Waterford v Kilkenny - the last 5 encounters

Ahead of Sunday's All-Ireland hurling semi-final between Waterford and Kilkenny, Ball Between Two takes a look at the five previous times these two teams met in the Championship and wonders what lessons, if any, today's Waterford team can learn from past encounters.

1963 All-Ireland final: Kilkenny 4-17, Waterford 6-8

The defeat that signalled the end of Waterford hurling's golden era. Boasting players such as Phil Grimes, Tom Cheasty and Frankie Walsh, Waterford entered the final as favourites, four years after the 1959 final in which they had needed a replay to see off Kilkenny. But a Kilkenny team containing Eddie Keher was never going to be a pushover. It was Keher who proved to be the difference between the sides with a magnificent display in which he scored 14 points. Despite a hattrick of goals from Waterford's Séamus Power, Kilkenny's superior points total ultimately sealed their victory and gained a degree of revenge for their defeat in 1959.


1998 All-Ireland semi-final: Kilkenny 1-11, Waterford 1-10

(A short clip of this match begins at 1:15 in the above video.)

It would be 35 years before Kilkenny and Waterford met in the Championship again. Waterford had spent the intervening years in hurling wilderness while Kilkenny had won another 10 titles to add to their previous fifteen. But this Waterford team featured the likes of Tony Browne and Paul Flynn at the peak of their powers; Tony Browne in particular was enjoying his best year at intercounty level. What followed was an incredibly tight affair, if not a high-scoring one. Just two points separated the sides at half-time, before PJ Delaney extended Kilkenny's lead with a crucial goal. Waterford nearly clawed back a seven-point defecit thanks to a goal from Tony Browne, but the referee blew the final whistle just 27 seconds into stoppage time and with Kilkenny ahead by a point. It was the first of what would become a familar sense of semi-final heartbreak for Waterford fans and players alike.


2004 All-Ireland semi-final: Kilkenny 3-12, Waterford 0-18 

(Unfortunately, I was unable to find any clips from this match on YouTube. Given that all of the matches featured in this article end in Déise defeat, I think it's only fair that I include a very positive memory from the year of this semi-final instead: Waterford v Cork in the Munster hurling final.)


Hopes of a Waterford victory were high going into this game, even without the suspended John Mullane. Kilkenny, meanwhile, had been defeated by Wexford in the Leinster semi-final and were forced to take an unfamiliar back-door route to reach this stage. Regular Waterford goalkeeper Stevie Brenner was dropped after his howler in the Munster final in favour of Mount Sion's Ian O'Regan. The decision proved to be a costly one; O'Regan's nerves seemed to get the better of him as Kilkenny scored the three goals that ultimately booked their place in the final. For Waterford, it was their third semi-final defeat in three appearances.


2008 All-Ireland hurling final: Kilkenny 3-30, Waterford 1-13

(If anyone has ever doubted that there is a desperate lack of hurling videos on YouTube, they need only know that the very short video above is the lone clip of what many regard as the finest team performance of all time.)

The 2008 final is a match Waterford and Kilkenny fans remember for two very different reasons. It was the first time Waterford had reached the final since the aforementioned 1963 campaign, while Kilkenny were looking to win their third All-Ireland title in succession. We all know what happened next. Waterford, apparently frozen by the scale of the occasion, were ripped apart by a merciless Kilkenny team. Kilkenny's forwards were simply unstoppable. Waterford's forwards, in contrast, found themselves swarmed by Kilkenny players whenever they got the ball. It was a truly defining performance by Brian Cody's Kilkenny team and demonstrates above all other matches why they are regarded by many as the greatest team in the game's long history.


2009 All-Ireland semi-final: Kilkenny 2-23, Waterford 3-15

(Part two of this game, including post-match interviews and analysis, can be viewed here.)

Less than a year after that annihilation, the two teams met each other in yet another semi-final. Waterford were given virtually no chance in the build-up to the game, perhaps understandably given Kilkenny's formidable performances. The match began ominously for Waterford when Henry Shefflin pointed within the first 60 seconds, but an early goal by Shane Walsh gave Waterford an unlikely lead. But Shefflin was in imperious form. His tally of 1-14, 1-7 of which were from play, highlighted a breathtaking performance as good as any Croke Park has seen in recent years. Shane Walsh and Eoin Kelly did manage to score two further goals for Waterford but, impressive as their spirited display was, they were simply no match for the genius of Shefflin.


Conclusions
While these five results do make somewhat grim reading for Waterford, there is nothing to suggest they will have any significant influence on Sunday's match. There are, however, certain things to be learned from these games that may be of some benefit if we are to beat Kilkenny in the Championship for the first time since 1959.

• It goes without saying at this level, but Waterford must not concede needless frees. Like Eddie Keher in the 1963 encounter, Henry Shefflin will be sure to punish any fouls committed with his trademark clinical accuracy.
• All signs indicate that Davy Fitzgerald will name an unchanged side from the one that beat Galway in the quarter-final. The shaky performance of Ian O'Regan in 2004, a player selected to play for the first time, suggests that this will be a wise move.
• Waterford must not be cowed by occasion. This happened to them earlier this year against Tipperary, and most notably against Kilkenny in that 2008 final.
• Finally, the influence of Henry Shefflin must be curbed. If Waterford are to have any chance of victory on Sunday, they cannot afford to let Shefflin have the time and space to play like he did in the semi-final of 2009.

Like that 2009 clash, Waterford enter the match as complete underdogs. This seems to be when they play at their very best, evident most recently in that victory against Galway. While anything more than cautious optimism of victory against Kilkenny would be foolish in the extreme, there is nothing to suggest that Waterford can't mount a serious challenge to Kilkenny's stranglehold on this fixture in recent times.

Brick by Brick - Waterford's full-back problem

The full-back problem has dogged Waterford hurling for years. Declan Prendergast, Kevin Moran, and now Wayne Hutchinson are just some of the players who have filled the berth to no great success in recent times. It seems that the elusive All-Ireland title will always be beyond our grasp until a solution is found. Kevin Downes' second-half demolition of Hutchinson and then Darragh Fives served only to highlight how far we have yet to go if we are to add to those fabled successes of '48 and '59.

It is no coincidence that today's two hurling giants boast a plethora of quality full-backs. When Kilkenny were shorn of the peerless Noel Hickey due to a serious knee injury in 2009, JJ Delaney was there to take his spot. Current All-Ireland champions Tipperary know that should Paul Curran ever stutter, Pádraic Maher is available to step in. This is a luxury that Waterford can only dream of, as a conveyor belt of full-backs are tested and rejected. Declan Prendergast is perhaps the only player to hold the spot for a prolonged period in the last few years, but his reputation as a full-back was almost irreparably damaged after the All-Ireland semi-final of 2007.

Is consistency the solution? Perhaps if Hutchinson, or even Liam Lawlor, were given an extended run in the side, then we would reap the benefits of their experiences. Unfortunately, knockout format as it is, the Championship is no place to be bedding in players. It is the League, therefore, that presents the best platform for experimenting and developing. But it takes no genius to see the gulf in quality between League hurling and its summertime counterpart. It would appear, though admittedly on the basis of only one game, that Hutchinson's apprenticeship in the League was futile. When Championship day came around, he was comprehensively trumped by Downes. A consistent run in the side does not guarantee good performances by any means.

This is not to say that Hutchinson should be discarded as an afterthought. Clearly he has potential, and given the appropriate application and nurturing, he will have an important part to play in Waterford hurling in the years to come. However, an alternative must be found to secure short-term gain, without sacrificing long-term progress. This much was evidently on Davy Fitzgerald's mind when Michael Walsh was tasked with marking Downes after he had outclassed both Hutchinson and Fives.

Brick is undoubtedly among the finest centre-backs of his generation. His sheer strength is almost unmatched in the game. Truly he is the archetypal centre-back, the dominating figure on which the rest of the team hinges. Yet all signs point to him being deployed as a full-back in the Munster final. Should he line up at number 3, Fitzgerald runs the risk of losing one of the team's most important assets. However, such is Brick's talent and reliability, Fitzgerald can rest easier knowing that Tipperary's (assuming they beat Clare) full-forward line will be quiter than usual.

While I would gently advocate the use of Brick at full-back in the immediate future, Fitzgerald must work on finding a permanent solution as soon as possible. Brick won an All Star at centre-back for a reason, and playing him elsewhere for any more than a couple of matches would be foolish in the extreme. So while Hutchinson lacks that little (but crucial) bit of experience and is perhaps short of confidence, playing Michael Walsh at full-back seems the most viable option. The looming threat of the McGrath-Corbett-Kelly axis would not seem nearly as insurmountable with Brick at full-back (not to mention the highly impressive Noel Connors in the corner).

There are, of course, plenty of causes for optimism. John Mullane showed last Sunday that he is still at the top of his game and the performances of  David and Brian O'Sullivan, and Pádraig Mahony in particular, were encouraging to say the least. Once the issue at number 3 is resolved, there is enough quality throughout the rest of the squad to mount yet another All-Ireland challenge. It may be just beyond our grasp just now, but Liam
may be draped in blue and white yet.