Waterford v Tipperary has knockout vibes
We're only one week in, at the end of April, and already the Munster SHC has the feel of knockout hurling to it. Not mathematically, but the sense is that the loser on Sunday in Walsh Park between Waterford and Tipperary will more or less have their hopes ended of progression in this year's championship. Harsh, but that's my opinion.
Munster is ruthlessly unforgiving, the margin for error is razor thin. If you slip early once it’s tough, but if you slip twice you will be behind the eight ball with a broken cue on a wonky table. It’s doable, just as Cork did two years ago, but it's very tough.
This is exactly where Waterford and Tipperary find themselves ahead of this clash on Sunday.
Waterford perhaps will have taken some solace in being involved in a high-scoring game, but the reliance on Stephen Bennett was very evident once again and if they are allowed to score four goals on Sunday, they will most certainly be victorious. They had a tough league campaign due to missing bodies, so this performance will show them they can mix it with the best when they have their best on the field.
For Tipp, it’s a case that things can only get better and that’s what we’re hoping here in the Premier County. We were flat, made basic errors and just didn’t look ourselves at all, but we haven’t for large parts of this year. While the winning margin was four points, most will realise it was really much more than that in terms of the defeat.
The encouraging thing for Tipp is that one of their best halves of hurling was done in this venue and against this opposition in the league for the second half, where they played with freedom, moved the ball well and looked really sharp.
No doubt they will have looked internally for the answers to these problems, both individually and as a group, and with the leaders they have all around that dressing room, I really do believe they will find the answer to those problems and come out with a much-improved performance on Sunday.
The things that didn’t work for both teams could be hard to get right in a month of training, so trying to do it in a week means that it may not be tactics or structural change that will get this done on Sunday, but rather who wants this more.
For Waterford, I feel if they allow this to turn into a shootout, I think Tipp will win that. It cannot be a case of you score, we score, so I feel this will be a much tighter defence set-up for Waterford because if they do allow space and freedom to the like of Jake Morris (above), John McGrath and Andy Ormond, then I think these guys will grab those chances with both hands and punish them.
Waterford will fully believe they can win this game on Sunday, and rightly so. They’re at home against a team they will not fear and they will look at last Sunday and feel that while they may not get at Tipp like Cork did, in terms of pace, they will feel they have a game plan to get it done.
I think Waterford will stick with that long ball as they reaped rewards from it last Sunday, with Sean Walsh being a real handful, and the same player had a really good game in the league versus Tipp with that type of ball coming in, so expect Billy Nolan to put in a lot of big boomers in around the square on Sunday.
It will be fascinating to see how Tipp deal with this. If they can deal with it and nullify that threat early doors, what is plan B for Waterford? It worked so well against Clare they didn’t have to deviate from it. Dessie Hutchinson looked sharp, with four from play, so he will have to be tagged, most likely by Robert Doyle I’d imagine.
For Tipp, it will be a case of getting back to basics, ball sticking to hand, taking on defenders and some physical hits, which we did not see any of last week in Thurles. Perhaps some of them needed that game to get up to the match fitness as not a lot of league time was seen in those legs for many players.
While many will look over the road to Páirc Uí Chaoimh as the biggest game of the weekend (which I think Limerick will win), with everything on the line, I think Waterford v Tipp is the biggest game this weekend. The winner’s summer remains alive with possibility, while the loser will find the road to redemption almost impossibly steep.
In Munster, the hurling championship waits for no one. Kill or be killed. It’s why we love it.
Watch Cork v Limerick in the Munster Hurling Championship on Sunday from 1.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app and listen to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
Watch highlights on The Saturday Game and The Sunday Game from 9.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on all matches on the RTÉ News app and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to Saturday Sport and Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
