GAELIC GAMES CHAMPIONSHIP 2009 NEWS: THERE IS still no starting role for Dan Shanahan on the Waterford team to face champions Kilkenny in Sunday's All-Ireland hurling semi-final at Croke Park on Sunday.
Manager David Fitzgerald makes two changes but neither involves the big Lismore forward, who was hurler of the year in 2007 and who made a significant contribution to the late quarter-final win over Galway.
Jamie Nagle and Shane Casey make way for Shane Walsh and Eoin McGrath in the side named last night.
Ken McGrath is expected to be named on the bench but after a summer wrecked by knee injuries, is considered unlikely to feature, as the county attempts to atone for last year’s massive All-Ireland final defeat. Gary Hurney, who played in the Munster championship before sustaining a broken collar bone, is also likely to return to the panel.
One man who has had a close look at both sides this championship is John McIntyre, this week confirmed in his position as Galway manager for a second year.
His team ran the champions close during an inaugural run in the Leinster semi-final before being stunned by Waterford’s late revival in last month’s All-Ireland quarter-final.
He believes that Waterford can give a better account of themselves than in last year’s infamous All-Ireland final but is pessimistic about the team’s chances of putting a stop to Kilkenny’s title defence and pursuit of a first four-in-a-row since Cork in 1941-44.
“It Waterford want this on Sunday, if in the weeks of mourning after last year’s All-Ireland they wanted one crack at Kilkenny to show themselves in a different light and demonstrate that last September was a freak, they have their chance.
“On one level they’ve nothing to prove as a team that has taken part in many of hurling’s great matches in modern times but this is an opportunity to redeem themselves in the context of one game and they may have thought that they wouldn’t get it.
“They’re not as bad as last September and did beat Kilkenny in the league although that won’t count for anything on Sunday. Waterford are their neighbours but Kilkenny are a machine and they don’t do sentiment. In this situation some teams might struggle for motivation but not them.
“They are two games from doing what only one county has ever done, what no one has done since 1944 and Waterford, basically, are in their way. Kilkenny have never failed to do what they should do because of being favourites. The long wait since the Leinster final won’t be an issue either so there’s no point in Waterford hoping that they’re going to be flat. Waterford can expect a full-court press and have to have a game plan that keeps them still there for the first 20 minutes.”
McIntyre was impressed by Waterford’s doggedness in the quarter-final as well as their improvement from the Munster final defeat when defensive lapses gave them an impossible target to chase for much of the second half.
“I don’t think their hurling ever flowed against Galway but they were much tighter defensively than they’d been against Tipperary. They were hanging in there, very committed but struggling to find their rhythm. But they never threw in the towel.”
The Galway manager differs from his Waterford counterpart in relation to the team selection, having a preference for Shanahan whose catch and lay-off created the late goal chance convereted by Shane Walsh.
“I’d play Dan Shanahan at full forward and Eoin Kelly on the wing. Dan has struggled for form in the past 18 months but maybe he’s turned the corner. Playing on the wing hasn’t worked out in the past for him against Kilkenny and Eoin Kelly hasn’t been going well inside so he might benefit from a change of location.
“Waterford have to believe they have a chance. They’ve arrived at a scenario where they have that chance despite looking with five minutes to go against Galway as if they were finished with retirements and all of the rest ahead of them. Instead they’re in a semi-final.
“The build-up will be easier than last year’s, a different process but they’re still up against what I believe is the greatest hurling team ever to grace the fields of Ireland.”
WATERFORD (SH v Kilkenny): C Hennessy; E Murphy, A Kearney, N Connors; T Browne, M Walsh, D Prendergast; S O’Sullivan, K Moran; S Prendergast, S Molumphy, S Walsh; J Mullane, E Kelly, E McGrath.
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