Caught in the middle – Cork 1-19 Waterford 0-19

So in the end the constant chopping and changing worked in Jimmy Barry Murphy’s favour. He still can’t be certain over his starting fifteen but he can depend on his twenty. Most importantly of all, the right players were on the field in the last ten minutes and their main men (Patrick Horgan and Séan Óg Ó hAilpín among them) also stood up to be counted.

Quarter final elimination leaves Waterford cast adrift as the final four press on towards the road to Croker. Stuck in the middle of nowhere. It’s an unfamiliar feeling and a painful one to take in especially as victory appeared tantalisingly close. So lots of ifs, buts and maybes in the aftermath and it makes the year difficult to summarise. “You don’t look on it as a failure but we are obviously not happy” was what Stephen Molumphy made of it all. The bright spots and the shortcomings of this season were all wrapped in to these seventy minutes.

Cork moved far more briskly on the line. As they fell further adrift, Jimmy Barry Murphy unloaded four substitutes in the space of fourteen minutes but there was method to the apparent madness. Cathal Naughton put his searing speed to good use against Tony Browne, John Gardiner got a handle on Seamus Prendergast and Darren Sweetnam shored up the middle and also made a lung bursting run to tee up a point for Luke O’Farrell. Even taking Conor Lehane’s late withdrawal into account, he could pick and mix from a wealth of options. William Egan didn’t even see a minute of action.

Through the league and championship, Cork have developed the strength of their panel. They put it into practice when it really mattered, which was in stark contrast to their opponents despite the fact that Waterford have also given opportunities to a wide variety of players this season. During a mini injury crisis in the spring time, Dean Twomey, Martin O’Neill and Gavin O’Brien all received valuable minutes that would stand them in good stead come championship. Or so we thought. All three could only watch on as the lead unravelled while other viable alternatives like Wayne Hutchinson, David O’Sullivan and Jamie Nagle were also ignored. Cork used all five substitutes while Waterford only gave a proper run to two because Richie Foley came with a minute of normal time remaining. Those fresher legs and minds told in the end. On the other hand, maybe Jimmy Barry Murphy had nothing to lose and Waterford would find it hard to make sweeping changes after establishing a commanding cushion. The pecking order for the substitutions that they did implement is most puzzling of all however.

The goals issue began to surface as Davy Fitzgerald’s tenure wore on and it has carried forward into 2012. Michael Ryan acknowledged this and he rattled off a telling statistic in his post match interview. “I think we have only scored six goals in eight games this year and that’s not good enough.” If you take the championship goals of John Mullane and Shane Walsh out of the equation, the other four starting forwards can only account for three goals and Seamus Prendergast’s last championship major came back in 2005. Donal O’Grady threw it out there on the The Sunday Game that it was a carbon copy of the lack of composure displayed in the Munster final and cited Shane Casey’s effort for a point as an example.

And then we come on to why Waterford can’t seem to close out games. Two points in the last ten against Clare, two in the Munster final and just a single point on Sunday signify an abject return in a crucial phase of the game. Even in the league win over Galway, a rousing Shane Walsh point was required to douse a home comeback. Nothing broke the rhythm on this occasion. The Eoin McGrath chance will be mentioned but the covering Cork defender made it far from a cast iron green flag. The loss of Walsh undoubtedly caused disruption up front as Waterford had to carry on without the focal point of their attack. The Rebel rearguard also grew in confidence as a result. A couple of point opportunities were also coughed up to extend the lead further and that left the door open for a comeback. The Cork subs settled and they chipped away with points to narrow the gap. A nerveless long distance free from Maurice Shanahan interrupted that run but there was no way back however after Séan Óg’s point. Ryan dismissed fitness as a factor in another late fadeout. “I just think that they had the momentum behind them, they were playing with the wind and they came from behind. It certainly wasn’t a lack of fitness or anything like that, it was just momentum.”

So that’s where Waterford fell short but so much fell into place. They played their best hurling of the season in that dazzling spell before the interval. Mullane was a like a man possessed as he caught puck outs, laid on points for fun and earned frees. After Pa Cronin caused some early headaches, the half back line and midfield drove things forward, led superbly by the two standout players of the championship in Kevin Moran and Stephen Molumphy. Although Cork led at the break, Waterford were back in the mix. Up front, Pauric Mahony looked sharp, Seamus Prendergast put in another hard shift while Shane Walsh played through the pain barrier to strike two points. Maurice Shanahan benefitted from the move to the full forward line and offered assurance on the frees. They moved into the optimum position down the home straight but couldn’t kick on.

Not quite the excitement of Cork and Waterford games in the past despite the fact that the tempo lifted towards the end of both halves. The topsy turvy conditions accounted for some that. In truth, nobody expected a classic. Rough edges appeared on both sides and Jimmy Barry Murphy realises that a mountain of work faces the victors to get set for Galway in a couple of weeks.

It’s back to the bread and butter now for the remainder of the summer and into the autumn. A different routine to grow accustomed to after years of pitching up in Croke Park with dreams of September. 2012 brought turbulence, stability and ultimately regrets. Sounds a bit like Sunday’s game really.