Déise will rue vital errors and spurning goal opportunities
They were driven on by Michael Walsh at centre back and Stephen Molumphy now at centre forward where he looked more comfortable. But crucially Waterford spurned a series of good point-scoring chances. They coughed up poor wides from Eoin Kelly and Aidan Kearney while John Mullane dropped chances short into Brendan Cummins, the Tipp keeper.
These mistakes were serious when Waterford were nine points down.
But at the other end they gave away a disastrous goal and a point to Larry Corbett which effectively ended the game. Despite a general improvement in Waterford’s play they were 11 points behind and there was no chance of victory for Davy Fitzgerald’s men.
They played on with Michael Walsh doing very well in general play and John Mullane giving a man-of-the-match performance. Although they clawed their way back on the scoreboard the result was never in doubt.
DURING the first half Tipp pounced for three goals. Each of those strikes came from the Tipp forwards benefiting from the space accorded them by Waterford.
I asked on Saturday if Davy Fitzgerald, Waterford’s manager, had looked at Tipp’s first-half performances in their three most recent games. Yesterday was almost a carbon copy of those displays. The Tipp half forwards dragged their markers out the field and then they had the space to run onto the ball at pace which created the goal openings.
The Waterford defenders didn’t help the situation for themselves either. Tony Browne hesitated in defence and instead of having an easy clearance Tipp’s Seamus Callanan made him pay for the mistake by creating a goal for Eoin Kelly.
Huge space also opened up for Callanan’s own goal when Lar Corbett fastened onto a Fanning clearance. He had the time to pick out Noel McGrath who in turn offloaded to Callanan. Declan Prendergast, the Waterford full-back, lost his man for that goal and he also lost out under a high ball to Corbett. I’ll never understand why full backs don’t play the percentage in these situations and attempt to bat the ball away. Tipp benefited hugely from the open style of play and with a dominant midfield, half-back and half-forward line, they ran at Waterford at every opportunity. For me, Waterford’s defensive set-up was incorrect. They should have kept it tight against the wind in this half and made it a battle. Instead of going toe-to-toe, they played it open and lost out to the better hurlers on this occasion.
I posed a question on Saturday regarding Tipperary’s battling qualities. I wrote that we’d know by six o’clock on Sunday if Tipp could really battle. But we still don’t know. The game wasn’t a battle but Tipp still faded in the second half scoring only a goal and four points. Question marks remain about their ability to tough things out if needs be. It will be a major concern for their manager Liam Sheedy.
Tipp have too many out-and-out ball players from midfield up. O’Brien, Callanan and Corbett are similar type hurlers. They lack the Declan Ryan-type centre-forward to break up the play, hold it up or win the ball in 50/50 type situations when the chips are down. Their present bunch like to come onto the ball and need space to operate. What will happen when they fail to fire in the first half if their opponents clog up the channels must be a question in the back of their minds. But we’ll have to wait another day for this judgement. At least no texts regarding walking greyhounds will be doing the rounds as they are just managing to hold onto the lead so far.
