Sean Og O hAilpin

Waterford's blanket defence system may not be to everyone's liking but I'd rather be in their position today, sitting with another Munster medal in my back pocket, writes Sean Og O hAilpin in his latest exclusive column for JOE.ie.

 

After picking up a hamstring injury in the first game there was a bit of to-ing and fro-ing with my availability for the Munster final replay. The management named me in the team on Thursday but the thinking behind that was that they just wanted to keep all their options open. It’s a Munster final replay – you don’t want to be ruling anyone out until you’re absolutely certain they’ve no chance of playing. I had gone in for my scan on Monday and got the best possible news from it – a Grade 1 tear, which is the least worst, put it that way.

On Tuesday night it was feeling better and by Wednesday I was back doing a bit of light jogging. By Thursday the management team decided to keep all their options open. On Saturday morning, I went for another run to test it and the physio decided I could go 60, 70 per cent but that’s not enough. You need to be going full tilt for a Munster final, so before we left Cork I knew that I wasn’t playing.

Conditions weren’t great on the night and they did have an impact on the game. The ball was skidding around the place, players’ first touch was off, free-taking was difficult. With the conditions, and the fact that defences were on top for most of the game, the team that was going to win it was always going to be the team that adapted best to the conditions and took the majority of their chances. That turned out to be Waterford. In a game like that, a goal in extra-time is like goal-dust, and there was no coming back from it.

Waterford are in the All-Ireland semi-finals now and they have to be serious contenders, but from what Cork and Waterford produced last week and on Saturday night, I can’t see either team beating Kilkenny. They’re still on a different level.

Going in at half-time with just four points on the board just wasn’t good enough. Our forwards got criticised after the first game and they’ll get criticised again now but after any defeat it’s wrong to be pointing the finger at any player or group of players – when you lose you go down together, and everyone is partly responsible. Okay, the forward division didn’t play up to scratch but the way Waterford were set up, it was very hard. More often than not you’re bottled up and you’re either dispossessed or you’re blown for over-carrying and it’s a free the other way.

Waterford made it very difficult for us. When teams are attacking them they flood their half back line and clog up all the space, so scores were hard to come by. Kilkenny do that brilliantly – one back and flood the defence – and a lot of counties are copying that. Since Davy Fitzgerald took over in Waterford they’ve become very defence-oriented. Before that under Justin McCarthy they’d hurl off the cuff. Fellas might have had free rein to go anywhere. Now, Davy Fitzgerald has them playing to a structure and if you don’t have the ball – midfield, half backs, half forwards – you go back and clog up the danger area. One of the best ways to combat that style of play is to take scores from long range but we didn’t do that enough on Saturday. Got one or two, not enough.

The purists mightn’t think Waterford’s style of play is very attractive. It’s dour, not pretty on the eye. But they won’t care about that in Waterford. They won’t be complaining. I’d rather be in their position today, sitting with another Munster championship medal in my back pocket. If we’re lucky enough to live another 50 years and we look back at the record books, they will show the 2010 Munster final was won by Waterford. That’s all that matters. It doesn’t matter how you win it.

We were heading into Thurles and someone said Antrim had beaten Dublin by a point. That came as a shock to me. I didn’t even know they were still in the qualifiers

Waterford are in the All-Ireland semi-finals now and they have to be serious contenders, but from what Cork and Waterford produced last week and on Saturday night, I can’t see either team beating Kilkenny to be honest with you. The way Kilkenny have put teams away with ease, they’re still on a different level to anyone else.

But it’s sweet for Waterford. They have four weeks to get ready for their next match. Whatever knocks they have – John Mullane went off injured – they can take their time to get everyone ready. For us, we have to pick ourselves up for our third game in a row against Antrim next weekend.

I’ll be honest with you – I didn’t even know Antrim were still in the qualifiers. The last time I heard of them they were unlucky to lose against Offaly and I thought that was their involvement in the championship over. We were heading into Thurles and someone said Antrim had beaten Dublin by a point. That came as a shock to me. They’ve beaten a good side because I really rate Dublin. They’re in the quarter-finals now, and you can imagine the confidence they’ll have. We’ve lost a big game so our confidence is dented, so you have one team whose tails are up against another, Cork, who’ll be trying to pick themselves back up.

What makes it even more interesting is that a couple of the Antrim back-room boys know us well. Jerry Wallace was our physical trainer for six or seven years and he’s physical trainer in Antrim now, so he knows every one of us inside out. There’s also Bob Thornhill, who would have been a selector with a lot of Cork minor teams, and he’s now one of Dinny Cahill’s selectors in Antrim.

We also have a few problems to deal with. Shane O’Neill went off on Saturday with a hamstring injury, Ronan Curran couldn’t play in extra-time because he got a bad bang on the thigh, Jerry O’Connor is still nursing a hamstring injury, I’m still nursing a hamstring injury.

Positive outlook

I’d be hopeful enough of playing. I’m on track for it. I’m back in the field today with the physio and we’ll see how I get on. But it’s amazing what a week does. When I injured myself last Sunday, I never would have thought I’d be back out jogging three or four days later. I wasn’t ready for Waterford but with another week behind me I’d be hopeful that I’d be very close to full fitness. If that’s the case it’s all systems go.

We have to look on the bright side, though. If myself and the other injured lads all miss out, what happens is the door is opened for someone else. And I’ve no doubt that there are guys who’ll come in, step up and show what they’re about.

No disrespect to Antrim, but whether we have a full-strength team or we have a few guys from the subs bench coming in, we have to beat Antrim. If we don’t then we’ve no business even thinking about winning an All-Ireland. Full stop.