By John Harrington

Cork goalkeeper Anthony Nash believes some harsh lessons from their defeat to Tipperary in the 2014 All-Ireland SHC semi-final can stand them in good stead this year.

They were Munster champions back then too but it looked like they didn’t handle the five-week break to the All-Ireland semi-final very well as they were blown out of the water by a much sharper looking Tipperary.

They’ve tailored their approach to this year’s All-Ireland semi-final against Waterford with that experience in mind, and Nash is hopeful it will pay dividend.

“You would, you'd have to have learnt,” said Nash today at the launch of the M Donnelly All-Ireland Poc Fada Final in Croke Park. “We had a big break that time and we didn't play a lot of club championship, so we changed that a little bit. Whether it's right or wrong, I don't know.

“You have to learn going forward as a team but we were very disappointed in 2014 obviously. We had a good Munster campaign and just let ourselves down a little bit up here.

“Tipperary as they've shown are an awesome team so we weren't losing to a team that weren't well-drilled, they were very, very good. You try take bits and pieces out of it.”

Waterford will have an ideal three-week gap between Sunday’s All-Ireland SHC Quarter-Final win over Wexford and the All-Ireland semi-final, whereas Cork won’t have played a game in five weeks.

But Nash insists that’s not a prospect they’re unduly worried about.

“The Munster campaign was good because a three-week gap was the most we had. We're not overly focused on the five-week break either,” he said.

“If you do get it into your head you might start believing in it but all we're trying to do is train as if we're preparing for any other game. That's it really, we're not thinking, 'Oh it's five weeks for us.'

“We've only got less than three weeks now so it's as we were. We're going to have our three-week build-up and please God everyone gets through the Munster U-21 Final uninjured.”

Cork were convincing victors over Waterford in the Munster SHC Semi-Final, but Nash is expecting a ferocious challenge from the Deise in the rematch.

“There was a lot spoken about their 11-week lay-off,” he said. “As soon as the qualifiers were made everyone was speaking about how competitive they were going to be.

“The two teams that came out of that qualifiers were going to be well set-up and well-drilled. Waterford and Tipperary are in that position now and they're after coming into a fine bit of form.

“At the beginning of the year, Galway, Kilkenny, Waterford, Tipperary and Clare were all mentioned for All-Ireland contenders and we're meeting one of them. They've shown in the last few weeks why they're such a good team.”