Waterford likely to regret not landing the knockout blow

ALL-IRELAND SHC SEMI-FINAL REPLAY

Kilkenny v Waterford, Semple Stadium, Sunday, 6.45

Live: RTÉ and Sky Sports

It’s been a whirlwind week for Waterford. Having arrived in Croke Park for last week’s semi-final under the clouds of an apparently darkening season, they responded in style.

Derek McGrath’s tenure with his county has been so interesting because it has been so complex. Shaping the exciting talents in the county into a team capable of competing at the top has been an absorbing task.

The team of the previous generation was based on flamboyance and the instinctive ability to improvise but as McGrath rebuilt he did so on the platform of a strategy as calculated as setting a combination lock. The tactical demands of the sweeper system and covering back and shutting off space went hand-in-hand with the physical requirements for moving in the other direction when attacking.

The decision last week to go mano a mano with Kilkenny was both brave and optimistic but also recognition that keeping the score down was no longer an aspiration worthy of the team nor would it be likely to be accepted as such in the county.

Ironically the strength of the performance was also the weakness: the instinctive shooting from all over the field and the accuracy with which it was done were actually more reminiscent of the team a decade ago on a good day rather than the more structured approach of the past 18 months.

It was a flowering of the current crop but is it sustainable or repeatable within six days?

It's reasonable to hope that Pauric Mahony is back in the groove that made him the most accurate free taker in the game, as he has performed up to that level consistently before the injury that kept him out for a year.

What isn’t so certain however is whether Austin Gleeson, whose good days scoring are a lot better than his bad days, can chip in with another five points from play, never mind glorious ones. There is a clear requirement that others step up to share the scoring burden – Mahony and Gleeson provided 19 of the 24 points or eight from 13 if you screen out the frees – and that will have a vital bearing.

Kilkenny were beaten in about two-thirds of the positions but still managed to escape. The most ominous commentary from the challengers' perspective was summed up by former Tipperary goalkeeper and now RTE pundit Brendan Cummins at half-time in the drawn match: "They've done a huge amount of hurling and done everything right and they're just a point ahead."

The same applied to the full-time whistle except that Waterford were no longer even a point ahead.

We won't know until Saturday evening whether Brian Cody will depart from normal practice and change an announced starting 15 but there are rumours of a panel call-up for Mullinavat's John Walsh, whose 2-2 from play was the top score in last week's All-Ireland intermediate final.

There are some reasons to believe that he might be thinking of going with the same team that started last week but it would likely be more a commentary on the declining array of options, as the Kilkenny manager hasn’t in the past been of a mind to field an unchanged team in replays to see if they could do better.

Eoin Larkin played well when introduced. The value of experience and maintaining concentration could be seen in the seconds after he had registered Kilkenny's fourth wide a few minutes after coming on. From the re-start Tadhg de Búrca turned over possession and Larkin made no mistake in atoning for his previous error by banging the sliotar straight back over the bar.

He may not however have 70 minutes in him and Cody may prefer him as an option when the endgame has begun to tick.

There remains frustration about Waterford’s loss of composure during the run for the tape and a question mark over whether they’re ready to take the final steps that so daunted them in the drawn match.

It may also be that Kilkenny are running on empty but there hasn’t been any evidence of that so far this summer so we’ll take their ability to improve as both the likelier – and decisive – outcome.

THE LOWDOWN 

Last meeting: Match of the season last weekend, as two of the modern game's great phenomena collided head on: the outstanding talent of Waterford's developing team and the immense resilience of Kilkenny, improvising their way through another championship as the store of once-in-a-lifetime talent continues to dwindle. Waterford still haven't beaten the neighbours in championship since 1959.

Odds: Kilkenny 1/3, Waterford 3/1 and 10/1 the draw.

Injuries: Waterford are likely to be without Darragh Fives again but Kilkenny report no new injury problems.

Suspension: None

Just the ticket: €30 (Stand), €20 (terrace), Juveniles €5.

Verdict: Kilkenny

Referee: James McGrath (Westmeath)