Liberated Déise have leadership and freshness to go all the way
TRYING to detect any sort of form lines when it comes to local derbies can be a mug’s game. If this game didn’t have the element of local rivalry, the consensus is that Waterford are a bit further advanced than Wexford.
However, the occasion of two neighbours, and two of the most passionate groups of supporters in the country, in a new stadium alters that view. The re-emergence of Wexford has ensured this has already been a fantastic hurling summer.
Indeed, the optimism of Wexford people should be noted. Around 40,000 travelled up to Croke Park for the Leinster final and even after losing it, they remained pretty positive. They are an extraordinary bunch and don’t seem capable of that bitterness towards their team after a defeat, something that’s evident in most other counties.
What I have liked about Waterford against both Kilkenny and Offaly is that Derek McGrath and his management team have decided that this is the way we are going to play, with Tadhg de Búrca as the dedicated sweeper.
My feelings are well-known on this. I believe they have the players to express themselves in a conventional way and I still have my doubts as to whether they can win the All-Ireland playing the sweeper system. But McGrath is sticking to his guns.
Against Kilkenny, their three main men – de Búrca, Jamie Barron and Austin Gleeson – had 72 possessions between them. By contrast, Barry Coughlan at full-back was only on the ball five times. That shows how Waterford set up the last day. Their main focus was to protect the full-back line at all costs and stop supply going into Colin Fennelly.
De Búrca had 31 possessions alone, which is phenomenal. I have played in a lot of big games in Croke Park and elsewhere where you are doing well to get on the ball 10 times. So that just shows you how influential and effective he was – and how important he is to Waterford’s game-plan
Jamie Barron has matured into a real leader and I consider him now the best midfielder in the game alongside Galway’s David Burke. Their plan is for de Búrca and Barron to get on the ball and supply Gleeson. Davy Fitzgerald will need to figure out a way of shutting that down.
The trouble is that Wexford also play with seven backs and that will play into Waterford’s hands, and allow de Búrca to mop up possession.
Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh showed that he is coming back into form against Kilkenny, creating one goal and scoring another. He set the tone for that famous victory. In the likes of Colin Dunford, Patrick Curran and Tommy Ryan, McGrath has developed a powerful bench.
Those three players probably feel they should be starting but Waterford’s plan is to bring them in as fresh legs for the final 20 minutes of the game and kill it off. It is working and it worked against Kilkenny.
And when a team has ended a hoodoo, as Waterford did against the Cats, there is a sense of liberation among the players.
Players would never say it but the fact that Kilkenny had beaten them so often in the Championship, it does become a difficult burden to shake off. I’m sure it would have been in the back of their heads before extratime, that they might never achieve that elusive victory.
That is why Waterford’s extratime performance was so impressive. The leadership and drive shown by Barron told me there is plenty more in this team this summer.
They hadn’t played for 11 weeks before the Cork game and have barely played a club match. There was bound to be some rustiness in the early part of the summer but that also means they will be a fresher team for the latter part of the Championship.
Getting to Division 1A and a Leinster final in his first season was a massive achievement for Fitzgerald and he deserves immense credit for that. The issue for Wexford today is that they have been so dependent on Lee Chin and Conor McDonald for so much of what they have done this year. And I can’t see either of them getting enough space against Waterford to cause damage.
If those two are shut down, it is hard to see where Wexford will get the scores from.
As it is a local derby, it will be tighter than it should be. But I still see Waterford getting back to Croker, and they will arrive there next month on an upward curve, and as genuine All-Ireland contenders – something I couldn’t see when they were defeated by Cork six weeks ago.