Treaty should make it a clean SWEEP DON’T MISS
Wexford boss and Clare All- Ireland winner’s big match breakdown
BROADLY speaking, there are two ways in which teams play nowadays.
One is to employ a dedicated sweeper, as we do in Wexford and like Galway did against Limerick. The other is to have a sitting centre- back like Waterford have in Tadhg de Burca.
A sitting centre- back doesn’t generally charge forward and a midfielder will typically pick up his man. The centre- forward has to drop to mark a midfielder and then someone on the inside line has to keep tabs on the opposition centre- back.
So, to set up li ke that, you have to compromise yourself in several other areas, which is why I plump for a sweeper instead of having so many other moving parts, with the risk of leaving somebody loose around the middle.
Limerick get back quickly and in strong numbers to help their backs, giving them an out ball to build overlaps and attacks. As we see in this example [ below] from the Munster final , there are eight Limerick
SUPPORT Eight Limerick men launch attack from deep players in the shot as they look to launch an attack from the l eft f l ank of their defence. But there are just six Waterford players, something that they can ill- afford.
It really needs to be eight- versus- eight or, at the very least, eight- versus- seven, because if you get a two- man overlap Limerick will be away and by the time they get to midfield they’ll have built a head of steam. A score is a formality.
So many teams allow the Limerick halfforward line to go down the field and give them a platform to attack, whether it be through their slick short- passing to work a score from distance or arrowing a delivery
Waterford get hands on Tom Morrissey into Aaron Gillane or Graeme Mulcahy – always outside of them – to take the sitting half- back line out of the game.
Examples two and three ( below), also f rom the Munster f i nal , i l l ustrat e perfectly what Waterford should and shouldn’t be doing, for me.
In both instances, Limerick wingforward Tom Morrissey was loitering around his own half- back line. In example three, in the first half, he’s in loads of space and available for an out ball to get another Limerick attack moving.
In example two, during the second half , t here are Water f ord bodi es converging on him. Nothing easy. That’s what they must do if they are to curb the substantial damage the Limerick half- forward line has been inf licting throughout this Championship.
As I said, I expect that Tadhg de Burca will sit and Kieran Bennett will drop to take some of the burden off the defence. How Tadhg positions himself is critical because, while Conor Prunty i s generally strong in the air, there was nobody in behind him to stop the goal threat when he fumbled against Kilkenny in the first half.
If Waterford concede two or more
DANGER Tom Morrissey is free to get attack going
goals, I don’t see them winning this f inal . So it ’s pivotal that De Burca senses disaster before it happens and protects his full- back line.
When Waterford ran at Limerick in the Munster f i nal at pace and i n numbers, Limerick seemed to struggle. They blew Kilkenny away in the second half playing li ke that so, naturally, Liam Cahill is going to demand more of the same.
Th e y ’r e g o i n g tomorrow.
There was a time for Waterford to push on in the Munster final and they
t o
n e e d
g o a l s didn’t but, the one thing they have under Cahi l l , Mikey Be vans and Stephen Frampton is fight. They won’t give in. And they’re going to need every bit of that spirit against a seasoned Limerick side.
No one would begrudge Waterford a first All- Ireland in 61 years. Have they a chance? They certainly do. I wouldn’t be shocked if they pull this off.
But I just feel that there’s more to come from Limerick. They haven’t hit their straps yet, but I think they will tomorrow.
If they do, that’ ll see them through.