Tipp were sharper, smarter

TALKING to a very neutral individual early in the second half of this All-Ireland semi-final yesterday, at a time when Waterford were mounting a comeback, he said to me, “I hope this doesn’t last, because if it does we won’t have an All-Ireland final.”

He was right, and I think that was the general feeling of most pundits going into this game – if anyone was going to give Kilkenny a game this year, it was Tipperary, but only if they reached the heights of last year. Waterford are Munster champions but in none of their games against Clare, against Cork twice, did they come anywhere near the level required to mount a real challenge to Kilkenny. They are off the pace, and this game proved that – the most comprehensive seven-point beating I’ve ever seen.

Tipp won this game on the field and off the field; they were smarter in every way, smarter in everything they did on the field, smarter also in the way they set up their team to begin with. I wasn’t the only one who felt that Noel McGrath would be better further out from the posts, and that John O’Brien was better inside, preferably on the edge of the square. McGrath lined out at centre-forward, O’Brien started inside, and both of them were outstanding. I also said that Shane McGrath would be the outstanding midfielder, given his experience – again, I was proved right. The first marker laid down in this game was laid down by Shane, a storming run through the middle in the first minute; a score didn’t result, but the ease with which the Waterford defence was split open set the tone.