Waterford step it up to brush aside understudies

Waterford 1-23 Wexford 1-19: A team in year four against a team in year one — that’s how it shaped up and that’s how it turned out as Waterford’s cohesiveness won them a third consecutive All-Ireland semi-final appearance.

Such analysis might appear overly simplistic but when both managers preach the same message and their players abide it’s not.

Waterford have been at this gig longer and it showed. Wexford can look back on a season of advancement but here they were coming up against a team better versed in this style. To have lost to a county who are effectively their understudies would have signalled the end of not just a season but a project.