Hurling Tactics Board: Is Patrick Horgan the man to exploit space Waterford allow?
Limerick cleared out midfield to create space for Cian Lynch
Waterford's successful league campaign led to sky-high expectations heading into the Munster Championship. Surprisingly, in week one Walsh Park was quiet on 25 minutes as Tipperary found themselves six points ahead and led by four at half-time. Austin Gleeson was rolled on at the break and they upped the gears outscoring Tipp 2-8 to 0-4 over the next 19 minutes, only to allow Tipp back into the game, leaving it a one-point game on 68 minutes. Curran and Hutchison secured the win deep in injury time. Not the emphatic performance many had expected.
The subsequent three-point defeat by Limerick might seem a close game but that didn’t reflect what played out on the field. For 48 minutes Waterford traded blows, giving as good as they got. But leading 0-20 to 0-19 with 25 minutes left, Waterford found the going too tough.
From the 48th to the 63rd minutes Limerick pulled away from Waterford, scoring 0-9 to 0-1, taking 12 shots to Waterford’s three. Waterford could only muster a solitary point from a Stephen Bennett free. On 63 minutes, a 21-metre free goaled by Stephen Bennett gave them hope, followed by a superbly worked goal from play 90 seconds later. Waterford had somehow narrowed the deficit to one point and the packed Gaelic Grounds expected a grandstand finish.
With 65 minutes on the match clock Waterford had their chance to see where they stood. The last seven shots of the game came from Limerick, Liam Cahill’s men couldn’t muster a chance or a shot when they needed it most. Waterford had not lasted the test and must have felt it when reviewing their performance. A Limerick team without Kyle Hayes and Cian Lynch had overwhelmed them when the game was there to be won.
In those final 25 minutes, Limerick took 19 shots to Waterford’s six. In that final period Waterford generated only three shots from play: one superb goal – and two shots from midfield by corner back Shane McNulty. Â
When reviewing, you can see that in that period of Limerick dominance the Waterford puckout broke down. With 15 long puckouts hit, 11 were lost to Limerick who kept winning the aerial battles and looked more alert to the breaks. Eight shots were made on quick counter attacks by Limerick. Shaun O Brien aimed all over the field looking for someone to win a battle at a key time but wherever he aimed the ball came back over his head.
This weekend Waterford face Cork, a team in a deep depression, whose season hangs by a thread. Only a win will do for Cork and even with that their season relies on help from others. Waterford know they have a chance to secure their place in the All-Ireland series and head into the last round against Clare with a Munster Final place up for grabs. More importantly, Liam Cahill must be looking for a 70-minute performance, banishing the patchiness of the last two performances.
Throughout this year’s league Cork worked on changing their style of play when they lost possession. After a tough day out in the All-Ireland final they felt they needed to protect their full-back line. Their main strategy to achieve this was to allow Mark Coleman drop back to act as a sweeper once the opposition had possession. To enable Coleman to disappear from centre back the Cork forwards are asked to drift back and reduce space in the middle third. This is an effective approach against teams that move the ball slowly out of defence but is risky against teams that move the ball forward at pace, as the move by Coleman leaves holes in the middle third temporarily.
In this game Cork might be wiser to go for a different approach for two reasons. Firstly, through their first two games, Waterford have been let down by poor play within their own half. Coughing up the sliotar 17 times against Limerick and 12 times against Tipperary when in possession in their own half or from a short puckout intercepted. Mistakes like overcarrying, throwing the sliotar and fumbling short passes littered their opening 25 minutes against Tipperary and they were punished for 0-4 in that spell. Limerick forced 0-5 from similar turnovers and Cork should aim to press hard on the Waterford defence.
Secondly, in the league semi-final, Wexford tried a very similar tactic to Cork's approach, not pressing high, dropping a spare man and forwards drifting backwards. Waterford roasted Wexford by playing short ball fast and direct from defence. Tadhg de Búrca, Darragh Lyons and Jack Fagan moved the ball fast into the forwards when not pressed, too fast for a defence to drop a sweeper. Cork’s tactics saw them concede 1-7 from play starting with Waterford short puckouts in the league final. Cork have to try and engage Waterford players high up the field and not allow them build fast attacks.
Much like Cork’s use of Mark Coleman, Waterford like to keep Tadhg de Búrca close to his full-back line. In the league game in Nowlan Park Kilkenny exploited this with Pádraig Walsh at centre forward moving out to the wings unmarked, scoring 0-5 from play and assisting 1-2.
Limerick looked to exploit this in the Gaelic Grounds with Cian Lynch being targeted early on puckouts. They cleared their midfield to the wings and asked Lynch to run from centre forward to midfield, knowing de BĂşrca likes to sit and protect. When Lynch came off injured Cathal O'Neill carried on the role, finding himself wide open on multiple occasions.Â
Against Tipp, De BĂşrca’s positioning also allowed Noel McGrath wander around the half-forward area, free to pick up possession. Cork will need to try and exploit this space, maybe even risking Patrick Horgan at 11 who can score from range.Â
Waterford’s favourite long puckout target is Stephen Bennett. On multiple occasions in every game Bennett runs from the full-forward line to the right wing forward zone. In the league final, Bennett caught a puckout over Ciarán Joyce took off towards goal and buried the third goal of the game.
So far in the championship this puckout has been marshalled well —11 times Bennett has been targeted with Waterford winning only three possessions. Bennett is the guy Waterford go to when the pressure is on. Limerick withstood seven puckouts to him in the second half, only allowing him catch one ball. Dan Morrissey competed on some key puckouts in the last quarter. Cork need to have learned from the league final and keep Bennett under wraps.
The week break for both teams allows both to review and learn from their opening games. Waterford have high expectations in this talented group and must use the last 25 minutes against Limerick as a learning curve. If Waterford don’t play for the full 70 minutes this weekend, Cork might just keep themselves alive heading into Round 5.
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