Last Sunday’s first hurling semi-final brought an impressive 68,000 to Dublin. Many of us neutrals in attendance couldn’t help but feel that of the three games then left in the All-Ireland hurling championship, this one would be the best. We weren’t disappointed.

However I suspect the one sided nature of the other football games played at the weekend perhaps promoted the rose tinted view of Galway and Tipperary. Neither side were at their best, but of course the ending was hurling personified – full of excitement and passion.

We could get something very similar this weekend as it is hard to see either Cork or Waterford winning well. Maybe Cork have the capacity to cut loose, but the Déise’s formula isn’t designed to win well. It is however, designed to win.

Jackie Healy-Rae was being interviewed on Radio Kerry once upon a time by a clever presenter, (one well known in farming circles, current IFA Press Officer Niall Madigan). Jackie was being his usual elusive self and when pressed by Niall on a local issue he responded with a tactical kick to touch: “I can see both sides of the fence on this one Niall.”

Niall shot back: “I put it to you Deputy, that’s because you are sitting on it!”

I have a similar position to Mr Healy-Rae when it comes to teams employing a sweeper.

The merits of it will dominate the build-up to Sunday. But much of the focus will be a little misguided. And it’s a little more complex than agreeing with Michael Duignan or Davy Fitz.

The first and over riding fact about modern day hurling is the evolution that has occurred over the past fifteen or twenty years in sports science and player preparations. Our hurlers are fitter and stronger than ever, the ball is travelling faster and further. Regardless of playing an extra man or two back, nobody is staying in the one area in the field anymore. Everyone is moving. All the time.

The days of the standard fifteen versus fifteen is long gone. The trick nowadays is to try and engineer situations when your team has a spare man on the scene when a ball breaks.

Some teams hope that instinct and a little bit of cuteness gives you that advantage. Derek McGrath and Davy Fitz believe in creating the advantage for themselves. They are to be admired. They want their teams to win, that is their job. Apart from Brian Cody in Kilkenny, managment is usually a short-term one, so why wouldn’t they try and play to their strengths as they see them as often as they can?

The counter argument aims for the heart and not the head. Congestion results in lower scoring contests and often the entertainment value is diluted. The neutral wants open, free-flowing hurling, but I’ve a feeling they are looking for the tide to be stopped.

The days of the full forward and full back anchored to the edge of the square is long gone. That pair didn’t spend nine months in cryo chambers, icy pitches, gyms, muddy winter fields, on assault courses and off the drink just to stay put. They’re uber fit, they’ll cover all the yards they can. That’s what a modern forward must do.

So there will be chess on Sunday. Waterford will try to force Cork to play their preferred game, the Rebels will try to nullify that and impose their own on the Déise. This will make the contest compelling.

As I write, Tadhg de Búrca’s availability is still up in the air. Without him Waterford are a lesser team, of that there is no doubt. De Búrca is a refined hurler, perfectly suited for the role of sweeper, probably the best in the modern game at his tidiest.

Winning it for Tadhg will be the war cry, if he doesn’t get off. If he does, the scales could tip in Waterford’s favour.

Waterford came to Croke Park this time last year and to an extent ditched the system that had brought them that far. They succeeded in bringing then champions Kilkenny to the brink but ultimately failed to get over the line. That tactical switch was brought on by a drubbing in the Munster final by Tipperary but even with the new strategy, they still played a condensed line-up, enticing the Cats to narrow the pitch.

Earlier this summer they tried something similar to halt Cork’s gallop in Munster, but that day they were not as sharp and their hurling let them down. The forward line in particular did not show up. They have to stand up on Sunday and repeat the flow they got going against Kilkenny, a win that restored this team’s mojo.

The Rebels on the other hand were much livelier that June day and coped comfortably enough, even with a couple of forwards not on their game.

Cork’s case is a strong one. They are the form team of the championship, they’ve had five weeks to regroup and get Conor Lehane fully fit and. They are ‘Cork’ again.

While Cadogan, Lehane, Horgan and Harnedy have been consistently good in attack, it has been Cork’s back nine that I have been most impressed with. Clearly the best unit on show this year, they have been superb.

They’ve played for each other, been first to the ball, often in pairs, and they are mean without the sliotar. Cahalane, Ellis, Joyce, Coleman, Spillane and of course their conductor Anthony Nash all have one hand on All-Star jerseys. The supporting cast isn’t too bad either.

Verdict

Having picked against the Rebels on all of their previous three outings, their supporters, some of whom joyfully (and humorously) reminded me of that fact via email, will be delighted to learn that once again I’m going the other way.

I feel the five week lay-off will be a factor, along with the weight of expectation now on the team. Their year has been a resounding success already and subconsciously that too might seep in. Beating a team as battle-hardened as Waterford twice in the one summer is a big ask.

This game will the most intense some Cork players have probably played in their careers and this Waterford team know all too well what it is like to lose at this juncture in the most recent past. That’s a powerful motivational tool.

A glance at their stalwarts suggests warriors like Brick Walsh and Kevin Moran are destined to have one last crack at that Celtic Cross and Galway. After those two the talents are plenty. In Austin Gleeson they have a young man made for this occasion.

The rest of the squad too know their jobs. They didn’t do them when losing by five in June, only recording 1-15 in the process. I see them rectifying that and Derek McGrath drawing Cork, eventually, into the Deise’s narrow web.

It mightn’t be pretty. But it will be compelling. Waterford to fall over the line.