Now’s The Time For Waterford To Step Up

Its eleven weeks since Waterford’s last competitive Senior Hurling game.

In that time a lot has happened.

More than one Trump lives in the White House. A general election has taken place in the UK, with the Conservatives losing their majority in the House of Commons, and are likely to be propped up forming a minority government, thanks to Northern Ireland’s DUP party and Ireland has a new Taoiseach.

In the world of hurling, the Munster and Leinster Champions from 2016, the two sides that contested the All-Ireland Final last September have lost their provincial crowns and Galway, often a side that are very good or nor so good have won the National League title, becoming the third side from Division 1B in three years to do so, and the first not to compete in the top flight the following year.

In those long eleven weeks, the players in Derek McGrath’s panel returned to their clubs to play in two rounds of the senior hurling championship and some would have also played at least one round of football with their club before returning to the Inter County set up, playing a number of challenge games, some open to the public to attend, others played behind closed doors.

It is interesting to read that some bookies after Tipperary and Kilkenny recently lost their provincial crowns have made Waterford favourites to win only a third ever All-Ireland Senior Hurling Title.

While some money might have exchanged hands in the hope that what the bookies might be saying, it should be remembered that it is still only June and no major Silverware is handed out in June. There is still a long way to go before we are left with two sides to battle it out for the Liam McCarthy Cup in early September.

I for one have not checked the odds for Sunday’s games but I am sure that the Bookies are making Waterford favourites. While many might not agree with me, I often prefer to see Waterford the underdog in a two dog race, as often Waterford play their best hurling when they are the underdog.

It would be hard to argue why Cork should not be the favourites. In their last game they beat the reigning Munster Champions and the All-Ireland Champions, and as a result will go into this game very much on a high and to show those that have wrote of Cork Hurling in the last couple of years that not all is as bad on Lee-side as many are suggesting and that they don’t depend on what is often called their dream team (the current Cork Under 17 team) to show that hurling is alive and well in Cork.

Kieran Kingston and his management team have a nice blend of youth and experience, with some of their most experienced players still young. It is also worth remembering that it is just four years since Cork were seconds away from winning an All-Ireland Final, and if they had beaten Clare in 2013, there is the possibility that they could have added another one or two titles to that one since.

Anthony Nash is as good as a goalkeeper as in the game right now. He showed his value to any team in his sides win over Tipperary where he made some top class saves to keep the Tipperary attack very much at bay.

Out along the different lines of the field in the likes of Luke Meade, Mark Coleman, Shane Kingston, Mark Ellis, Conor Lehane, Patrick Horgan, Seamus Harnedy, Colm Spillane, Bill Cooper, Christopher Joyce, Lorcan McLoughlin and Michael Cahelane etc Cork have players that will revel playing on the big occasion, and who will punish any side that make mistakes.

And what of Waterford.

Nobody will need telling that there is plenty of ability in Waterford and are more than capable of winning an All-Ireland or All-Ireland’s in the coming years.

To some however, there is an issue with the tactics or as some prefer to call it the system used by Waterford in games.

Crowding out your own half of the field might well limit the amount of chances to score over the course of seventy minutes, but when you do this, you have often to rob Peter to pay Paul, meaning in this instance that you have less forward in the other side of the field and when that happens and the opposition have spare men in their own half of the field, and not necessarily because they use a similar system to Waterford, it means that the spare player or players are sending the ball back into the Waterford defence with interest.

News coming from the Waterford camp is that Derek McGrath will have a full strength panel to pick from, which could result in Waterford fielding along expected lines.

The number one shirt is a straight battle between Stephen O’Keeffe and Ian O’Regan with the Ballygunner club man expected to take it.

In front of him will be Shane Fives, Barry Coughlan and Noel Connors, but there could be positional changes from the way the three are named here.

The half back line is expected to start with Tadhg De Búrca in the middle of Conor Gleeson and Philip Mahony with Jamie Barron and Kevin Moran in the middle of the field.

The starting half forward line is expected to be made up of Michael Walsh, Pauric Mahony and Austin Gleeson with the Mount Sion man expected to drop back into his own half of the field as an extra defender, while the inside forward line for Waterford is expected to be made up of the Bennett Brothers and Jake Dillon.

The favourite’s tag is one that seldom sits well on the shoulders of any Waterford side and it will be interesting to see how it will work out here.

But this is an experienced Waterford side, one in which many members of the panel have Munster Final medals at senior and underage levels, one that has league medals, one that has All-Ireland underage medals, one that has All-Ireland Colleges medals.

Over the past few years Waterford has have some moral wins when it comes to the big day. But the time for such victories should be over, and now is the time for actual big wins, starting this weekend. There is some that would suggest that the way to go to winning an All-Ireland Final which is what all in Waterford would love to see happen is to go the scenic route, but with the likes of Limerick, Dublin, Kilkenny and Tipperary on such a route already, the best way for Waterford to go is take the shortest possible route, as the last thing anyone wants is a possible banana skin game before the side gets a chance to play in Croke Park in August and September.

Waterford has the players to win on Sunday. Will they win? I hope they do.