Officials need to protect TJ, insists Shefflin
No need for home comforts as Déise prepare to hit the road
KILKENNY legend Henry Shefflin has implored match officials to offer more protection to TJ Reid as he faces manmarking tactics more akin to Gaelic football. Even though the talismanic Reid has been as accurate as ever from placed balls, he has been quiet in open play in the opening two championship games as managers have detailed a defender to remain on his shoulder, such as Eoghan O’Donnell did for Dublin. ‘How do you get away from that?’ Shefflin wondered. ‘I didn’t come across it too much, this football tactic of manmarking a player by standing beside him, holding, pulling him. I think you need more protection from the linesmen and the umpires to get away from that.’ Shefflin says it is difficult for him to understand how a player can go out and not worry about their own game and their whole focus is on stopping an opposition player, and that Brian Cody should attempt to counteract the manmarking. ‘Eoghan O’Donnell did a fabulous job and hurled very well but his concentration was TJ. It is very difficult to play against that. ‘So that’s something Brian might want to look at, put TJ into full-forward, get him
OUT of sight, out of mind. Amid the welter of excitement that has greeted hurling’s brave new world over the past fortnight, there hasn’t been mention of last year’s beaten All-Ireland finalists, a team that reached the last four, at least, in each of the past three summers.
Strange, that. Stranger still when you consider this Waterford side were actually winning the All-Ireland final 10 minutes into the second half.
If Kevin Moran had nailed the opportunity to put them two ahead, there may have been a different kind of history made that afternoon. While pundits are climbing over themselves to declare this All-Ireland as Galway’s to lose, there’s not a dickybird about the side that pushed them all the way last September.
Some of this is their own fault. Waterford haven’t been seen since the Sunday of St Patrick’s weekend and they didn’t cover themselves in glory that day. In the relegation play-off with Cork at Páirc Uí Rínn, they seemed to meekly accept their fate, barely laying a finger on their opponents. That alarming performance mirrored a limp League campaign.
And then there’s the whole issue of Walsh Park. Home comforts has been the fashionable theme during the second week of the new championship. All four home sides won last weekend(although both away sides won in Leinster the previous week). So, with Walsh Park deemed unfit to host championship hurling matches, Waterford must be at a distinct disadvantage.
Maybe not. It’s hard to imagine that there were too many tears shed inside the Waterford dressing-room when it was confirmed that they would not be allowed to play at their home ground. Given the way they play, their own pitch has rarely looked fit for their purpose.
Dan Shanahan even suggested as much in February after watching Waterford being swept aside by a young and hungry Kilkenny team. Standing on the boggy, marshy surface, the selector dared to point out that his team would have preferred if the game had been played in Nowlan Park.
The Kilkenny venue, less than half-an-hour’s drive from the city, would have been the ideal solution to the Walsh Park problem, but it was deemed unsuitable by the Munster Council with reasoning that never entirely convinced.
Instead, Derek McGrath and his players go on a tour of Cusack Park, Gaelic Grounds and Semple Stadium. Playing Cork at Semple is no hardship.
Some of their best performances under McGrath have come in Thurles, like last year’s qualifier win over Kilkenny, beating Tipperary and Cork on their way to the league title in 2015 or turning over Clare in the 2016 Munster Championship.
Having to play their other ‘home’ game in the Gaelic Grounds is more of a challenge. Waterford haven’t beaten Tipperary there since 1963 — but the county also hadn’t beaten Kilkenny in the Championship since 1959 before that magical evening in Thurles last July. McGrath’s team has made a habit of shrugging off historical barriers.
Asking the loyal Déise support to travel to Limerick two weekends in a row is a different matter, but that is what they will need to do to guarantee seeing their team.
The lack of live television coverage for last year’s All-Ireland runners-up is yet another strange aspect of their Munster campaign. A team that splashed so much colour across last summer start their season away from live cameras in Ennis – weird considering there’s a lot on the line for Clare in Cusack Park, too.
Indeed, Waterford’s only guaranteed live game is against Tipp the following week as their matches against Limerick and Cork are part of Munster doubleheaders that throw-in at the same time and RTE have yet to confirm which game will be covered live.
It is an odd way to treat a team that should be among the favourites to land the big prize. The thing is, there remains plenty of question marks.
It is almost certain to be McGrath’s final year in the job – there were concerns that he would step away over the winter – so there may be a final push to get over the line for their manager.
The failure of Austin Gleeson and Pauric Mahony to overcome injury ahead of the trip to Ennis are two body blows they could have done without. As there was radio silence from the camp over the past month or so, rumour filled the vacuum. While Gleeson and Mahony’s fitness battles proved to be true, the rumour mill also suggested injuries to Kevin Moran and Darragh Fives.
And it must be asked can Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh, their spiritual leader, continue to roll back the years in the manner which he did so brilliantly last season, especially given Waterford’s punishing schedule of four games in 21 days.
Rather than plotting a path out of the province on the road, the greatest challenge for McGrath and his management team is finding a way through while relying on the same old faces. McGrath has consistently claimed that his panel don’t have the depth of Tipperary and Galway – and the departures of brothers Shane and
So far, Waterford have gone under the radar
Kieran Bennett will not have helped matters.
Tom Devine’s return from his travels has bolstered the attack, giving them an extra physical presence up front, but McGrath simply isn’t blessed with the plethora of options of Micheál Donoghue or Michael Ryan.
Even so, under McGrath’s stewardship, Waterford have been one of the most consistent sides in the Championship. They have reached each of the last three semi-finals – only Tipperary and Galway have also managed that. There has been steady improvement every year.
All of which should put them in the frame as possible All-Ireland contenders. But it looks like it will be up to Waterford to force themselves into that conversation in Ennis this Sunday.