According to legend, when Eddie Keher was once asked what he aimed for when practising 21 yard frees in training, he replied “Noel Skehan’s mouth – it’s the biggest thing I can see in the goalmouth!”. Whatever the provenance of that story, there can be no doubting the favoured target of probably the greatest freetaker of them all, Christy Ring, who always aimed just beneath the crossbar, which gives crouching defenders less time to react and even if they do manage to get a stick to the sliotar, they will probably deflect it over the bar.

Christy, of course, always took his time over the ball and made sure he lifted it properly and made the right connection. Compare this with so many of today’s hurlers who seem to believe that the best approach to taking a semi-penalty is to hit it as hard as possible in the general direction of the goal. Waterford’s Eoin Kelly gave a masterclass in how not to take a penalty in the league game against Galway on Sunday. Not once, but twice, he sent in a kneelength shot straight at the goalkeeper – the easiest shot of all to save.

It is probable that had Paul Flynn started this game, Waterford would have won it, given his proven prowess from the penalty spot. However, given the form Liam O’Donoghue was in, even this is not certain. Rarely at this level will one see a team getting eight clearcut goalscoring chances and scoring none of them. When one throws in Waterford’s much higher tally of wides - some of them very bad indeed – one can conclude that this is a game which the Déise should have won handily enough.

Despite what appears to have been a comfortable enough victory in the end, the Galway management should heed several warning signs from this performance. Their first touch was much better than Waterford’s, who appear to be taking their preparations at a fairly relaxed pace this year. Galway wove some nice patterns, got some excellent scores, and appear to have an exceptional freetaker in Ger Farragher. They also played a lot of ground hurling – an aspect of the game which has appeared to be quite foreign to the Tribesmen in recent years.

Yet in the end of the day, if Waterford had converted half of the clearcut goalscoring chances they created and had a similar number of wides to Galway, they would have won this game by at least ten points. It is also a fact that Galway did not manage even one shot on goal in the game. An Moltóir also believes that their lack of height and strength in the forward line will prove a major liability come championship time, when all teams will be equally well prepared in terms of fitness and touch.

Waterford will also feel aggrieved by Pat Horan’s many refereeing mistakes, almost all of which went against the Blues. What An Moltóir noticed, in particular, was that Horan appeared to take no action whatever against the players who gave away the two penalties Waterford were awarded. In both cases players were deliberately fouled in good goalscoring situations. When JJ Delaney committed a similar foul in the Kilkenny/Waterford league match, he was given a yellow card. This is the kind of inconsistency which players find so frustrating. Tom Feeney got a yellow card for what was at most a careless shot at his opponent, whereas Noel Hickey was not even reprimanded for a deliberate blow aimed at Niall Gilligan’s hand which actually got him in the midriff.

It is also clear that referees are taking the easy option of giving yellow cards when the red version is merited. Brian Lohan should have seen red for the way he wrestled DJ Carey to the ground, and JJ Delaney and Tony Carmody should also have been red carded for aiming blows with their hurleys at each other. All acts of violence of this type should be similarly punished. This is the third time that JJ Delaney has been yellow carded in the league. Is it not time that recurring infringements like this should earn suspensions? If, as seems likely, the present experimental yellow card rule is dumped at Congress, then the GAA must surely take alternative action to punish persistent foulers.

In Nowlan Park, Kilkenny were clearly taken aback by the spirit and quality of the Clare challenge. The Banner men showed once again that when they play with this level of intensity, they can be very hard to beat. It was great to see Brian Lohan back to something like his imperious best at the heart of a superb defence in which Alan Markham and Gerry Quinn were particularly prominent. However, the real star of the show was the apparently ageless Colin Lynch whose covering and clearing against the wind in the first half was awesome, and who continued to link brilliantly with his backs and drive forward after the change of ends. The question is: was this the harbinger of a new, improved Clare or just a flash in the pan? We should get an inkling of the answer to this when they take on Waterford to decide which gets the last top three place in the league section in Dungarvan next Saturday.

Incidentally, the answer to the question which forms the banner for this piece is six: one to take the shot, three to remove the goalkeeper from the goal, and two to move the goalposts in case the shot is off target.