Liverpool v Manchester City, 22 February 2009

Turn turn turn

In what will be interpreted as a vote of confidence in the team that defeated Clare, Waterford show only one change for the visit of the holders of some bauble picked up last September. The omission of Dan Shanahan will be seen as a shock, but the only shock is that it’s taken this long for the selectors to give someone else a go. With the inevitable return of Stephen Molumphy – why make him half-captain if he isn’t sure of his place in the team? – the selectors thoughts seem to be crystallising around this XV.

This is ominous.

Back in Year Zero (also known as AD 1998, or CE 1998 if you are so inclined), Waterford played Tipperary in the first round of the National League in Thurles. After a good winter, hopes were moderately high. By half-time, Waterford fans were in hysterics after walloping Tipp all over the park. 1-11 to 1-3 didn’t flatter Waterford one bit. Easing off the throttle and a couple of late goals took the shine off proceedings, but it was a great performance and had I been told that that team would appear in the Munster final later on in the summer, I would have believed it.

Yet there were to be significant differences between that team and the one that played Clare in July. While Brendan Landers was close enough to the team against Tipp to be playing the next day against Cork, neither Dave Bennett, Anthony Kirwan or Brian Flannery had made any impact in the winter matches. Ger Harris, Gary Gater and Mark O’Sullivan -  a veteran of Year Minus Six, so his pedigree was impeccable – would all vanish with barely a trace. Stephen Frampton, so doughty in the half backs in the summer, was to be in the corner against Tipp. To summarise the argument, the team would undergo significant changes throughout the League before it could be considered to be Championship ready. It’s not just important that the team goes through the wringer between now and the summer, it’s essential.

Maybe Waterford were so good against Clare (and it seems they were pretty good) that they are beginning to take shape already. Sunday will tell us how true that is, but you can’t help but worry that they’ll be exposed by whatstheirnames, and we’ll be back to Square Zero.

Confidence stroke arrogance

After pausing to give oneself a quiet bualadh bos for parsing the De La Salle – Cushendall match correctly – it’d be tough, but a Waterford team is not going to lose its nerve against an Antrim team – let’s dig a bit deeper into that analysis. Post match, there were two interviews on TG4 which reflect this dispensation. Brian Phelan isn’t known as the Bull for nothing, and he let the cat out of the bag by effectively saying that Cushendall were a tougher challenge than he expected. When the interviewer playfully suggested that DLS may have underestimated their opponents, the look of panic that swept across his face was priceless. Rule No 1 of engaging with the media (known as the Babs rule): never admit to thinking your opponents are anything less than equals. No, he replied, we didn’t underestimate them, and the set of his jaw told us that this line of questioning was at an end.

A slightly more sophisticated point of view came from John Mullane. After the obligatory knew it would be tough etc (see Babs rule), he was asked whether he felt sorry for a club enduring a seventh fall at the penultimate All-Ireland hurdle. Having endured five All-Ireland semi-final defeats with Waterford (I’m sure he was present  in Croke Park in ‘98 – shure didn’t we all feel it like we had played that day), he was not going to muster any faux-sympathy for Cushendall. “That’s the way the cookie crumbles”, sayeth John Almighty.

It does make sense to cover your ass by following the Babs rule. John Mullane probably knows that better than anyone when a casual comment about a potential September meeting with Kilkenny was pounced upon by Richie Bennis. But surely there’s got to be a point where privately Waterford teams have got to start believing that they can whip anyone and everyone we play. Otherwise, defeatist thoughts can become self-fulfilling prophecies. Feeling relief that DLS won’t be meeting the best that Kilkenny has to offer, like I did when I heard Portumna had beaten Ballyhale Shamrocks, is deranged. Portumna, by dint of hammering Ballyhale and being the defending champions, are clearly a far more formidable outfit. Yet even after breaking it down like that, I still feel happier to be facing them than any Cat. With an attitude like that, we’re never going to beat Kilkenny at anything. Hopefully the public spirit of Brian Phelan exists in private too.

You learn a new thing every day

During the week I received an all-too-rare comment, a post from HURLER saying that “Ruairi Og will hurl you’s off the park on sunday…” After getting over the initial sarky amusement that someone had homed in on a Googled reference to De La Salle (the school) being the All-Ireland champions (last year), I wondered who ‘Ruairi Og’ was, clearly the latest great white dope of Antrim hurling.

Which (and I’m thinking of making this the motto for this website) shows you what I know. Ruairí Óg is the name of Cushendall GAA. There’s a doctrinal thesis out there waiting to be written on the historiography of GAA club names, and a whole chapter could be devoted to why people come up with names that are never used. I’d heard of Cushendall yet I don’t feel one bit embarrassed that I didn’t know their real name (any more than HURLER should feel embarrassed by not knowing the distinction between the two DLS’s, it should be noted). One of the great clubs of recent times, St Mary’s, are known to absolutely no one as that. And my own club trade under the mouthful that is Michael Mac Craith, a name that I’ve only ever seen unaccompanied by the pregnant explanation that it’s Tramore on the clunky old scoreboard that they used to have in Walsh Park.

So will it be Ruairí Óg (Cushendall) or De La Salle (club) winning through on Sunday? Waterford clubs hold no fear for Antrim clubs, as Dunloy demonstrated in beating Mount Sion in 2003. But De La Salle have shown that they are not hamstrung by the demons that have held back Waterford clubs over the years. I’ll stick my neck out – based on the aforementioned lack of nerves and their gradual ascent towards the top meaning their presence here is no fluke, De La Salle to win. Either way, thanks to HURLER for his / her interest, and best of wishes to the good folk of Cushendall.

Result of the day. Just not today.

Given our mediocre record against them in recent times (21 point massacres notwithstanding), beating Clare away should have been the most notable result of the day in the National League. Except this was the day that Dublin dished out an 11 point hiding to Galway. Most GAA folk relish Dublin’s failings but I’m not one of them – there’s no place more difficult to be a Gael than the capital -  so well done to the Jacks on a great win. Limerick came close to toppling Kilkenny, but close doesn’t cut it when it comes to shocks. And the less said about the Cork hurlers (as opposed to the Cork “hurlers”) show against Tipp . . .

Waterford 1-12 (15) Tipperary 2-13 (19)

As alluded to previously, getting a handle on the first match of the National Hurling League campaign can be tricky. What happened in the game to make it memorable? It certainly wasn’t the weather. Matches have been played in far worse conditions in the past. The allure of playing the defending champions isn’t there – sure haven’t we been in that position in the not too distant past, and I doubt anyone was setting off fireworks for us. Goalkeepers scoring goals? Meh, it’s been done to death. No, what made this match ’special’ was the clownish performance of the two umpires at the City End of the ground. Assuming it was the same duo in both halves, the ref had to over rule them no fewer than four times. Whatever motivated them – and curiously enough, all four initial decisions were to Waterford’s detriment -  credit to Barry Kelly for facing them down and making them look like the fools they were. Aren’t umpires usually friends of the referee? It must have been a long trip back to Westmeath.

Other than that, it was a typical early League encounter between teams who will be rivals in the later stages of the season, teams eager to face up to each other while not giving too much away. Except I fear that Waterford have already given something away. Not that it’s a revelation, but the thinness of our squad has not been resolved if this teamsheet is anything to go by. It’s true that we were missing some real heavyweights, but none of the players called up to replace them have not been tried before. In other words, we’re ‘experimenting’ with players who we tried in the past and who didn’t make the grade then, and persisting with players who are not Flynn or Browne beaters. On this evidence, Mullane, McGrath et al can’t come back soon enough.

Still, the second half performance was encouraging enough to suggest that those missing players might drag this team up to where eagles fly. An early positive sign was the free taking of Seamus Prendergast. Presumably he does it for Ardmore, but I make no apologies for being surprised that a) he was the one doing it in the absence of Eoin Kelly, and b) that he did it so well. The first score of the day was a slightly tricky free  that was struck over by Prendergast with the minimum of fuss.

Not that there were many frees on the day as the heavy pitch reduced most confrontations to throw-ins. It might sound like an excuse given the scoreline, and it’s true that both teams were playing on the same pitch. But it’s equally true to say that many events on the day, particularly in the first half, were reduced to pure randomness. Getting to the ball first, which is normally a good thing, was a recipe for disaster here as momentum carried you headfirst into the mud. The first quarter was as turgid a period of hurling as I’ve ever seen, with only one good moment (a quality point on the turn by James Woodcock) and one ugly moment (Shane Walsh having to go off after a bone-juddering accidental collision) being visible in the gloom of bad moments.

It couldn’t last and it didn’t, with Tipp putting in a second quarter that would ultimately prove decisive. Using the platform of a dominant performance from Benny Dunne in the half back line, they began to get on top. Three times Clinton Hennessy had to come to Waterford’s rescue, the first a flying save that went out ofr a 65, the second a point blank save which looped up for a point and the third having to pick the ball out of the mud with most of Tipperary bearing down on him. Such odds-defying couldn’t last and it didn’t, Pat Kerwick finally putting the finishing touches to another slick Tipp move, or as slick as it could be given the conditions. Dan Shanahan finally produced some magic to score a fine point late on, but the only positive thought was that it had taken them less time to score from play today than it had in the All-Ireland final.

I feared for Waterford at half time. Only Hennessy, Michael Walsh and Eoin Murphy had excelled, although Noel Connors had shown some nice touches in the other corner. Up front we were utterly toothless, and the sight of the newly-hirsute Big Dan being two steps behind every clash was profoundly depressing. No better team than Tipp for beating up on a team when they are down, so Waterford had better get up quickly. And in fairness, they did. Playing with a modest breeze seemed to help, Michael Walsh’s dominance in the half back line beginning to translate into more clean possession for the forwards. Stephen Molumphy seemed to be getting on top of his man weighing in with two points from play and Seamus Prendergast was lifting spirits by knocking over two 65’s – I always knew he had it in him! We were only matching Tipp point for pint, but with the ref ensuring that the umpires were not going to rob Waterford it was looking much healthier by the time we got a penalty in the last ten minutes. Up trotted Clinton Hennessy, who curiously elected to strike the ball on his ostensibly weak side. Maybe he’s more accurate on his left side, although is there really any increased accuracy when you’re only twenty-odd metres from the target? Either  way, the ball found the back of the net and the stage was set for a grandstand finish.

As the ball came back up the field, my first thought was of the matter of seconds between Waterford’s goal in the All-Ireland semi-final and Tipp’s goal. Well it was deja vu all over again as Paul Kelly skipped through the Waterford defence and rattled in their second goal. It all happened so fast that TG4 missed the build up, only cutting back as Kelly moved to strike.  You had to laugh. We were in this game of all of, oooh, twenty seconds. There was little chance that in such a low scoring affair that Waterford would close the gap but they kept at it and we had a couple of pleasing  cameos from Maurice Shanahan, the latest great white hope of Waterford hurling.

In the end, the balance sheet was negative. The attack was supine, with Big Dan continuing to look a shadow of his 2007 self, no matter how much shadow he puts on his chin. There were some good performances in the backs, and they seemed to act as a unit to repel much of Tipp’s efforts. That didn’t stop them getting more than their fair share of golden chances which Clinton Hennessy had to perform miracles to prevent. Still, his performance was a plus point when you consider the grief we’ve had in the square over the years. And the manner in which they kept going in the face of a potential second half collapse was encouraging. Nothing will be decided by the first match of the season. We need to keep telling ourselves that. We really do . . .

Waterford: Clinton Hennessy (1-0, pen), Eoin Murphy, Declan Prendergast, Noel Connors, Richie Foley, Michael Walsh, James Murray, Shane O’Sullivan, Jamie Nagle (0-1; Thomas Connors), Jack Kennedy (0-1), Gary Hurney (Patrick Hurney, 0-1), Seamus Prendergast (0-5, 0-2f, 0-2 65), Shane Walsh (Shane Casey; Maurice Shanahan, 0-1), Dan Shanahan (0-1), Stephen Molumphy (capt, 0-2)

Tipperary: Brendan Cummins, Conor O’Brien, Declan Fanning, Paul Curran, Benny Dunne (0-1), Conor O’Mahony (0-1, 65), Diarmaid Fitzgerald, Shane Maher (Seamus Callanan), Tomas Stapleton (Shane McGrath), Pat Kerwick (1-1; John Devane, 0-2), Patrick Maher (0-1), James Woodlock (0-2), Paul Kelly (1-1), John O’Brien, Willie Ryan (0-4, 0-3f; Pa Bourke)

HT: Waterford 0-3 (3) Tipperary 1-6 (9)

Referee: Barry Kelly (Westmeath)

Waterford v Tipperary, 8 February 2009

The lights are on, but there’s nobody home

The first match of the National Hurling League season can only be ever adequately assessed at the end of the hurling year.

• Win, do well in the League and do well in the Championship, this was when the ball was set rolling.
• Win, do well in the League and do badly in the Championship, it bred unjustified confidence, covered up the cracks by not exposing players incapable of the summer game and distracted from the real business at hand.
• Lose, do badly in the League and badly in the Championship, the rot had set in early.
• Lose, do badly in the League and well in the Championship, phew, we dodged a bullet there what with not  having a tiring run in the later stages of the League.

And so on and so forth, for all possible combinations. With that in mind, forgive me if my mind isn’t entirely focussed on the phony war against Tipp in Walsh Park today. Can Spurs do Liverpool a small favour today against Arsenal? Can West Ham do Liverpoool a colossal favour against Man Utd? And, most intriguingly, how will Cork’s C (D?) team do against Dublin? I invariably wish that the Dubs, the great hope for a resurgence in hurling’s fortunes, can dump on one of the aristos of the game. But now I’m hoping Gerald McCarthy’s callow group of loyalists can stick it to the continuity Corkonians of Cusack, Ó hAilpín et al. Then again, what damage might such a result do to the fragile confidence of the equally callow Dubs under the new management of Anthony Daly? Intriguing is definitely the word.

I might even watch the match at hand as well. Might prove significant later on in the year.

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths

Last night, I left my Waterford jersey (the most recent one, at least) outside my house. This was done for the good of the Déise. How can it fail? Liam McCarthy, here we come!