Classy McGrath will have to be watched
Q: After Waterford lost to Tipperary in the league manager Davy Fitzgerald said Noel McGrath’s performance would be in the minds of Déise players next day out. How to cope with the Clonoulty man tomorrow?
A: “NOEL McGrath is a top player. If we don’t stick to certain things that we are working on, anybody is going to go in there and pick up ball. He is a great striker of the ball.
“If he gets a bit of room he will punish you. Noel McGrath is a player that we will have to keep an eye on at the weekend as are the other five Tipperary forwards, the way they are playing.
“What we have to do is to get tight. We will have to concentrate for the full 70 minutes. Let’s be honest, they are going to get chances and they are going to get scores. They are good players. It is down to what we can do, what we can limit them to and what we can do at the other end of the field will obviously determine the end result.”
Q: Well, you brought it up: the movement of the Tipperary forwards means opponents face a choice — whether to go man on man or go zonal.
A: “THAT is one of the big challenges and that is something we are going to weigh up over the past few weeks and everybody is going to do that,” says Fanning. “And you may have to adapt during the game as well because not everything that you are going to try on the day works.
“Every team’s best laid plans may not work out as you would like even though you would love them to.
“Whether we go man for man or mark the space, there are plusses and minuses. We are not going to give away too much of our hand at this stage but their movement is fantastic and it is something that we are going to have to concentrate on because they can destroy you in five minutes.”
Q: Finally, is there a temptation to direct Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh to full-back, where he finished the Limerick game?
A: “I THINK there is too much made of full-back.
I find people are always going on about the full-back in Waterford and I just look back at games and every time I look at other teams, like Paul Curran (of Tipperary) last year.
He was in big trouble with Aisake Ó hAilpin down in Cork and he ended up getting an All Star and deservedly so.
I think Paul is a fantastic full back, but he has had games where he has had difficulties.
I have seen JJ Delaney and Noel Hickey at different times having difficulties in the full back position but no one else is calling it a crisis in any other county.
Galway have chopped and changed their full-back in the last few years as well, Cork the same since Diarmuid O’Sullivan.
I don’t think we have any more of an issue at full-back than any other county. If you look at how the game has gone, especially the way Tipperary’s forwards play, your corner-back could end up full-back.”
