One wonders if Gerald McCarthy's over-reaction to Waterford's last-gasp equaliser on Sunday was that of a man who realised that his last chance of getting a victory over the Déise had just gone out the window.
This was a game which, in terms of possession gained and scoring chances created, Waterford should have won pulling up. The statistics of the game bear this out. After a relatively even first half in which Waterford made 83 effective plays to Cork's 81, there was a much greater imbalance in the second half, with Waterford playing the ball 92 times to Cork's 69. This imbalance is also reflected in the number of unsuccessful shots at goal (which either went wide, fell short or were saved) essayed by both sides. Waterford's number of misses (19) was almost twice the total for Cork (11).
It was interesting to hear Justin McCarthy observing in his post-match interview that "We needed a game like that". Apart from indicating the Waterford manager's clear confidence in the outcome of the replay, this reflected the fact that last Sunday was the first time the Déise men were put to the pin of their collar in this year's championship. Justin clearly expects his charges to be significantly sharper the next day.
If this happens then the outlook for Cork is ominous. They will be aware that their two late goals came against the run of play and were fortuitous in the way possession presented itself in places where the maximum damage could be done, although the subsequent execution in both cases was excellent. One very substantial source of hope for the Leesiders is the fact that two of their key players - Jerry O'Connor and Ronan Curran - can hardly be as ineffective again. With Curran out of the game completely (he only made three decent plays in all) and John Gardiner relatively quiet, the springboard upon which the Cork game plan is based simply wasn't there, despite Seán Óg Ó hAilpín's heroics on the other wing.
Jerry O'Connor probably has never played a less effective game since coming onto the Cork team. Normally the team's top playmaker, last Sunday he played the ball just six times before eventually being taken off. The trend of the game is particularly well reflected in the contributions of the other Rebel tearaways, Tom Kenny and Ben O'Connor. Both had terrific first halves but were much more subdued after the change of ends. Between them they played the ball 19 times in the first period and just nine times in the second. The introduction of Eoin McGrath played a key role in bringing this reversal of fortune about, but credit must also go Brick Walsh, who was the dominant midfield player from start to finish in possibly his best game ever in a Waterford shirt. If he could learn to shoot and send in hard low ball, he would be a truly awesome player altogether.
Ken McGrath has earned the "awesome" tag a long time ago, and yet last Sunday was possibly also his most complete display for Waterford. He was truly magnificent in his covering, tackling, fetching and clearing. If he had nailed just one of those two second half missed frees, it would go down as one of the all-time great displays on the hurling field. The pundits gave Ó hAilpín the man-of-the-match award, and undoubtedly he had a great game (largely making up for the shortfall in the displays of the other Cork halfbacks), but his 14 plays pales against McGrath's 20.
And, while Ó hAilpín did produce some magnificent plays, so did McGrath. Under this column's system for rating plays, where one point is given for a basic play (pointed close-in free, flick, block etc.), two for a standard or routine play and three for an excellent play, McGrath scored 42 to Ó hAilpín's 30. Indeed, both Stephen Molumphy and Brick Walsh scored more points than Ó hAilpín (both 33 from 19 and 17 plays, respectively) and Ben O'Connor got the same score as Ó hAilpín from 15 plays.
In fact, Diarmuid O'Sullivan played the ball more often than any other Corkplayer (17, although most of these were bat-downs and his score total was just 24). Tom Kenny had 13 plays and the impressive Kieran "Fraggy" Murphy was the only other member of the team to reach double figures with 10. Apart from McGrath, Molumphy and Walsh, other Waterford players to reach double figures in the number of plays were Tony Browne (14), John Mullane and (remarkably) goalkeeper Clinton Hennessy (11 each), as well as Eoin Murphy and Paul Flynn (10 each).
A distinctive feature of last Sunday's game was the way in which Donal Óg Cusack routinely pucked out the ball from outside the square without sanction. RTE's coverage didn't show most of the puckouts, but of those which it did, Cusack had at least one foot outside the square before striking the ball on no less than eight occasions. From being present at the game, An Moltóir knows that the actual total was much higher than this. By contrast, Clinton Hennessy did not break the rule once from the puckouts shown on RTE. If Barry Kelly's umpires are more vigilant in this area,Waterford could pick up a handy point or two next Sunday.
Mention of umpires brings us to the closing incident in last Sunday's game. A slow-motion replay on DVD indicates that, after Paul Flynn's follow-up shot struck Diarmuid O'Sullivan (who had bravely thrown himself into its path), Cusack crouched over the ball to prevent opposition players getting at it. As the Official Guide only specifies as a foul a player lying on the ball, it is doubtful whether Cusack was actually committing an offence. He only fell on the ball when Paul Flynn hit him in the back with his knees, which was a definite foul. However, it is not exactly clear at what stage in all this the referee blew his whistle.
There has been some criticism of Brian Gavin for awarding a free when he was so far from the play when he blew his whistle. However, Gavin says that he consulted his umpire on the matter. The TV coverage doesn't show him actually doing this, but this may have occurred while RTE showed reruns of the incident. Accepting Gavin's word on this, then clearly Gavin was correct to award the free, assuming this was the advice he got from the umpire, who was in a much better position to adjudicate on the matter than the many commentators who subsequently offered an opinion.
These included RTE's studio panellists, Tomás Mulcahy and Cyril Farrell,whose hyping of the incident was way over the top. Farrell, in particular,exceeded his usual level of nonsense by using the incident to have a go at all referees. "Referees will have to get fitter", says Cyril; "you can't be walking around the field and blowing the whistle 20 or 30 yards away". Apart from the fact that the refereeing community won't be exactly thrilled by this depiction of how they carry on, one wonders what level of fitness would be required to keep hurling referees within 20 yards of the play at all times. This is simply ridiculous. Farrell and Mulcahy then went on to suggest that the referee had played for a draw at the GAA's behest. Apart from being an insulting denigration of Gavin's integrity, this also took for granted that Gavin's decision to award a free was incorrect. In Brendan Corish's immortal phrase, Tomás and Cyril were probably a bit "previous" with this verdict.
Anyway, the rest of us hurling enthusiasts were thrilled both by the game and its final outcome, which offers us another helping of (hopefully) the same fare next Sunday. Waterford appear to have strengthened their team significantly by replacing the ineffective Jack Kennedy and James Murray with Brian Phelan and Shane Walsh. One presumes that Stephen Molumphy will move to midfield, a position to which his all-action style is probably most suited. Shane Walsh should add another bow to Waterford's scoring arsenal, while Waterford will also be hoping for bigger contributions from Eoin Kelly and Seamus Prendergast. One thing is certain, anyone who is malfunctioning for the Déise will be rapidly replaced by Eoin McGrath, who is somewhat unfortunate not to get a starting place this time.
Cork obviously will be hoping for a big performance from Ronan Curran next time out, and for a fully-fit Niall McCarthy to put manners on Ken McGrath. They will also be hoping for a bigger contribution from Pat Cronin now that he has got his first big Croke Park match under his belt, and that Niall Ronan will not fall victim to his habitual inconsistency of the past.
There are far too many imponderables to even consider forecasting the outcome, but to say that we will get another classic is hardly to challenge the Gods!
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