Waterford roll up to Ennis in a state of
uncertainty. They enter the fray with little fanfare and the tag of relegation
certainties already attached to them. They may have the comfort of three home
games to fall back on but this league opener has the potential to shape the
rest of the season.
Heading
into such a crucial game with players either unavailable, injured or carrying
knocks is far from ideal. The team revealed on Friday night showed eight
changes from the All Ireland quarter final loss to Cork last summer. Ideally, the second season
is all about building on the previous campaign but the turnover of players has
left supporters apprehensive about what lies ahead. There are only two survivors
up front from that game and how this unit gel together on Sunday afternoon will
determine the outcome. They malfunctioned and ran out of ideas in the Crystal
Cup against UL at Carraiganore before showing more variety in the challenge
wins over Offaly and Wexford. Yet again, Seamus Prendergast will offer the only
obvious outlet as ball winner. Four of his colleagues up front endured a
nightmare at this venue in the under 21 grade and they have been given little
time to adjust to the senior environment. At least a
handful of these players will need to get up to speed immediately and step out
of the shadows. Brian O’Halloran and Brian O’Sullivan will be keen to stand out from the crowd after a spell away from the panel for various reasons. After being
parachuted into the 2010 Munster final and
subsequent All Ireland semi final, O’Halloran has taken time to establish
himself and this game marks his first start since that forgettable afternoon in
Croke Park. Jake Dillon, Gavin O’Brien and
Pauric Mahony will benefit from WIT’s extended Fitzgibbon run although the latter
is only recently returning from injury.
At this
time of year, managers like to talk about putting together a blend of youth and
experience. In Waterford’s
case however, the two are unevenly distributed. Even the midfield pairing is
completely different from that which lined out last summer. The unfortunate
Richie Foley misses out again through injury and this gives Dean Twomey a
chance to develop a partnership with Shane O’Sullivan. The defence has a much
more battle hardened look. Four of the six backs started during championship
2012 with Stephen O’Keeffe growing into the role of number one behind them. Jamie
Nagle edges out Stephen Daniels and Darragh Fives for the wing back slot while
Shane Fives gets another opportunity in the full back line. His last start came in
the 2011 league against Tipperary
and he was cast adrift thereafter. He made a statement when he contained Offaly
full forward Joe Bergin in a recent challenge game and retained his spot for
last weekend’s win over Wexford. Fives and company will need to keep their
shape and their discipline on Sunday.
Davy
Fitzgerald’s charges are much more certain that their transition cycle is
coming to a close and they believe that they can start to mix it with the top
teams once more. After
picking up a string of victories against UL, Cork
and Tipperary in a productive Crystal campaign,
they come into this fixture in a positive frame of mind. Those three games
allowed them to settle into the new season while Waterford searched for action on the challenge
circuit. The Clare fifteen selected for Sunday contains many of those central
to their two All Ireland under 21 triumphs. Patrick O’Connor, Seadna Morey and
Tony Kelly are three of their brightest prospects. They will miss Conor McGrath
however and despite the fact that Darach Honan saw action for UL in the
Fitzgibbon during the week, he is short on game time and left on the bench.
Underage
success brings no guarantees but there appears to be no danger of Clare getting
carried away. It’s a subject that Fitzgerald broached during the week. “It’s great to see us achieve success at
minor and U-21. But I'll also ask you the question. Did Limerick and Galway achieve a lot of success at minor and U-21 level?
And did that mean they were guaranteed to win All-Irelands or go close to
winning All-Irelands? I don't think it did. Winning them creates expectation,
but that doesn't always mean you are going to do it. We won an U-21 All-Ireland
in 2009, but we didn't win a senior championship game in 2010 or 2011. That’s
fact. When you win something like that, it’s how you deal with success. You can
get very carried away and get notions of yourself. When you win something like
that, you have to work harder than you have ever worked.” Fitzgerald will keep them up to
their task and weed out any players who do get notions about themselves. He can
also deflect attention away from them as well when the time arises.
Clare will seek
to impose their running game and pull apart the Waterford backs early on. Without the
prolific McGrath and facing a steady rearguard, they are unlikely to
shoot the lights out and that should give the visitors a better chance than the
bookies forecast. Even in a low scoring encounter however, it’s hard to be
convinced that this new look outfit can knit things together in such a short
period of time. The long list of absentees, question marks over an
inexperienced forward line and the confidence flowing through the Clare veins means
that Davy may have a difficult job to keep expectations under wraps. The locals
are waiting in anticipation.
Clare: P
Kelly, D O’Donovan, J McInerney, D McInerney, B Bugler, P Donnelan, P O’Connor,
S Morey, C Ryan, F Lynch, T Kelly, E Barrett, J Conlon, S O’Donnell, P Collins.
Waterford: S
O’Keeffe, S Fives, L Lawlor, N Connors, J Nagle, M Walsh, K Moran, S O’Sullivan,
D Twomey, B O’Halloran, S Prendergast, J Dillon, G O’Brien, P Mahony, B O’Sullivan.
National Hurling League Division 1A
Clare v Waterford
Throw in 2.00 at Cusack Park
Referee: John Sexton
Betting:
Clare 3/10 Draw
11/1 Waterford 11/4
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