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Friday, August 15, 2008
Underdogs tag will suit us down to the ground
AS we were walking out of the Gaelic Grounds on the June 1st, after Waterford’s heavy defeat to Clare, it would have been hard to imagine that we would now be preparing for yet another All-Ireland semi-final but thankfully that’s the position we’re now in once again.
A lot has happened in the meantime, most notably the departure of Justin McCarthy as manager, to be replaced by Davy Fitz, but under the radar almost Waterford have gone about their business and won three championship matches to get us back to this stage of the championship and back to Croke Park.
The draw has been kind to us in pitting us against Antrim, Offaly and Wexford with the opposition getting more difficult with every match, with one match at home in Walsh Park and two matches in Thurles the draw really couldn’t have worked out better for us.
IMPROVING ALL THE TIME
We needed to improve with every game and that’s exactly as it has happened but that rate of improvement will need to continue into Sunday’s match if we are to overtake an impressive Tipperary team.
In the weeks since the Wexford win there has been a fair bit of negativity amongst Waterford supporters about the performance but I feel that this is not being fair to Wexford who can’t seem to play against Kilkenny but always seem to raise their game against any other opposition. Is it not Wexford who defeated Tipperary at the quarter-final stage last year, and would Tipp have not settled for a one point win that day?
Maybe it’s a good thing that this Waterford team can grind out one point wins without being over impressive. Contrast this to last year when we were setting the hurling world alight. Last year we probably felt that we hurling so well that we didn’t have to up our game against Limerick. This is a dangerous way to go into any game and we paid the penalty in last year’s semi with a hearbreaking defeat. Just maybe Tipp are coming into Sunday’s game in the same position. This time last year Waterford were reigning National Hurling League and Munster champions.
Twelve months on Tipp are unbeaten for 2008 having also won the National Hurling League, the Munster championship as well as the Waterford Crystal Tournament. I’ve spent a lot of time working in Thurles in recent weeks and I can tell you that they are only worried about who their opposition will be on the first Sunday in September.
REAL SIMILARITIES
I think we can all see the striking similarities with our position this time last year and Tipperary’s this time around we all know what happened us twelve months ago.
Having said that there is no getting away from the fact that this is a very good Tipp team. They have an excellent goalie, a tight tough tackling defence, in which last year’s All-Star full-back, Declan Fanning, can’t get his game. A young and fit midfield in McGrath and Woodlock. Inside Liam Sheedy and his selectors have stumbled on an exciting half forward line in Kerwick, Callinan and O’Brien, not to mention the full line of Eoin Kelly and Lar Corbett and don’t rule the introduction of Paul Kelly in the other corner either from the start or at some point during the game.
So where is this game most likely to be won by Waterford?
Well in my opinion it’s simple. As the previous games have shown we have the hottest and most dangerous full-forward line in the game this year in John Mullane and the two Eoins, Kelly and McGrath and if we can get enough quality ball into this line then we will cause any team endless problems, including Tipp.
UNDERDOGS SUITS US
As mentioned in many of my previous columns I don’t feel Waterford enjoy the tag of favourites and that’s a burden we won’t have to shoulder on Sunday. We have improved with every game this year and if this rate of improvement is continued and certain things go our way we might just do to Tipp what Limerick did to us last year and finally get to hurl on the first Sunday in September.
What a day that would be! But let’s get over Sunday first.
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