Waterford better prepared for repeat examination

GAELIC GAMES/Tipperary v Waterford:  The one aspect of the new championship system that no manager really likes is having to play a side you've beaten already. Adding to Tipperary's unease must be the knowledge that they ended up making a bit of a saga out of a Munster semi-final they were supposed to win because of Waterford's absent players.

Then you factor in that Waterford have had three straight wins in the qualifiers since June 4th whereas Tipperary have lost their only outing in the Munster final and the pendulum looks to have swung enough already.

But this overlooks the fact that Babs Keating's team gave a fairly good account of themselves against All-Ireland champions Cork, the market leaders for this year's MacCarthy Cup. Moreover it was done while Eoin Kelly was restricted to less than the prodigious totals he'd been accumulating up to that point.

There has of course been the post-Munster final "incidents" but it's hard to detect any fallout from the axing of captain Redser O'Grady and the suspension of Michael Webster and harder to detect any downside on the playing front. The problem for Tipp will be entirely what improvement Waterford have made in the past seven weeks.

The return of their Eoin Kelly from suspension and the return to fitness of John Mullane and Ken McGrath has to be offset against Paul Flynn's inability to start. Flynn was spectacular on the last visit to Croke Park two years ago and although he may make an appearance that's a tricky thing to gauge.

But significantly Waterford have given their full attention to the qualifiers this year. They had their alibis for the championship and have meant business since. The shoot-out with Galway three weeks ago showed that the free-form scoring potential is still there and those close to the camp say that morale is excellent with Justin McCarthy sharing the coaching burden more with Nicky Cashin and the other selectors.

They won't make the same mistake marking Kelly as they did in Cork and Eoin Murphy is expected to take the job for the whole match. But that's no guarantee against a player who's done Waterford for 4-7 from play in the past two meetings.

Tipperary's attack will be the litmus test. Can the half forwards improve sufficiently to stop Ken McGrath imposing his dominion at centre back and setting up a flow of possession that would certainly sink even the admirable Tipp defence? Will Shane McGrath maintain his startling rate of adaptation to the highest levels of centrefield play and will Paul Kelly have come on sufficiently to lend more consistent support than in the Munster final? There are a lot of questions for both teams at this stage but Waterford's likely answers are a bit more plausible.

HOW THEY LINE-UP

WATERFORD: C Hennessy; D Prendergast, T Feeney, E Murphy; T Browne, K McGrath, B Phelan; S O'Sullivan, D Bennett; D Shanahan, S Prendergast, E Kelly; J Mullane, M Walsh, E McGrath.

TIPPERARY: B Cummins; D Fanning, P Curran, P Ormonde; E Corcoran, C O'Mahony, H Moloney; P Kelly, S McGrath; J Carroll, F Devanney, J O'Brien; L Corbett, D Fitzgerald, E Kelly.