Four key points from the weekend’s GAA
Peter McNamara looks at some of the key talking points from this weekend's GAA.
When substantial cojones were required by Cork at Nowlan Park yesterday, Jimmy Barry-Murphy’s men were not found wanting.
The majority of teams 12 points in arrears would fold but the Rebels would not wilt against Dublin and that, above all else, should please Leesiders more than anything about their courageous victory in the league semi-final.
Previously, Cork may not have engineered an avenue back into a tie they were trailing by a wide margin.
Yet, aided, it must be said, by Dublin’s unacceptable tally of 15 wides – six in the first-half and a further nine, obviously, thereafter – Cork orchestrated a second-half display worthy of winning any match.
Conor Lehane, as expected, was fruitful in his endeavours but the question mark remains over Cork regarding their over-reliance on Patrick Horgan.
Maybe it’ll always be that way but what if Horgan picks up an injury?
They had a place in the league final within their grasp yet managed to leave Noreside dejected.
What impact will losing the game in the manner they did have on Dublin with the Leinster quarter-final up-coming on May 31 against Galway?
Conceding to Seamus Harnedy and Cork in additional-time could genuinely shudder Ger Cunningham’s outfit psychologically.
Dublin needed to win yesterday to affirm their growing status as a truly top-tier unit and had gone about their business in the right way for three-quarters of the encounter until they flagged alarmingly in the home straight.
Many columnists have written in the papers this morning that the Metropolitans seem to lack confidence in their own ability to win games.
However, if anything, it was ill-discipline that hurt Dublin nearly as much as their high wide count.
Cunningham’s charges afforded Patrick Horgan far too many scorable free-taking opportunities.
It was greatly refreshing to hear Derek McGrath say Waterford “have no time for shadow-boxing” after it became clear the league final pairing would also be that of the Munster semi-final just four weeks after the secondary competition concludes.
The Déise boss has been transparent throughout the last number of days in terms of how he foresees Waterford’s development as well as appreciating that opportunities such as the one they now have against Cork in the decider do not exactly come around too often for his county.
McGrath exudes positivity and it is clearly rubbing off on his players.
Overcoming Tipperary represents a massive feather in his cap and having essentially dismissed their chances of achieving success in Kilkenny yesterday, it would be folly to do so again when they line-up against the Rebels.
Ken McGrath had warned of Waterford’s evolution in a pre-league interview, remember.
With respect to Waterford and their wonderful triumph, it is possible Tipp believed in the hype surrounding them pre-tie.
And that was inadvertently illustrated by Eamon O’Shea afterwards when he said “we were on the back of a very hard week’s training”.
Nowadays, taking any opponents for granted can leave teams scratching their heads afterwards.
It is one thing for the media to be bullish about the outcome of a match but for the team expected to win to not be anything but 100% focused on engineering a match-winning performance in the days before an outing is hard to comprehend.
However, by O’Shea uttering those words it will also comfort Premier County supporters with a view to their long-term aspirations.
Clearly, Tipp were not at concert pitch.
However, that also suggests there is a whole lot more to come from the All-Ireland SHC title second favourites.
