Kieran Shannon: Waterford are learning from knockbacks. And only going to get better
Waterford's Conor Prunty sends Limerick's Darragh O'Donovan tumbling during the Munster SHC Round 2 match at TUS Gaelic Grounds at the weekend. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
As hard as it is to see someone other than Limerick winning the All-Ireland this year, it’s worth remembering the last year someone else did.
In 2019, Tipperary came out of the championship traps like a bullet. They went down to Páirc Uí Chaoimh and dismissed Cork in much the same manner that Limerick did there last Sunday week. Then they trounced Waterford by 18 points and Clare by 13 – in Ennis. Everyone between them and the steps of the Hogan Stand were, or at least appeared as if they’d be, mere roadkill.
But then they hit a speed bump. They had a bit of a slump. Limerick beat them well in the Munster final and a couple of weeks later they were still out of sorts with an underwhelming win over Laois. It took until they went a man and a couple of points down to Wexford in the All-Ireland semi-final for them to find their groove again but when they did, they ended up disposing of Kilkenny in the final in much the same manner as they did their earlier victims in Munster.
A similar trend was at work the year before that with Limerick themselves. They bolted out of the gates, first with a statement win at home against Tipp, then wiped Waterford. Their last-round robin game in Ennis in 2018 was a full house and a local derby but it wasn’t a must-win and they subsequently didn’t. Just because it sent them down a different route didn’t mean it derailed them. It ended up taking them to exactly where they wanted – the Promised Land.
In other words, the previous and only two sides to win the All-Ireland under the current championship format had at some stage or another a blip, and just when they needed one or at least when they could get away with having one.
Something similar could be at play with Waterford.
Elsewhere on these pages and also on his Examiner podcast Anthony Daly has expressed his concerns regarding Liam Cahill’s troops. That they gave Limerick their best shot – and still ended up short. That the gap between the two teams might only grow, not close, over the rest of the summer. That while Waterford are still a threat and a joy to watch, they’ve been a bit over-hyped and maybe aren’t all as they were cracked up to be.
On this particular Examiner page though we’d be of the view that Waterford are as well positioned two games into the championship as they were at the start of it.
With the exception of Kilkenny in their pomp and Limerick in 2020 (when there was no round-robin provincial championship) no team blitzes everyone from one end of the year to the other. Even Limerick themselves over the past two years have taken the league off. Waterford weren’t in a position to be that casual this spring and once they found a stride they were as well steamrolling Wexford and Cork and finally getting their hands on silverware as they were holding everything back for Tipp and Limerick.
To create the kind of breakthrough their county craves, Waterford needed to create a sense of mission, a sense of This Is Our Year much like another team that has had an audience with Jim McGuinness had in 2012. But as Waterford themselves will bitterly know from 2007, it’s hard to sustain that mood for as long as you want. Donegal only caught that wave that June: Jimmy only started winning matches that year in Ulster, not in the league. Waterford were starting from a lot further out, and when you had even Derek McGrath, their former manager, declaring that they and not the reigning All-Ireland champions were the team to beat in 2022, expectations needed to be cooled a bit.
Last Saturday night reminded McGrath and everyone else of the hierarchy – Limerick are still the team to beat.
But it’s going to be hard for even them to win Munster and the All-Ireland; at some point, possibly Ennis again, they might have a blip.
And last Saturday night reaffirmed our hunch that the next time someone other than Limerick win the All-Ireland, it’ll likely be a Waterford man.
That could be this year, it might take next year; Liam Cahill didn’t pass on the Tipp job simply because he felt Waterford would be the more competitive outfit in 2022 and then he’d have better things to be doing than managing county teams in 2023. All the time he and his team are building, improving.
The outstanding Australian Olympic hockey winning coach Ric Charlesworth used to have one constant bit of advice for all aspiring champions: Face Your Foes. Keep playing them, and if needs be, keep losing to them but all the time you’ll keep learning from them until eventually you beat them.
That’s where Waterford are right now with Limerick. They failed last Saturday but they failed better. Much was made going into the game of their paucity of goals in their previous five championship games against Limerick – not to mention the clean-sheet in the 2019 league final as well. Last Saturday night they beat Nickie Quaid twice.
They also took a page out of the playbook the Kerry and Cork footballers would when they’d always meet in both Munster and Croke Park in the second half of the noughties. Hold something back tactically for later on but go full blooded with what you are going with. Waterford held some things back last Saturday. Jamie Barron will start whenever it’s do or die. Conor Prunty will be moved on to Aaron Gillane if needs must. But in terms of effort, they held nothing back.
For a champion side like Limerick to be denied another All-Ireland, it won’t be an ambush a la 2019. It’ll be from them having to endure a series of lumps and cuts over the course of a long summer from teams craving a shot at them, not cowering at the prospect. Waterford got in those shots last week, and while they ended up second best walking away from those collisions, they’re still the better for it.
Limerick also had the benefit of – and possibly the need for – a huge vocal home support last Saturday night. The previous week against Tipp, Waterford may have been the home side but a bit like Mayo with Castlebar, Walsh Park isn’t where they play best. So that’s another reason why Waterford maybe haven’t yet got to where they’ve been or will need to this year: they still haven’t played where they like to and need to. Thurles. Croke Park. Where the trophies are handed out.
So no Waterford balloon has been burst, Dalo. Just some air has been let out of it. Which is no bad thing, Derek. Actually it could be what helps it soar to where you want it to go.
