RIVALS FANNING THE FLAMES

Galway v Waterford Tomorrow, Nowlan Park, 3.30pm (Live TG4)

HAVING avoided each other for 18 months after the 2017 All-ireland final, Galway and Waterford are running into each other twice in the space of a fortnight.

It’s certainly been a very beneficial few weeks for Waterford and Paraic Fanning.

Having secured the right to host games at Walsh Park in this year’s Munster Championship, they’ve since reeled off two victories at the venue which will go some of the way to creating the aura they want about the place when Clare return on May 12.

The wins have been impressive but also varied – a late Shane

Bennett goal beating Galway two weeks ago (above) before a points-splurge sank Clare last

Saturday.

Valid concerns around the weight of the modern sliothar aside, a tally of 0-31 represents outstanding marksmanship from Waterford, particularly as it came from 34 efforts at the posts.

Fanning (below) knows that conversion rates of 94 per cent are unsustainable.

When Derek Mcgrath was in charge, Waterford’s formation was a topic visited very frequently by hurling pundits and Fanning was keen to distance himself from that after the Clare game last week as he implements a system closer to a conventional line-up than that what was favoured by Mcgrath.

He said: “We’ve only tweaked a couple of things so I think there’s too much emphasis on systems but at the end of the day the lads made plenty of good decisions and we ended up putting up a big score on the board.” Although he hasn’t favoured a sweeper system so far, Fanning didn’t rule out implementing it at some stage when speaking in January, citing Clare dropping Colm Galvin back when they were being routed by tomorrow’s opponents early on in the All-ireland semifinal last year.

He said: “We may use a sweeper at times, we may not. You have to play what’s in front of you.

“The way the game has gone you have to adapt to certain circumstances during games and you may even change mid-game.”

Waterford may have got as much as they’ve wanted out of this League already, particularly in the last couple of weeks, though Galway look hungry for more and can set up an intriguing League decider with Limerick next weekend. VERDICT: Galway