FIRST TIME FINAL…Clare and Waterford will meet in the decider for the first time

THE novel pairing for Sunday’s National League final adds to anticipation to the goings-on at Thurles, as does the proximity to the Munster Championship quarter-final clash between the same two counties five weeks later.

It’s hard to believe that Clare and Waterford have never met before in a National League final – almost as surprising as the odds for Sunday’s game. Waterford are 5-6 favourites to retain their title, with Clare at 6-5. That’s despite Clare’s dismantling of Kilkenny in the semi-final.

So where will it be won and lost? Clare got their tactics absolutely spot on against Kilkenny. They isolated John Conlon on Joey Holden on the edge and pulled the corner forwards out to create space, half forwards Conor Cleary and Davy Fitzgerald crowded the midfield and pushed up on their own half forwards for the puckouts, while Colm Galvin dropped in front of the full back line.

A couple of things suggest that that tactic won’t be so successful on Sunday. Firstly, Derek McGrath will be expecting it, secondly, even if he wasn’t, he would surely do something about in-match, unlike Brian Cody who for whatever reason chose to do nothing about it, and thirdly, Waterford are defensively a different animal to Kilkenny, and have honed a system over the past three seasons that has essentially changed hurling as we know it.

I’m not convinced that three goals against Limerick in the league semi-final is proof that Waterford have progressed their system sufficiently to a point where goal opportunities are being readily created but opposition should at least be taking note and watching with interest on Sunday as to how many times they breach the Banner rear-guard.

They scored just one major in five games in the group stages of the League but three in the semi-final against Limerick and created at least another three chances. Given Limerick’s second half capitulation however, that’s hardly enough evidence to suggest that Waterford will carry a major goal scoring threat into the 2016 Championship.

Their set-up however will force Davy Fitzgerald to come up with a different game-plan for Thurles, and with the influence of Donal Og Cusack and indeed the return of Paul Kinnerk to the backroom team having a tactical bearing on how Clare are playing this year, it makes for an interesting preamble to Sunday’s decider.

Having racked up a double-figure win over Kilkenny in the semi, it will be difficult for Fitzgerald to change the starting line-up. It needs to be remembered however that he was missing five or six players who he will be looking to lead his side throughout the summer, including three All-Stars and a former Hurler of the Year.

I would see Tony Kelly and David McInerney slotting into the side at some stage on Sunday, if not starting, and Seadna Morey, Conor Ryan, Colin Ryan and Shane O’Donnell could all see game time, depending on their respective stages of recovery. Fitzgerald will see it as a great problem to have and at this point of the year he is probably the manager with the greatest strength in depth going into the Championship.

On Sunday however I think he’ll resist making wholesale changes, McInerney and Kelly will be difficult to leave out but apart from that pair, I’d expect a similar line-up to the semi-final. Given the championship meeting, it’s also unlikely that Clare will deviate from the long ball game that was so successful the last day, although Waterford will also crowd the middle third which may make it a scrappier encounter with Austin Gleason being sucked further out the field.

Waterford disposed of Limerick in clinical fashion but they were helped by a Limerick short passing tactic that broke down time and again to gift Waterford possession, particularly in the second half. It will be a different game on Sunday and one that I think the bookies have called wrong.

I think Clare will have the edge on Waterford and break them down in the second half with the help of a few star names coming off the bench. Clare by three.

It’s easy to forget that for the majority of the country, the Championship started last weekend. Antrim as expected got past Kildare and should do likewise against Roscommon at Dunloy on Saturday.

Antrim did the damage in the first half. Their formation illustrated perfectly the changing face of hurling with a sweeper employed throughout the 70 minutes by both teams. Kildare, despite the score, were an improved side from their League outing at Ballycastle, and as per Antrim’s previous visit to Parnell Park when they were beaten by Kerry last year, they were often out-caught on their own puck-outs by Kildare.
Derry’s poor season continued with a defeat to Roscommon. The long-standing battle with club football commitments is a perennial problem in the county and the current crop are no closer to finding a solution than any of their predecessors.

An Ulster exit is guaranteed when they host Down at Owenbeg on Saturday and for my money Down look like the side who’ll progress to the quarter-finals.
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