Waterford’s momentous Munster final victory over Tipperary was just the shot in the arm hurling needed…

With Clare and Offaly showing signs of slipping off the pace among the top hurling counties, and Wexford at best just clinging on, there were ominous indications of the Big Three - winners between them of the last three All-Irelands - resuming their normal position of dominance. Now, however, the Déise’s display of power hurling has really set the cat among the pigeons, and added unexpected excitement to the hurling championship.

Only time will tell whether Tipp just had an off-day, or whether Sunday’s eclipse was a reality check. An Moltóir had previously suggested in this column that the Premier’s comfortable victories over Clare and Limerick were probably as much due to disimprovement in the opposition as to the extra confidence being All-Ireland champions brings. Well, that self-confidence has certainly been dented now, and the last ten minutes in Páirc Uí Chaoimh had a surreal feel about it, as the defending champions fell into total disarray. They could easily have ended up being beaten by fifteen points, but Justin McCarthy will be happy that this did not transpire, as he will be very anxious to keep feet firmly on the ground down by the Suir.

At first glance, McCarthy’s impact has been remarkable. While much has been said and written about his emphasis on honing the skills, he also appears to have instilled a sense of self-belief in the team which was never there under his predecessor. They looked a resurgent Cork in the whites of the eyes and then swept upfield to victory. Against Tipp, they accepted the concession of goals as unfortunate mishaps rather than mortal blows and again swept up the field to exact redress.

And it was not just a case of Justin building on the foundation Gerald had laid. The Passage man quickly went about putting his own stamp on the Waterford squad, dispensing with the ageing Sean Cullinane and Stephen Frampton and the flashy but insubstantial Dave Bennett and Dan Shanahan. Brendan Landers, whose goalkeeping frailties were wickedly exposed against Limerick last year , was also made walk the plank. New young talent with attitude was introduced in the shape of the three Eoins (Kelly, Murphy and McGrath). Brian Greene – representing experience and pace – came back from exile and Stephen Brenner – in every way a more substantial goalkeeper than Landers – was installed between the posts.

In looking for reasons for Waterford’s win against Tipp, the statistics reveal an astonishing difference in work rate between the sides. Waterford played the ball 182 times in all during the game, compared with just 135 times for Tipp (An Moltóir has further refined his definition of "plays" to include situations where players are fouled in possession). Conor Gleeson was Tipp’s most active player with 15 plays. Waterford has five players who exceeded this, led by the remarkable Ken McGrath with 24, followed by Tony Browne and Eoin Kelly with 22 each. As in the win over Cork, Kelly made a major second half contribution, playing the ball 15 times in that period. A lot of his work is solid rather than spectacular, especially his flow of low balls down the wing looking for Mullane.

A remarkable feature of the match was that three of the four corner backs – Brian Greene, Tom Costello and Donncha Fahy – didn’t play the ball once between them in the first half. Greene first played the ball in the 48th minute, followed by Costello in the 54th and Fahy in the 56th. Both Greene and Fahy played a fair bit of ball thereafter, but the unfortunate Costello had only managed to play the ball once when he was eventually hauled ashore. A key factor in Waterford’s victory was that the men in the centre of their attack – Ken McGrath and Seamus Prendergast – played the ball 42 times, against just 12 times for their opposite numbers, David Kennedy and Philip Maher. If Prendergast could shoot as well as he gained possession, Tipperary would have been reduced to rubble.

The substitution of Paul Flynn attracted much attention, but his contribution from general play was almost negligible – just six plays, most of them to little effect. Eoin McGrath also played the ball only six times, but inflicted considerably more damage on the opposition. Justin McCarthy will be concerned that his new-look defence looks much less secure than it has done in recent years. Flannery struggled in the right corner, while Greene could do little about the excellent ball that was played into Eoin Kelly in the first half. However, he did much better when the quality of incoming ball deteriorated along with Tipperary’s general play after the turnover. Eoin Murphy and Peter Queally did a lot of tidying up, but did not dominate their positions the way people like Mark Foley, Brian Whelahan and Peter Barry do. Further reshuffling can be expected for the next game, whoever the opposition might be.

Cork v Limerick

The Qualifier game on Saturday night was another excellent contest, with Cork finally showing the ability to shade a close finish. The winning score by Ben O’Connor was quite superb, but Limerick should have been given a free out when Albert Shanahan was clearly shouldered in the chest as he came out to clear. Limerick, with the wind at their backs, dominated the first half, with hardly any ball at all going into the Cork full forward line. The second half was much more evenly divided in terms of territorial possession, but Cork had that little bit of extra class to make their possession tell. At the back, Wayne Sherlock, Diarmuid O’Sullivan and exciting new prospect John Gardiner defended excellently, Alan Cummins worked very hard at midfield, while up front the O’Connor twins made all the difference.

Limerick fought very bravely, with Mark Foley again outstanding, ably assisted by Brian Geary and Stephen Lucey in particular. They have a lot of big, strong players but lack that bit of finesse. Cork may have plenty of the latter quality, but they are still quite deficient in many departments. Once again, Joe Deane, Seanie McGrath and Alan Browne made little impact, and Seán Óg Ó hAilpín was also a marginal figure. Getting a win under their belt may do them a lot of good, but Galway may be one game too early for them at their present state of development.

Related Topics:
Competitive Waterford Get the Breaks
Two Big Games Analysed
Self-Belief the Crucial Difference Between Tipp and Clare
The Just-In Time Solution
Beidh Lá Eile ag an bPéire!
The Trip to Tipp - Episode Two