Timing everything for Déise’s Connors

Twenty minutes for Passage against Lismore.

A few minutes in a training game. A few minutes in a challenge against Limerick.

That was Noel Connors’ preparation for his first championship game of the season, the second half of Waterford’s game against Clare.

“It was daunting enough but I had everyone’s backing. It’s important to be optimistic rather than pessimistic, but the lads were good to encourage me during the game. It was a great boost to the team to have Tomás Ryan and Martin O’Neill coming on and getting a few scores. We’ve seen Tipperary bring on good subs, so it’s a good sign for us as a team.”

Of course, Connors was the man who gave away that last-gasp free to Clare... “Well, they didn’t score so it’s okay to talk about it. I jumped and flicked but I was going the other direction; if I’d been closer I’d have tried to hold him out... it worked out. We won.”

The prize is a rematch against Tipp, who destroyed them in last year’s Munster final. Connors acknowledges their quality.

“Their movement is just phenomenal. It’s so hard to mark, the movement is constant. And the stick work is excellent, they’ll always try to give the ball to the man in a better position.

“Do you stick or follow? It’s difficult to call. You’d go out and say, ‘I’ll stick in my position’, and then you find yourself 80 yards out the field before you know it. You have to talk about what you’re going to do as a team, and to agree to back each other up during the game.

“Cork were very close to them and could have had a couple of goals, the bit of experience stood to Tipp and got them over the line.”

The candid Passage youngster is frank about the 2011 Munster final.

“Last year was tough, everyone was saying we were no good, but everything Tipp touched that day went for them, if they hit it from 100 yards it went over the bar. That’s not taking from their performance, they were excellent, but we were very poor on the day; after a few minutes we were four goals down, and when we were trying to create chances they just went down the field and scored.

“Was there confusion? I don’t think so — we were just a few goals down after a few minutes and we were just on the back foot the whole time.

“I don’t think you should focus too much on the opposition, though — if you do it can affect your own performance, which is a bad thing, obviously. You could end up playing to their strengths rather than your own.”

Did he watch the game back on video? “Not really, I just don’t think I could watch it. Everything Tipp did turned to gold. I did watch some bits of it regarding my own performance and the pros and cons — and the cons more so, because if you look at your pros you’ll just keep working on them and your weak points will stay weak. I heard Pádraig Harrington on the radio the other day talking about his long game, saying that was good, so he’d focus on his chipping and putting. I think that applies to all sports.”

The corner-back points out that defending is a job for all players.

“Regardless of who you are, if you’re in space and a fella is hitting in good ball to you then your marker’s in trouble. You have to keep your shape and communication’s very important in the defence. Kilkenny brought in the corner-forward playing almost as a corner-back, and now everyone’s adopted it. If your forwards stop nice ball coming into the forwards you’re marking then it’s a huge help. Kilkenny are fantastic at that and you saw it against Dublin — their forwards are probably better tacklers than their defenders, it was amazing to watch.”

He agrees that Waterford are slightly more direct in their play this year: “Well, if the ball’s in their 21 they can’t score. It can be a simple game, you put the ball over the bar or in the net, though some people can over-complicate it. Hooking and blocking win games. When there’s so little between teams in Munster a team which can get in those extra hooks and blocks will win.”