Well, the pundits who unanimously cast Waterford as no-hopers against Cork last Sunday unanimously got it wrong...

It may be that the writing off of the Déise was the key factor in their victory, in that it meant there was no pressure on them while at the same time luring the Rebels into complacency. The antics of Corkman Roy Keane may also have helped in diverting public and media attention elsewhere. At the same time, there was little real foundation in recent history for expecting a clear-cut win for Cork in this game.

Firstly, in the last few years Waterford have been consistently competitive in their Munster championship games. The hammerings which were a regular occurrence in the 1970s and 1980s have become a thing of the past due mainly to a combination of better players and better preparation. And it is a simple fact that a team which remains competitive will get the breaks every now and again.

Secondly, Cork’s recent record of championship success (the aberrant All-Ireland in 1999 notwithstanding) has been relatively poor. In particular, they have shown themselves to be quite brittle in tight finishes (remember Offaly in 2000, Limerick last year, Kilkenny in this year’s league final). Thirdly, Cork’s favouritism last Sunday was based to a considerable extent on the respective league performances of the two counties, yet it has become almost axiomatic that no line can be drawn between league and championship form in either football or hurling. Look at the case of Tyrone, who had the appearance of world beaters in the football league, but didn’t survive the first round of the Ulster championship.

The fact is that Cork were already a moderate team before the retirement of Brian Corcoran. They have a good defence, but their midfield weakness is becoming legendary and their forwards are a bit on the light side for intense and physical championship hurling. Admittedly, the introduction of Eamonn Collins and Niall McCarthy this year has added a bit of beef, but the continued dependence on Alan Browne and Fergal McCormack indicates that the famous Cork assembly line is currently in a serious state of disrepair. Add in the arcane but clearly dysfunctional manner in which Cork teams are selected and altered, and the sum total doesn’t amount to a package likely to strike fear in reasonable opposition.

There is little point in trying to analyse why Waterford won and Cork lost last Sunday. It wasn’t a case of either team throwing it away. Both side missed good chances, got a couple of breaks, and suffered equally from Dickie Murphy’s wrong calls. The Cork goal came from a mis-hit point attempt by Joe Deane which fell nicely for Eamonn Collins. Waterford’s goal also came from a mis-hit point attempt by Tony Browne that got a lucky bounce on its way to the net. Much has been made of how reliant Waterford were on points from frees, but the frees have to be earned in the first place (although one wouldn’t normally expect frees conceded in the other half of the field to yield points the way they did last Sunday). In the end, an equal number of players on both sides scored from play, with the Cork players concerned yielding just three points more than their Déise counterparts.

In the first half, Cork were the more hard-working side, playing the ball 76 times to Waterford’s 60. In this period, Alan Cummins was far and away the busiest player on the field, playing the ball an amazing 16 times (against just three for his partner Timmy McCarthy). After the interval it was Waterford who put their shoulder to the wheel, playing the ball 70 times to Cork’s 60. Perhaps the decisive feature of this half (and the whole game) was the switch of Eoin Kelly to midfield. He played the ball 12 times in that period, with Cummins’s strike rate plummeting to just three.

Apart from Cummins, Cork’s hardest workers were Ben O’Connor (14 plays), who probably wandered too far out the field in the second half, John Browne (13) who had a good game for Cork, and Diarmuid O’Sullivan (12). Perhaps another key factor in Cork’s defeat was that Seán Óg Ó hAilpín played the ball only five times in the whole match, a very low count for a wing back in hurling. For Waterford, apart from Kelly (who played the ball 18 times in total), the main workers were Tony Browne (13), and Peter Queally and Fergal Hartley (11 each). Between them, Kelly and Browne played the ball 22 times in the second half, against about ten for the different Cork players who occupied midfield positions in that period.

Yet, in the heel of the hunt, there was very little in it, and Cork have to be commended for the way they chipped away at the Waterford lead in the final quarter. The crucial Waterford winning point came from an excellent passage of steady play by key Waterford players. Tom Feeney gained possession and laid off to Peter Queally, who looked up before delivering a directed ball to Brian Greene whose first touch was excellent and who had to wits about him to pass to Ken McGrath rather than go for the glory score himself. It was a marvellous winning score, reminiscent of Kilkenny’s last-ditch equaliser against Wexford in the 1993 Leinster final.

A key feature from this game for Waterford was the fine contributions from their new players. Stephen Brenner defended his goal very well, Eoin Murphy had the pleasure of seeing off Jerry O’Connor, Eoin Kelly’s contribution was second only to Paul Flynn’s and, while things didn’t go quite right for him, Eoin McGrath still earned several frees and was unlucky with his first half goal attempt. All will have benefitted from surviving such a tight struggle. And tight it was: on this occasion, An Moltóir also counted the number of blocks, hooks and dispossessions which occurred during the game. The total came to 33, 19 for Waterford and 14 for Cork.

Another significant feature for Waterford is the number of seasoned campaigners whom they now have on the line. Apart from Ken McGrath, they were able to bring on Brian Greene, Dan Shanahan and Mícheál White last Sunday and James O’Connor was also available. The fact that some of these players are no longer first choices, combined with the departure of Sean Cullinane and Stephen Frampton, presumably reflects an acknowledgement down by the Suir that change was needed if further progress was to be made. It also demonstrates, of course, that new up-and-coming players were available to take their places. Presuming the steady hand of Justin McCarthy can keep the ship on an even keel, Waterford must now be genuine championship contenders.