Noel Connors happy with Déise direction though wary of milage

Reuben Halloran of Waterford celebrates a goal against Offaly. Pic: Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile

Noel Connors has reasons to be optimistic about Waterford’s prospects this year but some factors gnaw at him.

As they head to Galway on Sunday in what is being billed as a de facto Division 1A relegation semi-final, the dependency on their thirtysomethings is a worry for Connors.

“There is positivity because young lads are starting to show a bit of form. What I would be slightly concerned about is we’re still heavily reliant on Stephen Bennett and Jamie Barron and it’s the obvious thing about them, they’re on the other side of their careers.

“It’s the mileage they have put up. I'd be very mindful of the fact that if anything happened to either of those guys, we'd probably be in a very different situation. Because when Waterford needed to dig out a couple of score (v Kilkenny last Sunday), they were the lads that were obviously heavily involved in it.” 

Waterford may be looking to their stalwarts in attack but they have learned not to in defence. In Salthill, they will again be missing captain Conor Prunty (quad) and likely Tadhg de Búrca (groin).

“In the last four or five years, Tadhg has had some injuries,” says Connors. “Prunty similar. There comes a point when you ask ‘how many games are we going to have these lads for’ and that’s not a throwaway comment. It’s the reality of it.

“Prunty has had that quad issue from Derek’s (McGrath) time about eight or so years ago – I think he did it in a pre-championship challenge game against Dublin in Parnell Park. It’s that mileage thing again.”

Kilkenny's Stephen Donnelly with Mark Fitzgerald of Waterford. Pic: Tom O’Hanlon/Inpho

Connors’ Passage club-mate Mark Fitzgerald is deputising in front of Billy Nolan right now. The three-time All-Star will be accused of being biased about the recent Fitzgibbon Cup winner, but he doesn’t mind.

“It’s a difficult one for Peter (Queally). Mark is probably a better six and Peter would likely acknowledge that himself, but with Prunty being out he has been forced to put him to full-back.

“He's a super kid. He has an incredible ability athletically but also hurling. He's just one of those really good guys. He's probably someone like a Tadhg or a Brick (Walsh). He's hugely respected because of the amount of work that he puts in, and you can see that.” 

Connors does like the balance of the team especially Shane Bennett moving to wing-back. “We’re probably seeing more natural forwards now in the Waterford attack.

“We were probably lacking a couple over the last four-plus years and it’s good to see the likes of Shane Bennett going back because wing-back is his natural position. That’s where he won his All-Ireland minor medal (in 2013). He might have ended up in the forwards because we were missing somebody with his attacking ability.”

Under the guidance of former Cork coach Donal O’Rourke this season, Connors sees some changes in how Waterford are going about their business.

“What I would say is that they appear to have more of an open style whereas before they were reluctant to allow their six be anything other than protective.

“Now, it seems like they're a lot more offensive rather than defensive and running with the ball and probably backing themselves.

“Also, they are probably handpassing the ball a lot more now than they did in previous years. It's a more possession-based team than getting the ball and get it inside as quick as possible.”