O’Connor wary of Déise’s midfield strength

JERRY O’CONNOR believes Waterford’s midfield strength has been the key to their revival this year.

“Waterford have a few very good players for midfield, it’s not just a matter of one or two,” says the Newtownshandrum man.

“You have Brick Walsh, Jack Kennedy, Stephen Molumphy. They’re all very strong on the ball and they make good use of possession.

“What I’ve noticed is that in the last couple of years they’re after coming on in leaps and bounds, and this year Stephen Molumphy has come in to give them another option in that area. They’re very dangerous, you’ve to keep an eye on them the whole time.”

O’Connor is part of one of the best-known double acts in hurling, the blue helmet of Tom Kenny and O’Connor’s green headwear flying around midfield.

The duo have helped power the Leesiders to victory after victory in the last three years, so Kenny’s hamstring tear in the Munster SHC semi-final left Cork looking for a partner for Jerry O’Connor.

O’Connor looks at the positive aspect of the auditions process: “Over the last few years you would have heard people say maybe we didn’t have a great panel, that we just had 15 players.

“But this season has shown the other lads we have on the panel are well up to the mark; they’re well able to stick the pace of championship hurling.”

Cork eventually settled on Russell Rovers’ Kevin Hartnett. The helmet was white, but apart from that, there were few differences, and O’Connor found it a good partnership.

“It’s been easy to settle in with Kevin, when we’re playing in matches at training sessions, myself and Tom would normally be on opposite teams anyway, so I’d often be paired up with him.

“He is a great athlete with a great engine is fierce committed and he gives it his all in every game. That’s a huge advantage, knowing the guy standing next to you is going to give it everything.”

The key to the success of the Tom and Jerry show has been a good understanding — with O’Connor bombing forward to support his forwards, Kenny has often stayed in the middle to help his half-backs and start attacks from deep.

O’Connor says he and Hartnett didn’t make their plans too involved.

“Fellas make their own decisions mostly about going forward and covering, but Kevin and I would have a few words before every game we play, and we’d discuss how it’s going to play out. If it works out like we thought, fine, but if not we make our own decisions as the game goes on.”

O’Connor doesn’t entertain any suggestions he might move back to his previous location at wing-forward. “Never played there, never liked it, no intention of playing there again either” — despite the hardened opposition he’ll face on Sunday.

Kenny has been named to partner O’Connor this Sunday, given his return to fitness. But who would the Newtown man prefer to have alongside him in the trenches? “That’s a very unfair question — there’s no way I could answer that!”