DURING THE EARLY stages of today’s Munster semi-final at Semple Stadium, the Cork fans in attendance would have been happier than their neighbours from Waterford.
Cork’s start was encouraging and it appeared that they had learned a lot from the League final defeat to Waterford last month. Anthony Nash was going short with his puck-outs and they were moving the ball up through the lines well.
That seemed to be working and it was probably the main reason for Cork’s superiority during that early period. They started going long again, however, and Waterford always had more bodies there to win the breaks.
Even on the few occasions when Cork did go short after that, the next man was under so much pressure that he was just driving it long anyway. There were quite a few balls pucked in aimlessly.
And for all Cork’s early dominance, they never went more than four points ahead. Patrick Horgan had a great goal chance in the 10th minute. It was a poor effort that was easily saved by Stephen O’Keeffe, but Horgan had Alan Cadogan — unmarked — screaming for the pass inside. A goal at that stage would have had a big impact because Cork were well on top at that point.
Waterford were probably expecting that early onslaught from Cork but they stuck to their gameplan all the time. They were trying long-range efforts and initially they weren’t coming off. Any other team would have panicked at that stage but Waterford persisted. They trusted themselves to get it right and eventually they did.
Maurice Shanahan did an outstanding job for them inside in the forward line. He only missed one free and got 1-2 from play, but equally as important was the fact that he was able to hold up the ball continuously for the runners who were coming through.
Cork went one-on-one in defence, so if they didn’t track their men, the goal opportunities would present themselves. Anthony Nash was busy throughout the game because Waterford kept breaking the line. It took Waterford a while to get going, but once they did, Cork were all over the place.
It looked like Waterford were unlocking the Cork defence easily but it was individual errors that led to the goals. It was just a long ball in that was responsible for the first goal; Shanahan went up, Damien Cahalane was probably a bit too honest in trying to bat the ball away, but Shanahan just brushed his hurley aside. The finish, to his credit, was stunning.
Cormac Murphy made a cardinal error for the second goal. You might get away with it in a club game, but if you don’t track your man at inter-county level he’s going to get a goal opportunity. Murphy learned a hard lesson today. He thought Cork were going to win the ball and start an attack, so he took two or three steps forward. But when you’re a defender, you have to err on the side of caution. Again, Jake Dillon’s shot was unstoppable.
With the way they’re playing, Waterford won’t be beaten easily. They’ve got great trust in their manager, Derek McGrath, and their system, to the extent that they almost don’t care what the opposition do.
It’s a case of: we’re going to start our attacks from deep, we’re going to play our way through the lines, we’ll have two players inside and, whenever we’re under pressure, we’re going to hit the ball long into Maurice Shanahan, who’ll either break the ball or hold it up for the runners coming through.
It’s a very difficult type of game for half-backs and half-forwards to play because they need to be supremely fit. But the difference between the condition of the Waterford and Cork players was very evident. Physically, you could see that Waterford have done a lot more work than Cork.
The way the Waterford players were able to get up and down the field was very impressive. After about an hour of play, Waterford’s centre-back Austin Gleeson got the ball and soloed all the way up to the right-corner forward position before winning a free. To be able to do that at that stage of the game was just one example of Waterford’s physical superiority.
A lot of questions have been asked about Cork’s inconsistency — how they can blow hot and cold so drastically — but that’s a result of relying on individual talent to get them over the line. That’ll occasionally work when you have the likes of Patrick Horgan, Alan Cadogan, Conor Lehane and Luke O’Farrell in your team, but when those guys are under pressure, Cork are looking around for a plan B — which they don’t seem to have.
It should also be pointed out that in the last couple of games between Waterford and Cork, Noel Connors has probably gotten the better of Patrick Horgan, who’s Cork’s main man — both from frees and open play. I couldn’t understand why Cork left Horgan in the corner, especially when most of their scores were coming from out the field. Meanwhile, their main marksman was then left in the corner to battle it out for poor-quality long balls. He should have been brought out around the middle to do some damage from there.
Patrick Cronin also deserves to be singled out for praise. Coming in at short notice to replace Seamus Harnedy, there was plenty of pressure on him but he stepped up to the mark with a fine performance.
Luke O’Farrell’s late sending-off certainly didn’t help Cork’s chances of getting back in the game. By the letter of the law, they say that if you raise your hurley you’ll be sent off, so Luke O’Farrell can probably have no complaints in that regard. But that sort of stuff doesn’t warrant a red card, for me.
When that kind of thing went on a few years ago, the referee would come in and tell the players to cop themselves on and get on with the game. Red cards were rare enough in the Munster championship until fairly recently — unless you really over-stepped the mark — but there seems to be at least one in every game nowadays.
Looking ahead, I still think Cork are capable of coming back from this, but with the likes of Clare and Dublin already waiting in the qualifiers, their route to Croke Park in September is now much more dangerous than it was this morning.
As for Waterford, they’ll be looking ahead to 12 July and an opportunity to win their first provincial title in five years. After today, they’ll fancy their chances.
