Cork need to rethink their style of play

Cork over-hurled yesterday. Naturally, they will be pleased to avenge last year's Munster final defeat but Waterford nearly caught them out. It must have been frustrating for their supporters to see such an over-reliance on the short-hand passing approach, which Waterford punished once they settled.

John Allen and his selectors will have to reflect on their style of play before the Munster final. Facing Kilkenny may be some way off but the forwards at the disposal of Brian Cody would expose this flaw more ruthlessly. All the top teams are catching on to the Cork methods so if they are to survive they must come up with an alternative plan.

This new dimension seemed to have been unleashed in the first 10 minutes yesterday as Seán Óg Ó hAilpín placed excellent ball into the full forward line. In fact, the whole team were working for each other. Take Niall McCarthy, whose hurling has come on in leaps and bounds in recent seasons. McCarthy got enough possession to win the All-Ireland final by himself two years ago only to miss several easy points. Last year he was fantastic and has started out on that road again, the proof being his successive points to finally put daylight between the sides yesterday.

The contest would have gone right down to the wire if Paul Flynn had not badly misfired from a free. That was a huge turning point in the game as Cork went straight upfield and Brian Corcoran put the ball over the bar.

Early on Cork looked like they were going to blow their opponents away but when the pressure came on they reverted to this short-hand passing tactic Waterford had clearly prepared to counteract.

The Cork half back line were in complete control until Eoin Kelly went on Seán Óg and sorted him out straight away by scoring two points. At the same time, Séamus Prendergast started motoring at centre forward and the supply line into Joe Deane was cut off. Diarmuid O'Sullivan was very jittery at full back. Maybe marking someone who can match his physicality, in Dan Shanahan, upset him.

Down the other end, Fergal Hartley probably had the worst start for Waterford by handing Deane the opening goal. As the game went on he recovered well. I know Corcoran scored 1-2 on him but the goal was a mistake by the corner back, as that ball should have been cleared earlier.

Waterford will feel they could have won. In midfield Kelly eclipsed Tom Kenny even if Jerry O'Connor worked tirelessly before suffering a knock. They just needed a few more forwards to make an impact. John Mullane was very quiet but Cork did their homework by making sure he was well marshalled and John Gardiner went back to really tie him up.

It can be said this is the same old story for Waterford but it took tremendous character to recover from an early six-point gap.

The major positives are Flynn and Ken McGrath got games after spells out injured. Justin McCarthy can safely remind his players they are still a top-three team and need not fear anyone in the qualifiers. There was no comparison between this game and the Limerick-Tipperary contest. Yesterday the teams went at 100 miles per hour with some fabulous scores throughout.

On Saturday night Tipperary went over to Gaelic Grounds with their pride on the line and it told. The changes Ken Hogan made told in the end, especially Diarmaid Fitzgerald at corner back. They may not be world-beaters but they have two testing championship games under the belt ahead of their meeting with Clare.

A championship match is worth a month of training. Ask Anthony Daly if he would prefer two championship games over a decent league campaign and he would bite your arm off.

Limerick? They just have to rebuild. The dual player (Conor Fitzgerald and Stephen Lucey) issue will be come a problem again as the football will be seeking their input in the coming weeks.