This game is live on Off The Ball from 2pm this Sunday with Dave McIntyre, Eoin Kelly and Brian Hogan.
At times, Dublin impressed against Limerick, dominant, ebullient, ruthless - they outscored their opponents by 0-10 to 0-01 between the 26th and 41st minutes. The 25 minutes prior to that though they were just wretched as they trailed by nine, 1-08 to 0-02.
During those 25 minutes, Limerick had 54 per cent of their total scoring chances, converting just 9 out of 21 shots. If TJ Ryan’s men hadn’t been so sloppy they’d have buried Dublin just as Galway had done in early June - by the 25th minute in O’Connor Park that day, Galway lead 3-10 to 0-03.
Well, Waterford tend to be slow out of the blocks too. Against Cork they trailed 0-05 0-02 after 20 minutes and Tipp lead them by 0-07 to 0-03 at the same juncture in the Munster final.
Waterford know who they are. They believe in their manager, their system, themselves. Dublin at times look lost, the upheaval and amount of positional changes they’ve gone through this year leaves them with a very unsettled squad heading into August, far from ideal.
Dublin leaders emerged in Semple
With the game entering the final fifteen minutes in Semple, Cunningham’s men once again looked in trouble. Limerick had regained a foothold, shooting four of the last five scores to lead by two. Once again though the screw turns; Sutcliffe hooks James Ryan at midfield on the left sideline, it breaks to Johnny McCaffrey. He finds Durkin who from his own forty to the next picks out Paul Ryan with a crossfield ball. Ryan breaks it down to space and arrows the sliotar over his shoulder from 50 yards for his 10th of the game, 0-14 to 1-12.
Dotsy goals on 61, young Cian Boland points on the run before man of the match Ryan fires over two carbon copy belters from the left sideline. Dublin prevail/escape by a point.
Glimmers of their undeniable talent were on show, as were glaring examples of their inexplicable sloppiness.
Paul Ryan as man of the match is an obvious player to highlight. He hit 0-12, shot 6 out of 7 on his frees and hit six superb scores from play - five of which, interestingly came from the sidelines; two from the right, and three from the left-hand side.
It’s something Waterford will earmark. Ryan got most joy dropping into those pockets of space and being the man to finish the moves, 12 from 15 shots is a pretty solid scoring rate and he will do damage if given the chance.
Liam Rushe at centre-back
The return of Liam Rushe to centre-back is an important move for Dublin, one of a number of changes Cunningham made where he reverted to type. Once Rushe got to grips with the Limerick system and began to sweep he cleaned up, Dublin grew in momentum in tandem with his growing influence. Time after time in the second-half, Limerick knocked balls into his path and made Rushe look an All-Star once again.
The question is, with Waterford’s system; their forwards dropping deep, rotating and leaving that one man up and generally shooting from distance, can Rushe have the same impact?
Surely McGrath will look to negate his influence by rotating the manner in which Waterford attack Dublin, meaning Rushe’s ability to adapt to the flow of the game will lie the key to his performance.
Dublin’s Liam Rushe dejected after the Galway game ©INPHO/James Crombie
Waterford’s point of attack
Waterford do mix up their point of attack though and will go direct at times. It ain’t, lump it on the square hurlin’ either.
Shanahan’s brilliant game-changing goal against Cork came from a measured ball from Austin Gleeson inside his own half - Shanahan was the closest Waterford forward to goal when he received, thirty yards out.
Goal number two that day came as Gleeson took a short puck-out, fired it low, 60 yards down his right hand side to Stephen Bennett in corner-forward. He switched it to Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh who brilliantly picked out Jake Dillon’s surging run from midfield - bang, the ball rattles Nash’ net.
Goals are important for them this Sunday. Against Tipp, Stephen Bennett scuffed an effort by Darren Gleeson straight across the square with his foot, Colin Dunford had another effort saved. Waterford will have been disappointed with that.
Waterford’s poor shot selection against Tipp
The loss of Pauric Mahony to that broken leg in May hasn’t been as debilitating to Waterford’s game as had been initially feared. The absence of the Ballygunner sharpshooter is still huge, in terms of his leadership, accuracy and genuine threat.
Waterford are lacking in that department, with Maurice Shanahan bearing the brunt of the scoring thus far. He’s hit 45 per cent of their Championship scores. Mahony had hit that same number in the eight league games before injury.
While Dublin gave up 39 scoring chances to Limerick in their qualifier, Waterford had 39 chances of their own in the Munster final, their own sloppiness highlighted by the fact they were marginally less accurate than Limerick.
For Waterford, their average shooting distance was between the 45-50 metre area, they hit 13 wides, four dropped short, four were blocked while two goal chances were spurned. Colin Dunford hit 1 from 6, Austin Gleeson shot five times, his only scores an 80-metre free and a pot-shot on goal in injury time that sailed over. Another culprit of poor shot selection was Kevin Moran, who despite his inspirational performance scored just 2 out of 6.
If those three key players improve those numbers, Waterford will be in an incrementally stronger position.
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