At the start of the second half, Richie Power was keen to lay down a marker. After experiencing a muted opening thirty five minutes in general play, he was ready to make amends. Although his first effort missed the target he made no mistake second time around and the tone was set. Within ten minutes a one point lead turned into seven. Game over.
That’s not to say Waterford folded up their tent on the resumption, they were simply blown away by a superior force. Power orchestrated the second half blitz up front but he wasn’t alone. TJ Reid was fetching balls out of the sky all afternoon while Richie Hogan burst into life after the break with two points before his incisive hand pass engineered the killer goal. Matthew Ruth probably only touched the ball three or four times and yet he ended up with 2-1. And on a quiet day for the captain, Eoin Larkin still contributed three points from play. At the other end Paul Murphy and Tommy Walsh battened down the hatches to only concede three second half points from play.
Waterford struggled to match their first half heroics but a number of the young players continued to take to the fight to the All Ireland champions. Philip Mahony, Gavin O’Brien, Martin O’Neill and Maurice Shanahan all emerged with their reputations enhanced from this experience. On his first full league start, O’Brien displayed great vision, sprayed the ball around to create scores and picked off two crisp first half points. Shanahan produced one of his best performances in the county colours against Jackie Tyrell and may be finally ready to deliver on his rich promise. O’Neill steadied the ship from placed balls and maintained his early season form by showing well for the ball throughout. Let’s also not forget a man in an altogether different age bracket; Tony Browne. The 38 year old fired two booming points on his return to action and remained resolute on his flank of defence all through.
These bright spots however couldn’t prevent the Kilkenny juggernaut taking a firm grip on proceedings and they punished every weakness in the Waterford armour. While the hosts conceded a number of scoreable frees to Richie Power, this could have been negated if Pauric Mahony didn’t endure an uncharacteristic off day. A couple of short puck outs also didn’t work out to plan and resulted in some soft Kilkenny points, especially in the first half. Problems also surfaced at midfield but this pairing won’t be facing up to Michael Fennelly’s power every weekend. Kevin Moran held Richie Power in the first half but on the turnover, the ball winning ability of the Carrickshock man alongside TJ Reid left the half back line on the back foot. The Michael Walsh debate will rumble on despite his contribution to that encouraging first half resistance. He provided the assist to 1-4 of Waterford’s 1-9 either by playing the final pass or being fouled for a free. In the second period however, he again looked uncomfortable and such a key figure for this team can no be longer left with a peripheral influence on affairs. His assurance at centre back was badly needed when Kilkenny began to dominate.
Undoubtedly Waterford are struggling to cope with the casualty list especially in a competitive top tier where a run of defeats saps morale. The absence of Noel Connors, Shane O’Sullivan, John Mullane and Shane Walsh to name a few would impact on any of the teams in Division 1. Despite the best efforts of the new kids on the block, returns of 0-18 and 1-15 rarely win matches at league or championship level and that’s where players like Mullane and Walsh are sorely missed. On the opposite side of the coin, Brian Cody has the luxury of working off a full strength panel, with the exception of Henry Shefflin, and started on Sunday with nine of last year’s All Ireland winning side.
With a number of regulars, including Mullane, unlikely to make the trip to Semple Stadium things may get worse before they get better. Waterford need to build on Sunday’s first half display, absorb some harsh lessons and look at realigning the shape of the team. Nothing can be done about injuries or late withdrawals but controlling the controllables and making the most out of the resources to hand will be the only way of keeping Waterford afloat in Division 1A.
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