Waterford’s high skill level impresses Jimmy Barry-Murphy

Tactics will be one of the abiding memories from this Division 1 final but Jimmy Barry-Murphy preferred to dwell on Waterford’s superior exhibition of skill.

On a day when he felt Cork underachieved - comparing it to their flop performance in the 2012 league decider against Kilkenny - the manager admitted the loss will prompt “heart searching both on the line and on the team”.

He applauded Waterford but more their command of the game’s arts than their formation nous. “Derek McGrath will be very proud of the way his players played. All we can do is take our hats off and say ‘well done’ to them.

“I thought they were brilliant, the system of play they used, their use of the ball, their athleticism, their skill level was very, very high.

“People can talk about systems but their skill level and score-taking was fantastic. All we can do is stand back and admire them and say ‘well done’.”

Cork yesterday went in at half-time four points down, five better off than at the same stage in the semi-final against Dublin. However, there was no recovery on this occasion.

“We were playing poorly and playing against the breeze,” said the manager. “It wasn’t looking good. The same in Nowlan Park and we came back that day but Waterford, I thought , were absolutely fantastic and we never got to the level of performance or anywhere near like we wanted to be at today.

Asked if the 13-point comeback over Dublin papered over some cracks, He replied: “Maybe it did. We were honest enough after that to say we were happy with the win but not happy with the performance and we certainly knew that the level of performance wouldn’t do.”

He wasn’t inclined to look for too many positives even when suggested Waterford might have shownf their hand ahead of the Munster semi-final. “I suppose they did but we played our full team available to us as well. We have to try and up our performance and get to the level they were at and if we don’t we will be beaten and I am hoping we rebound. Our confidence is dented certainly but our job is to build the players back up and come back and give it a right go on June 7.”