CORK’S UNEXPECTED WIN over Limerick last Saturday night didn’t just have implications for those central participants.
Watching on, Waterford were able to digest the implications of the result. A Cork loss would have strengthened Waterford’s hopes of clinching a top three spot in Munster.
The flipside is Limerick’s slip up paves the way for Waterford to potentially to end this weekend at the top of the Munster table. A win in Ennis today would bolster their hopes of reaching the Munster final before taking on Limerick in the final round on 26 May.
Clare – back-to-back Munster finalists – will be no easy obstacle, but the complexion of Waterford’s season could change if they surmount this hurdle.
How can they achieve the desired victory? A few key areas require focus.
1. Curtail Shane O’Donnell
The 2013 All-Ireland sensation is producing some of the best hurling of his career. An All-Star winner for the past two season, he scored just one point from play first time out against Limerick this season, but fielded a lot of ball and often needed the attention of both Dan Morrissey and Seán Finn, just to manage his influence.
He provided the assist for David Reidy’s goal chance in the first half and also popped off the pass that allowed Aidan McCarthy to get the first goal of the game.
O’Donnell was electric against Cork too, finishing as one of Clare’s three goal-scorers. Once again, he played the provider role as he offered the assist for Mark Rodgers’s goal after fielding the ball on the run over the head of his marker Seán O’Donoghue.
His own goal arrived shortly after O’Donoghue was sent off. Diarmuid Ryan spotted an unmarked O’Donnell after running with the ball along the sideline, and the score was inevitable from there.
Waterford will have to assign a top man-marker for this assignment. Conor Prunty would be the main consideration for the job, although it’s not yet known if he will be available for selection as he was subbed off due to injury in the opening 10 minutes against Tipperary. In the event of his absence, Iarlaith Daly could be a strong candidate or Mark Fitzgerald as he moved into full-back after Prunty made way the last day.
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2. Tighten defensive shape
Waterford’s overall gameplan is operating well to keep them unbeaten after two games, but there are aspects of their defensive operation that need improvement if they are to get a result against Clare. The Banner have scored a combined 4-42 from two outings, and with forwards like O’Donnell, McCarthy and Rodgers humming at the moment, Waterford cannot afford to be exposed at the back.
In their opening clash with Cork, the visitors clocked up eight wides in the opening 25 minutes to leave them four points behind a more efficient Waterford at the break. Jamie Barron’s early goal gave them the best start, but Cork’s wastefulness in front of the posts was also a vital factor. Had they been more clinical in that period, they may have gone on to take advantage of a rattled Waterford team.
Tipperary punched holes in the Déise cover too. Mark Kehoe was denied a penalty in the opening 10 minutes, while he snuck in again for another goal chance in the 26th minute, but his shot was blocked out for a ’65. Kehoe also dispossessed Mark Fitzgerald when Waterford attempted a short puckout in the opening quarter and clipped over a point to level the tie at 1-4 to 0-7.
Winning their own puckouts was an issue at times for Waterford too. Eoghan Connolly and Gearóid O’Connor punished Waterford with early scores, while Ronan Maher also profited with a long range point after securing possession sent out from Shaun O’Brien’s goal. Kieran Bennett’s two fouls on O’Connor and Jake Morris allowed Jason Forde to slot the resultant frees.
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3. Show composure when ahead
With 69 minutes on the clock against Tipperary, Waterford were four points clear after three unanswered points from substitute Patrick Curran, Dessie Hutchinson and Callum Lyons. Four minutes of added time were announced and four more scores followed. John McGrath reduced the gap to three before Darragh Lyons intercepted a Tipperary sideline to set up a Jack Prendergast point.
But Waterford still failed to protect their four-point cushion as Seánie Kenneally tapped a rebound shot into the net after Jake Morris’s shot was initially parried away. Waterford then coughed up the equaliser after Alan Tynan drew a foul from Tadhg de Búrca for Gearóid O’Connor to tap over the free.
“It’s just killing me, for the goal,” Davy Fitzgerald admitted after the game.
“We should have been smarter how to deal (with it), that play shouldn’t have been allowed develop when you’re four points up.”
Of course, Clare also face that issue as they too faded when victory was within reach. Leading by nine points coming into the final quarter of their first round clash with Limerick, they were outscored by 3-6 to 0-3 in the remaining time. The Aaron Gillane goal was particularly disappointing for Clare to concede as they lost their defensive shape, with Gearoid Hegarty attacking from the right.
The team who best absorbs the lesson from squandering victories, will have a great chance this afternoon.
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4. Break their losing record against Davy Fitzgerald’s home county
It’s not the first time that Davy Fitzgerald has headed for the opposition dugout when his home side is playing, but with so much on the line this Sunday, emotions will be high. When the teams met last year, in Davy’s first year in charge of Waterford, the Déise were already zero for two in the Munster round-robin series. The 2-22 to 0-16 defeat that followed in Semple Stadium consigned Waterford to another early championship exit.
In fact, Waterford have yet to defeat Clare in the Munster round-robin. In 2018, Clare took advantage of an injury-afflicted Waterford to clinch a nine-point win. Tadhg de Búrca, Noel Connors and Darragh Fives were forced off with injuries, and Kevin Moran was sent off.
A forgettable day for Waterford. They were more competitive in the 2019 meeting, but still fell short by one point in the end. Another convincing win followed for Clare in 2022, dispatching the then league champions by 12 points. Their 2021 meeting favoured Clare too, winning by five points when the championship reverted to the knockout format on account of the Covid pandemic.
The terms are different this time around which could help Waterford break that losing record.
Waterford are closing in on a first Munster final in the round-robin format, while Clare are still in contention to stay in for the long haul in the 2024 hurling season.
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Dundalk is everything i love about football. A team who runs on the dedication of volunteers, a team who gets f all support from the fai can go off and more then hold their own in europe. If everbody who goes to England to watch the prem could go down to their local loi team even just once a season it would make such a difference. But then when i see that dundalk won the equivalent of 3 loi titles or john Delaneys wages it make me so angry. That man is a clown and needs to go
I still haven’t seen one fact that supports this mob against Delaney. As a policy they invest in grassroots football to hopefully raise the game as a while. Not put money into LOI clubs that can’t reach the heights will give a return on investment. Well done Dundalk but the CEO of the national football association should be on 6 figures.
@James Darcy: Wait a minute – James Darcy, John Delaney… JD…. John is that you!?
@James Darcy: the CEO of a minor footballing nation should not be on the same as the combined salaries of the Italian and French FA’s, as much as the President of America and double what an Taoiseach is paid. Get real lad.
JD, so improve the grass roots so we can send better players to England?
@Hoofedup Bravo:
The grass roots in FAI parlance are a few very strong mainly Dublin underage league teams like Home Farm, St Kevin’s, to them the LOI is an obstruction, these clubs should be feeder clubs as happens in every other properly run league.
This causes another issue Dundalk earned 3 times last night in one match than they would do over a series of games in a hole season, this makes no sense. Dundalk are financially better drawing one of there last group games than trying to win there remaining matches in LOI. With such a setup up how can in Delany’s words “the problem child” expand and improve what Dundalk have achieved is incredible and against all odds.
Well spotted Billy!
few tickets for the replay there John . oh James :)
Hopefully Dundalk with all this money can set up a new football association called the AFI (Association Football Ireland) and we can see the end of that toxic money grabbing crowd once and for all.
@Padraig: now that’s a good idea.
Stick that up your hole John Delaney!
Equal to how much John Delaney earns a year
He’s 100% going to use this success to justify a hefty bonus this year.
I grew up supporting (and still do) my local club Tranmere Rovers. We live in the shadow of the Liverpool and Everton giants and even our ground is enclosed by houses proudly displaying red or blue colours despite their proximity to Prenton Park. Our average attendance is less than 5,000, peanuts in comparison to the volume of local football fans. It means I have a real sense of pride when my club achieves something against all these odds, even if they are few and far between. A loss is greeted with a shrug, a victory with joy. Bigger clubs shrug after a win because 3 points is expected, no less. I’m sure I get more pleasure following a perennial underdog than fans of the superclubs. I hope the real Dundalk fans are basking in every minute of their success and, more importantly, I hope football fans in the local area switch their sights from the English giants to their local club doing their town proud.
Who cares about the money? An Irish team is competing in Europe toe to toe with their opponents.
@Stephen Mcevoy, your are right, I walked round the town this morning and the place is buzzing.
Up dundalk from waterford
Quarter final at the very least
An incredible achievement for a team from this small Republic. It puts LOI football on the map. They deserve to be bursting with pride.
@Leo Lowe:as long as your sectarian club Linfield gets favourable treatment by the IFA,including Linfield supporting referees appointed to referee Linfield matches soccer in the colony will remain in the backwaters,the domain of bigots from loyalist housing estates.
@Juan Franc: LOI and IL fans put all that sectarian nonsense long behind them as demonstrated during the Setanta cup. Only the bar-stoolers think such hatred still exists. LOI fans leave that nonsense to the 2 ugly sisters of Scottish football.
@Juan Franc: It is very sad to read such comments, particularly when clubs have been striving to eliminate sectarianism and racism.
@Padraic Reid: He obviously doesn’t attend any games either. When LOI travelled up to Belfast for the games with Linfield they were welcomed with open arms and both enjoyed pints together, same when the Linfield lads came down south.
So basically John Delaney would need one win a year in Europe to pay his salary. That’s good to know
So much to admire about Dundalk. Just hope Cork can pip them
Oops cut off… But they are a shining example to LOI clubs.
Zenit will leather them unfortunately
@Minom Pnom: Zenit were 3-0 down to Maccabi until the 82 minute and only got a 95th minute winner by chance