Waterford’s performance against Clare was as bad as I’ve seen in a long time from them.
I couldn’t believe how lethargic they all were around the field. I know Tadhg de Burca and Conor Prunty were missing but that’s no excuse for the lack of intensity and energy, the lack of bite in the tackle.
After losing to Cork I expected Waterford to come out fighting.
Instead, they have to be really embarrassed by that effort against a Clare team that only had five or six of their first team playing.
I’m just finding it hard to figure out why we didn’t see that fighting spirit at any stage in the game after such a massive League campaign.
Did they peak for the League and are now paying the price? It’s a real possibility.
In 2018, Wexford’s first year in Division 1, we gave everything because we wanted to compete with the big teams and then we did alright, qualifying third in the Leinster round robin. But I couldn’t believe in the qualifier win over Westmeath how flat we were, then we ended up playing Clare in an All-Ireland quarter-final and I’m certain we were flat.
Clare were by far the better team, but our tackles, our intensity wasn’t there.
What I realised was I had gone out too hard, too early. I had the team absolutely hopping in February and it’s very hard to retain it right through to the end of the Championship.
This could be the case with Waterford. They didn’t turn into a bad team overnight but they need to look at their preparation for the Championship.
The Waterford public can be tough but hopefully they don’t give management and the team a tough time because those involved will be hurt themselves.
They know they didn’t perform, that they embarrassed themselves and that have a long summer ahead.
Clare played with a number of changes on Sunday but these guys said to the management, ‘we want to be part of the Munster final’.
Their pace, power and use of the short ball was very good, and they had the long ball option to Peter Duggan.
Shane O’Donnell was on fire and will be a big help having come back from a really serious injury.
It was great to see young Adam Hogan get some playing time. He was a key member of the Tulla Harty Cup team, and also Cian Nolan from Killaloe, who I had in LIT.
Limerick will be favourites in the Munster final but Clare have a chance – and don’t be surprised if a shock is on the cards.
It’s a sweep success for Model men
A lot of people wrote off Wexford against Kilkenny, but as I said last week I felt they had a big chance despite the performance and result against Westmeath.
They made silly errors that led to easy goals and their conversion rate on their shooting was very poor. The two big things missing against Westmeath were their intensity in the tackle and their tightness on forwards.
But Wexford totally deserved their win on Saturday night in Nowlan Park. Kilkenny lost the tactical battle and also the physical battle, which is normally their strong point.
Wexford won the key match-ups too because Diarmuid O'Keefe sat in the pocket and allowed all the defenders to man-mark their men and to get up the field as well.
I've heard some stupid stuff in Wexford about the sweeper or the extra player in the back. Let's get this straight - Wexford had a lot of poor results over the last 10 years, but in more recent times have won a lot of big matches, a Leinster title and have beaten nearly every team in the country.
They have also had the better of Kilkenny for a while now, which is unheard of.
Let me bore ye again - by playing a sweeper, it allows players more freedom to attack balls and express themselves going forward.
Does it mean you have an extra back for 70 minutes? Definitely not - maybe half the time.
Some people will just be stubborn and you know what, That's fine too. In my view, this way of playing just suits this team, there are other teams suited to other styles.
If Wexford are to move forward they will have to play with a massive chip on their shoulder and continue to work like dogs. It's when Wexford are at their best.
Tipperary's tough times
Tipp started very well against Cork but faded badly. This was a very one sided game, Cork could have won by more.
They built the ball very well, did a lot of short passing and shot a lot of scores from 45 to 65.
The Tipp backs and midfield gave the Cork players way too much space. Conor Lehane had his best game in a long time in the Cork jersey, Ciaran Joyce was incredible at 6 and that gave Mark Coleman the chance to get upfield more, which suits him.
Robbie O'Flynn has been one of Cork's best players this year and contributes a lot in terms of his work rate, pace and shooting.
But their backs need to make sure that they stay tight, they seem to be caught ball watching on a few occasions.
Cork will get to an All-Ireland quarter-final - and a meeting with either Galway or Kilkenny will tell us where they are.
As for Tipp, we know they're in transition but they have been off the pace in the Munster championship big time.
They did okay in Walsh Park and in Limerick but never looked like winning. Colm Bonnar needs time but a rebuild has to be done and a lot of things seriously looked at, some hard calls will again have to be made and there's a lot of hard work ahead.
Tipp people love their hurling and will be looking forward to a big improvement in the year ahead.
Galway way too strong
Galway totally deserved their win against Dublin and worked extremely hard, tracking back in numbers and working the ball out, sometimes scoring from distance, sometimes hitting the unreal Conor Whelan.
He got the better of Eoghan O'Donnell, who I rate really highly as one of the best full-backs in the game.
Dublin gave a lot of aimless ball into their forwards and were well beaten in the physical battle. Dublin are a lot better than what they have produced in Leinster this year and will be extremely disappointed not to have got to the knockout stages.
Galway haven't lost a game yet this year in the championship but their big test is coming against Kilkenny and it's a Leinster final I would find hard to call.
Kilkenny will be very unhappy with their performance against Wexford and If they perform like that in the Leinster final they will be beaten by Galway.
I didn't see much pattern to their play, but the next few weeks at training in Kilkenny will be very interesting because I expect a big performance in the final.
Don't count them out on the basis of last Saturday night.
Bright future for Kilkenny
In the under-20 All-Ireland final, Kilkenny edged the victory with their work rate and massive desire.
Limerick might have had more natural hurlers but Kilkenny definitely wanted it more.
I do believe the point awarded to Kilkenny in the first half wasn't over, Conor Hanley Clarke brought the ball down before it went over the crossbar.
It was disappointing Hawkeye wasn't available to call the decision but I still think Kilkenny deserved their win.
Eddie Drennan was incredible for them but overall their attitude was impressive and leaves a lot of hope for Kilkenny going forward.
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