Gardiner expects another ‘great battle’ from dangerous Déise

CORK’S John Gardiner expects a “great battle” against Waterford in the Munster hurling final following his side’s expected defeat of Limerick in Sunday’s Munster Senior Hurling Championship semi-final.

Gardiner and his teammates had 13 points to spare over Limerick, and they beat Tipperary by ten points in their first-round game, but he’s expecting a different challenge against the Déise on July 11.

“It’s probably the most successful team to come out of Waterford in years and we’ve had some great battles with them in the Munster championship and the All-Ireland series. I don’t expect this will be any different,” said Gardiner.

“They’re a very experienced team and you could see that in the way they beat Clare, they did just enough to get over the line and didn’t panic when the game was going against them at various stages.”

The Cork wing-back said he and his teammates benefited from their vast experience of the big occasion against Limerick last Sunday.

“We have a lot of experienced players, you only had to look around the field down in Páirc Uí Chaoimh and you were looking at fellas who’d played an awful lot of championship games, particularly in comparison to the Limerick players.

“Having said that, we also have a few lads who haven’t figured in a game as big as a Munster final, so it’s going to be a big challenge for them.”

Gardiner said the build-up to last Sunday’s game, which Cork were expected to win with ease, was unusual.

“It wasn’t your normal couple of weeks before a Munster championship game, you had everyone saying we’d win well and so on. The fact that the crowd was so small in Páirc Uí Chaoimh didn’t help the atmosphere, I suppose, but we all just had to get on with it.

“We’ve had our eyes on a Munster final all year and we just played against whoever was put in front of us last Sunday.”

Gardiner conceded that the win over Tipperary in the first round of the Munster championship has “opened up” the hurling season for Cork.

“That was a huge game for us. You only have to see how the year has opened up now after winning that game, and we’re back in a Munster hurling final after a couple of years when we didn’t make one.

“We were confident heading into the Tipp game but one thing we’ve taken on board is that the 15 lads on the field all played very well that day, which is unusual for a big championship game – there’s usually a couple of lads who have an off-day.

“That’s something we’re going to have to work on for the Munster final, because we’ll need everybody at that level again if we’re to have any chance of beating Waterford. We’ve a couple of weeks of hard work ahead of us and we’ll be doing everything to get right for that one.”

They’ll be hoping for a repeat of his man-of-the-match display against Tipperary from Gardiner’s clubmate Aisake O hAilpín at full-forward.

“He’s made a big difference because he’s a different option for us. Over the years we didn’t have a big target man like that up front, so when it came to delivering ball you had to put it out in front of them, if you like.

“It’s different now, because if you drop the ball in on top of Aisake and he doesn’t win it at least he’s able to break the ball, and the two corner forwards are coming onto that and facing the goal, which is a big help for any forward.

“You could see it on Sunday, and in the game against Tipp, that Patrick (Horgan) and Fraggy (Kieran Murphy) are working well off him and able to read what he’s going to do with the ball.

“That takes time, getting to know what someone’s going to do in a particular situation, and it’s paying off now.

“We’ve all benefited from the fact that we had a clear run at things this year, everyone’s been able to work hard and prepare well, and we’ll be continuing with that in the run-up to the Munster final.”