Tactical masterclass reveals Waterford had Clare well ‘taped’
In Semple Stadium on Sunday, Clare had knocked over three points without reply in the second half. The lead was down to four and Waterford hadn’t scored for 11 minutes. Clare had possession with a sideline that was turned over. A little mistake. Then Austin Gleeson, whose six points and the timing of them were a crucial reason for victory, seized the day and cut a beauty over the bar.
A huge shift of momentum. Game over. Small things decide championship matches.
Waterford’s Pauric Mahony made his first start and stroked over five frees nonchalantly and without any fuss. To the fans in the stands, an easy enough accomplishment. A minor thing. After all, he is a free-taking specialist.
On the other side, Clare’s Conor McGrath stood over a free in a favourable position. An easy enough assignment but he missed. Tony Kelly also erred later. Another body-blow. Small mistakes that were major in the context of the game. Add in the two 65s and one from play that McGrath usually converts and suddenly belief waned in the Banner. These were big psychological swings. Clare’s misses fed Waterford’s growing confidence. The reverse was true of Clare.
Preparation-wise, Waterford peaked for this game whereas Clare peaked for the league finals. I suggested last Saturday that Waterford should not concede puck-outs to Clare half-backs. They did at times but Shane Bennett pushed up on David Fitzgerald at a crucial time, dispossessed him and the Waterford goal resulted.
Moments earlier, David Reidy did get Clare’s best chance when he ran in behind the Déise defence, set up by Darach Honan. Reidy shot on the run but his strike was at a good height for goalkeeper Stephen O’Keeffe and he made a good smart save, as he had also done when Shane O’Donnell threatened. Reidy is not a striker per se. He had time to slow down slightly and launch into the strike, keeping it low or going above head height, which would have been the better option. This save was a huge psychological plus for Waterford and another major minus for Clare.
John Conlon was passed fit for Clare and I didn’t understand why he wasn’t placed at the edge of the ‘square’ in the first half with Shane O’Donnell working off him for the breaks. Why not land a few deliveries down on top of Conlon instead of hitting long ‘hit and hopes’ from unfavourable positions that went wide and sapped morale.
Clare needed Podge Collins, Conor McGrath and particularly Tony Kelly to have a big influence on proceedings. Prior to this game, I felt that Clare needed to attack Waterford through the middle with the aforementioned trio heavily involved. Reidy’s ghost through and Cian Dillon’s strong run down the middle, late in the game, were indications that probing for weaknesses in this area might have given the Bannermen some joy, particularly from the end of the first quarter, when the sides were level.
To do this effectively, you need to put a half-forward in possession and then have the likes of McGrath, Colm Galvin or preferably Tony Kelly breaking through onto a reverse pop pass or an ‘over the top’ ball more or less as a line break would be effected in rugby.
Once Waterford went six points up in the second half, they funnelled bodies behind the ball. Clare were then forced to shoot from outside but Tony Kelly played far too deep and he needed to stay parallel to the play. Kelly and Galvin are two of Clare’s best long-distance strikers. Setting up plays that put them in free areas, as they had done in the first period, was essential in the second half.
A strategy needed to be worked out at half-time allowing Cian Dillon, the short puck-out receiver, to transfer to Kelly or Galvin in space, providing good long-distance shooting chances. There are no timeouts in GAA but I’m sure Davy Fitzgerald would have loved one in the second half.
Last Saturday, I mentioned a line from the famous speech made by Winston Churchill to the House of Commons in 1940. Today, I have another line from that speech, a line which Waterford manager Derek McGrath might have uttered to Deise fans prior to this game: “I have full confidence, that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made we shall prove ourselves once more...”
All did their duty. Nothing was neglected and the best arrangements were made. Waterford improved on their league final replay performance, while Clare failed to hit the heights of the previous encounter. I felt that Waterford were not at the required pitch mentally for that replay. However, they were well tuned in last Sunday. Their workrate was very high and they ploughed into the ground tussles,winning most of them.
Clare have made good use of short sidelines since 2013, where the ball is returned quickly to the taker. Waterford clamped down on these and on much of Clare’s creativity.
It is universally acknowledged that you learn more in defeat. Waterford had a five-day training camp in Fota recently while Clare went to Breaffy House. It was clear that the Déise looked at the tapes, analysed them minutely, learned from them and then practised “the best arrangements”.
Selecting Maurice Shanahan up front brought a different dimension to Waterford’s play. He led the line brilliantly, like a lone striker in soccer who held up the ball, brought others into play and scored 1-2 himself.
Goals are always at a premium in these type of games. Shanahan’s early goal provided the Déise with a comfort cushion for the remainder of the game while Kevin Moran’s superb work-rate, scores and leadership laid down the required markers from the start.
The second-half substitutions of Tom Devine, Jake Dillon and Colin Dunford kept the work-rate level high. There was no easy concession of scores to Clare in the minutes before half-time or down the final stretch this time.
Waterford have some work to do on ‘ball transference’ into their attack as they hit in too many aimless balls wide or to the sweeper. But they are going in the right direction and maybe they are following the advice of “The Greatest” who passed away at the weekend. “It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief and once belief becomes conviction, things begin to happen.”
