Heavy midfield traffic has been a feature of recent games between Limerick and Waterford.
By Kevin Egan
Limerick v Waterford, All-Ireland SHC semi-final, Saturday at 5pm in Croke Park, live on RTE Sport and Sky Sports.
There’ll never be a definitive answer to the question that was on so many people’s lips after the Munster hurling final – was Limerick’s second half performance in that game possible the best display of hurling that has ever been produced by any team?
Comparing teams across eras and with different levels of opposition is impossible, but the very fact that the question is being asked says all that needs to be said about where Limerick are right now. John Kiely’s team are in electric form and he had an abundance of options when it came to selecting his starting team for tomorrow evening.
Once he did, there were no real surprises. Aaron Gillane, the shock omission from the Munster final team, resumes in the full forward line at the expense of Graham Mulcahy, and Dan Morrissey continues at full back in place of Richie English, having come on as replacement for the Doon player at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
In their two championship meetings in 2020, Limerick were well able to handle Waterford’s running game. The Déise scored 0-12 from play in the Munster final and 0-8 from play in the All-Ireland decider; whatever else can be predicted, it’s safe to say that Liam Cahill’s side might need something close to the sum of those two numbers if they are to prevail tomorrow.
If that’s to happen, midfield will be key. Tipperary got a lot of traction in this sector in the early stages in the Munster final, as by going long, pulling the game away from Declan Hannon and asking William O’Donoghue to do a lot of hard defensive work, they played the game in parts of the field where Limerick wouldn’t be as keen to engage.
Tipperary used the full width of the field and Waterford have to be happy to do the same, to keep the tempo high, to keep the ball moving and to avoid letting the game turn into a series of scrummages with a dozen players located within ten metres of the sliothar.
Jamie Barron and Peter Hogan scoring 0-07 between them from midfield against Tipp will be hugely encouraging from a Déise perspective, as they need to win this particular battle and to avoid having to crowd this area. Pose a threat, force Limerick to honour it, and thus give players like Dessie Hutchinson and Austin Gleeson more one-on-one contests, might be a path to prosperity.
That they’ve learned so much from the Clare defeat in the Munster championship is encouraging for Liam Cahill and his selectors, but now they have to find a way to put that into practice against the All-Ireland champions, and most importantly, to do so for 70 minutes and more.
Against both Galway and Tipperary, there was a sense that Waterford were falling over the line a little bit in the latter stages. Playing the full second half with 14 men against Galway didn’t help of course, but fatigue has to be a factor too. They needed to hurl right out to the end so see off Laois, so they’ve now effectively had to empty the tank three weekends in succession, and will certainly need to do the same again.
In terms of their hurling, and how to handle the deep-lying centre back and crowded scoring zone opposition that they got from Clare and will get from Limerick, Waterford are a better team than they were a few months ago.
Their problem is that on the most recent evidence, Limerick are possibly a better team than this famous field sport has ever seen.
LIMERICK (v Waterford): Nickie Quaid; Sean Finn, Dan Morrissey, Barry Nash; Diarmaid Byrnes, Declan Hannon, Kyle Hayes; William O’Donoghue, Darragh O’Donovan; Gearoid Hegarty, Cian Lynch, Tom Morrissey; Peter Casey, Seamus Flanagan, Aaron Gillane.
Down midfielder Tom Close will hope to guide his team to an All-Ireland decider at Roscommon's expense tomorrow.
Down v Roscommon, Eirgrid All-Ireland U20FC semi-final, Saturday at 7pm in Kingspan Breffni, TG4
The 2021 Eirgrid U-20 football championship has produced one remarkable game after another this year, and a fascinating contest is in store tomorrow in Cavan between two sides that have only met once in competitive U-21/U-20 action. That was all the way back in 1978 when a Roscommon team containing future All-Star winners Gerry Connellan and Tony McManus edged out Down by a single point at Dr. Hyde Park, before going on to enjoy the same margin of victory against Kerry in the final.
This particular Down side has been earmarked from a long way out as a group with the world of potential, and they’ve shown they can win in different ways during their Ulster campaign. A devastating attacking display against Cavan was balanced by a performance of great resilience and patience in difficult circumstances against Monaghan, and with a lot of depth and pace in the side, the Mourne County will feel that they’re in a very good place heading to Kingspan Breffni for this fixture.
It’s harder to get an accurate read on Roscommon, since their biggest test was against Mayo and the home side badly misfired at Hastings Insurance Brokers MacHale Park that night. Roscommon had a fair bit to spare in the end so it’s no slight on them to say that as games go, it didn’t have the quality of some of the other fixtures we’ve seen across the country in this grade.
There were injury doubts about midfielder Keith Doyle, who was outstanding against Sligo and Leitrim earlier this year, but he has been named by manager Liam Tully to start the game, though his partner in the games so far – Ronan Garvin – makes way for Enda Crawley, who makes his first start of the year. Against a good Down duo of Odhrán Murdock and Tom Close, this battle will be vital. Roscommon have plenty of scoring power to compete with Down, with all six starting forwards capable of posting two or three scores from play, but giving them adequate ammunition will be key.
Roscommon (v Down): Conor Carroll; Conor Lohan, Colin Walsh, Dylan Gaughan; Patrick Gavin, Tomás Crean, Ruaidhrí Fallon; Keith Doyle, Enda Crawley; Robbie Dolan, James Fitzpatrick, Daire Cregg; Adam McDermott, Ben O’Carroll, Darragh Heneghan.
Huw Lawlor has been a powerful presence at the heart of the Kilkenny defence this year.
Kilkenny v Cork, All-Ireland SHC semi-final, Sunday at 3.30pm in Croke Park, live on RTE Sport and Sky Sports.
It was easy to be impressed with both of Kilkenny’s outings in this year’s Leinster championship, but through no fault of their own, the failure of either Wexford or Dublin to impress in their next outings means that Brian Cody’s new-look side has yet to prove definitively that they are capable of producing the same level of form against the top sides in the country. Likewise, their Allianz league form was more than respectable, but there was a sense that Division 1B was a more hospitable environment than the Munster-heavy Division 1A.
The other side of that argument is that when it comes to assessing the readiness of a player for the white heat of big championship games in Croke Park, there can be no better judge in the country than Brian Cody.
Defensively, the Cats seem to have their ducks in a row, with a solid unit in place, built around Huw Lawlor on the edge of their square. Kilkenny are as adept at anyone at getting players back and crowding out the key scoring areas, but if an opponent is able to move the ball into danger areas quick enough to beat the cover (and it’s hard to imagine anyone more suited to doing so than this Cork team) then players like Tommy Walsh and Paddy Deegan will be as formidable in one-on-one battles as they need to be.
Where there are question marks is in their range of scoring threats. TJ Reid is playing to “Hurler of the Year” standards, while Eoin Reid is capable of shooting the lights out without possessing the same level of consistency – but their starting half-forward line scored 0-3 against Wexford, and 0-3 against Dublin. For as long as that continues, there’s a ceiling to how much Kilkenny can score.
Cork have raised their scoring ceiling considerably in 2021, thanks to a much-improved goalscoring record. Goals were the difference in their All-Ireland quarter-final win over Dublin, and they’ll try to keep that trend going on Sunday.
Shane Kingston and Tim O’Mahony were their goalscoring duo last time out, but Croke Park looks like it’s made for Jack O’Connor, who has pace to burn.
If you read anything into records, All-Ireland semi-finals have not been a happy hunting ground for the Rebels for some time, with just one win in their last seven appearances at this stage of the competition, while Kilkenny’s loss to Waterford last year ended a run of ten consecutive semi-final victories.
