Waterford to set up last six pot with win over Wexford

Waterford senior hurling manager more than anyone else will be hoping that the players he have in his panel who are also part of the under 21 panel that plays Cork this evening will come through the game without picking up any injury.

I don’t think you need to be a inter county manager to feel the frustration that some are going through at this time of the year.

For all counties involved in the senior championships at this stage, the provincial competitions are over. The cushion of having a back door system to get back into contention should you loose a game is gone. Right now it is a case of win or at worst get a draw or your sides year is over for the remainder of the year.

With a number of big games coming up on the senior front, the last thing you need is distractions, by which I mean games in other competitions for some of your players where they run the risk of picking up an injury.

Like many others I feel at this time of the year the calendar is frustrating. If you are involved in a senior inter county team you are playing almost week in week out with maybe an under 21 game thrown in for good measure. A few weeks back the opposite was happening. You could have maybe five or six weeks of a break between a provincial semi final and a final which in a way is as inacceptable to some as playing week in week out.

Let’s not make the argument on fixtures a Waterford thing. So instead let’s use Wexford and Clare as an example.

In the modern era all senior sides contain a number of under 21 players. Since the start of June up to this weekend any player on the under 21 and senior panel will be involved in seven games, three under 21 games and four seniors.

On June 4 the Model County played Kilkenny in the Leinster under 21 Championship. On June 25 they played Offaly in the semi final and last weekend they beat Dublin in the Leinster Final.

At senior level Wexford lost to Dublin on June 14. On July 5 they played Clare in Ennis in the first round of the qualifiers, a game that went to extra time and a week later the two sides had to clash again at Wexford Park, a game that again went to extra time to see who would advance to this weekend’s game with Waterford. It must be remembered, that in between two 90 minute games there would have being a sixty minute under 21 game. Should Wexford beat Waterford this weekend they are out again a week later against Limerick in an All-Ireland quarter final. What that means is that in something like 54 days some Wexford players would have played eight games and have gone through a number of training sessions.

The question has to be asked does Wexford have men playing for them or robots. It could appear with the amount of games to be played in a short space of time some fixture planners must seem to think it is robots that are playing.

What about Clare? Their situation does not appear as gruelling as Wexford’s but it is tough none the same.

Like Wexford they have players in action since June 4 when they beat Limerick in the under 21 championship. On June 15 they lost to Cork in the Munster Championship and over the past two weekends they were involved in games with Wexford, both of which went to extra time, and tonight they play under 21 again when they play Tipperary.

And just to show what’s happening in Waterford, games with Cork were played on May 28 and June 8, Laois were played on June 28, Wexford must be played this Saturday evening and if Waterford were to win Limerick will be the opposition on Sunday week in the All-Ireland quarter final and there is tonight’s game with Cork in the under 21 championship. And don’t forget the amount of training sessions that would have taken place over the past few weeks either. Again, the question must be asked, especially when you hear some talk about player welfare etc. are we putting robots on the field to play games or men.

And while we have to feel for those involved in those games playing so many games in such a short period of time, spare a though a thought for the non county players who is deprived of meaningful games with a while now. But that is a story for another day.

Wexford have received great praise for their performances against Clare recently. They will go into this weekend’s game on somewhat of a high. They will be tired after two tough games with Clare recently but they will be hoping that momentum will keep them going for a while yet.

They have some good players in the likes of Lee Chin, Liam Óg McGovern, Keith Rossiter, Liam Ryan, Jack Guiney and Rory Jacob.

While they have received praise for their performances against Clare, the question has to be asked, how good Wexford really are. And maybe how good are Clare.  Last weekend for much of the second half they played with a two man advantage over Clare and could still not beat them. Ok they did in extra time when the two sides had their full quota but having played part of the first and the second half with a numerical disadvantage the Clare players that played the full 90 minutes are bound to have been tired not just after playing for the 90 minutes but also for having to make up for the decreased numbers as well.

I for one would question how good Clare are. I know they took the Liam McCarthy away from Croke Park last September and I congratulate them on doing so, but I believe that in a way Cork lost both the drawn game and the replay more than Clare won it. Yes Clare have some good young hurlers but as a team are they as good as other sides that we have seen take the Liam McCarthy home from Croke Park in recent years.

Heading into this weekends game, I believe that Waterford will win this weekend. I know that up to now maybe Waterford have not played as well as they can and as good as we have seen them play in other years, but I still think that the side should have too much for Wexford.

A good win was achieved last time out against Laois in Walsh Park. On that night as is the case with the last number of years the number of wide balls hit over the seventy plus minutes was a concern.

Throughout the year that number of goals the side have scored and more over the amount of chances created was a concern, but against Laois goals were struck. I always have the feeling that should Shane Walsh be provided with good quality ball he will cause problems and against Laois he had two flags waved. If selected this time out and he again was to be provided with quality ball, then he will punish Wexford.

Barring any player pick up an injury in the game with Cork tonight in the under 21 championship, the management team will be unlikely to make many changes to the team that beat Laois.

Stephen O’Keeffe will start between the posts. In front of him should be Liam Lawlor with possibly Shane or Darragh Fives on one side of him and Noel Connors who is reported to have recovered from the injury he picked up in the game with Cork.

It remains to be seen if Kevin Moran or Michael Walsh will start at centre back. Personally, I would have the De La Salle Club man there. Either side of him could be one of the Fives brothers and Tadhg Bourke who has proven to be one of best new comers to this years championship.

Others that could well be fighting for a place in defence will be Barry Coughlan, Jamie Nagle, Richie Foley and possibly Padraig Prendergast.

In the middle of the field, Shane O’Sullivan is almost a certainty to start and will be partnered by which ever from Kevin Moran or Michael Walsh that does not start in the centre back position.

In attack, Derek McGrath again has plenty of options available to him. Austin Gleeson, Padraic Mahony, Jake Dillon, Colin Dunford and Shane Walsh are sure to start and with Brian O’Sullivan set to miss this game again through suspension, the final place could be between Jamie Barron, Brian O’Halloran, Gavin O’Brien, Stephen Molumphy, Stephen Prendergast and Ryan Donnelly.

Of the sides that we could have got in the competition, at this stage Wexford is possibly as good as it gets. A win is a must which would have the team going into the game with Limerick the following weekend in a confident mood.