Forwards earn a little respect - Waterford 0-22 Galway 1-13

The settled look to Waterford from five to nine and their influence on these first two performances has been fundamental to the success of Derek McGrath’s system. The forwards were measured on their shortage of scores and excess of wides last Saturday but yards covered may be added to that equation after wearing down Galway on a patchy surface.

Waterford once more hunted the breaks in a pack around the centre. Away from the maddening crowd, three white and blue forwards held their positions. Seamus Prendergast and Ryan Donnelly stayed up front with a spare Galway corner back at the dressing room side. Ray Barry stood as the lone wing man. It wasn't quite the traditional two man full forward line as the number ten was also expected to fill in for the missing thirteen. The half forwards and at least one of the inside men are tasked with the twin task of grafting for possession and grinding out scores. McGrath places high physical and mental demands on the forwards to persist with the runs (often in vain as shown by Brian O'Sullivan on Sunday) and the formation. Such a system requires stamina and extra reserves for the second half. McGrath learned from opening night and moved faster to throw on Jake Dillon, Jamie Barron, Eddie Barrett, Stephen Roche and Gavin O’Brien.

Immediately after collecting the two treasured points, the manager switched the conversation away from the obvious strengths in defence and towards the less noticeable work in attack. “The reality is our back line are playing in the manner that they are because of the work rate of the forwards and the application of the forwards and how they set themselves up. We are just happy to be a team and not just a one to nine. I’m delighted that the forwards got their scores today.”

They answered any criticism from round one. 22 points (16 from play) in blustery weather and on a pitch that became chopped up by the end, stands up to scrutiny. Five of the six starters scored, along with Jake Dillon and Stephen Roche off the bench. Brian O’Sullivan fired a blank but his 45 minutes on the field shows what the early days of this regime are all about attitude-wise and formation-wise. In the first half he fought for a throw ball along with four other Waterford shirts around midfield. When the ball was won and worked back to Jamie Nagle, O’Sullivan returned to his appointed berth to flick down for Stephen Molumphy to run on and score. Early in the second half, Molumphy toiled back behind the half back line to strike a ball from his own 45. O’Sullivan’s yellow helmet appeared at midfield as the sliotar reached Ryan Donnelly. 18 seconds later, Seamus Prendergast finishes with a lofted point but O’Sullivan continued his run into corner forward to watch it go over.

All of that unseen work adds up in the eyes of McGrath. “That’s all any management team can ask for is total application, attitude and togetherness. We are creating a good spirit and we will surprise a few people in terms of where we can go in the next couple of years and that’s what we are all about.”

In the other corner, Ryan Donnelly is another grafter that he values in terms of enthusiasm and ability to cover ground. He assisted three points and helped himself to one in the second half. He emerged during January as a piece that fitted the overall theme. “People don’t like hearing the word transition. Ryan has been very prominent for Dungarvan in the last number of years. He deserves his chance. We are going to stick with him no matter what. He was in on Fergal Moore and Johnny Coen at times and that’s the only way to learn. If we throw fellas in and get some results at the same time, it’s great. We are under no illusions. We are just in the process of trying to build a panel and we would just ask people to be patient with the whole thing.”

Ray Barry is another that shows the eagerness to run the tram lines. He varied between the wing and the corner. He also holds the confidence to take a lash from medium to long range. He took his four valuable points from wandering out to strike accurately from acute angles. His shooting style is lightening fast and very difficult to block.

The six switches prior to throw in dampened expectations. Galway’s swift start, shaped by Conor Cooney, increased the unease amongst the majority of the 2,616 in attendance. The system soon kicked into action to stem the flow. A scrunched middle forced the Tribesmen in difficult shot selections. A Pauric Mahony brace and a Kevin Moran single put them into the lead. Boosted by Seamus Prendergast at the edge of the parallelogram, Waterford arrived with a two pronged approach. When the half backs and midfield emerged with possession they could play short to Pauric Mahony, who moved off Iarla Tannian, or go long to Prendergast. An eye opener for rookie full back Ronan Burke. Mahony meanwhile got under the skin of Tannian. He touched the ball fourteen times in the first half. He either started moves around midfield or finished moves by drifting into the right spaces. He loitered on the stand side in the second half to take the pass after a glorious exchange of short passes involving Michael Walsh, Shane O'Sullivan and Stephen Molumphy. McGrath simply couldn’t afford to rest Mahony in this mood. The Ardrahan six eventually had to resort to illegal means.

The WIT student produced a personal best in county colours. It hasn’t been easy to match a first championship term that included a man of the match award on debut day, 29 points and a young hurler of the year nomination. He has been substituted in three of his last six championship starts and scored only seven points. Eleven has highlighted his hurling brain however and he now fulfils the role of playmaker.

Leaving the goal shyness aside for now (and it remains to be seen what happens in a shootout situation), the depth, keenness and awareness in that forward line left a sense of positivity about. The Waterford management took out a half dozen and yet the shape and intensity didn’t dip. Stephen O’Keeffe, Barry Coughlan, Jamie Barron, Jake Dillon, Maurice Shanahan and Shane Walsh will all expect significant summertime action yet only two of them were involved on Sunday. Like Walsh Park itself, the team remains with the work in progress signs up but McGrath now has two building blocks to start with.