’t know if this was a pre-planned move or whether it was Corcoran’s own idea. Whether or which, it had the effect of luring Philip Maher away from the edge of the square. Apart from reducing his own direct involvement in the game (Maher only played the ball five times in total) this created a huge gap in front of the Tipperary goal which Cork exploited to score their two goals. This was a case of Maher forgetting what his primary function is.

Much has been made of Tipperary’s reliance on Eoin Kelly to get scores, and one wonders how long more will they persevere with the likes of Corbett and O’Leary who have repeatedly failed to deliver when it matters. Curiously, Cork nowadays don’t have even one seriously dangerous scoring forward. What they do have is a very good halfback line which is the springboard for exerting strong pressure on opposing defences, through which frees and other scoring opportunities are earned. Waterford, by contrast, have three forwards – Shanahan, Mullane and Flynn – who are capable of getting scores from limited opportunities. They also have an ability to win possession in their forwards which the other Munster teams don’t have.

Mention of Mullane brings us to an interesting suggestion which has been made to An Moltóir concerning the Waterford county board’s argument that their star forward’s suspension should apply to next year’s Munster championship rather than this year’s All-Ireland semi-final. Apparently Eoin McGrath got a red card in his last Munster club championship for Mount Sion against Patrickswell, and it has been ordained that he should miss Mount Sion’s next game in the same championship. However, entry to this championship is gained by winning the county championship. Clearly the GAA considers the county championship and the Munster club championship to be separate competitions, even though winning one allows a club into the other. If the same logic were to apply at intercounty level, should not the Munster championship and the All-Ireland series also be deemed to be separate competitions? This is the kind of question which could make a lot of money for a barrister or two.