https://www.dropbox.com/s/s7k22n6k9vj3s11/Hurlings%20Tactical%20Terrors.wav?dl=0
I was at a lunch last week. It's what I do nowadays. Well, part of what I do, when I'm not in the office and trying to avoid going to lunches.
It is, it seems, also about as close as I get to the cutting edge of sport these days. Gone are the days smelling whiskey on Trappatoni's breath, telling Shane Long 10 minutes into the interview that we'll have to start again because I didn't have the recorder turned on or Paul McShane telling me for the fourth time (quite firmly this time!) that he doesn't want to answer any more questions about Roy Keane.
Nowadays it's lunches and trying to get back to the office. Luckily at this particular lunch, Limerick hurling manager T.J. Ryan was the guest speaker.
The genesis of the talk was how he was able to manage the Limerick hurling team by night and his company by day.
When the question of tactics came up, TJ said that while Waterford's new defensive style might work in the league, he wasn't as confident it would be successful in championship "when the ground is fast" and presumably the players are all moving a bit quicker too.
It is easy to be critical of that comment now that Waterford have won the league but regardless of how Waterford go (and let's face it, it can't ever get any worse than the All-Ireland Final of 2008), surely what they are doing now is borderline revolutionary in hurling terms.
Derek McGrath has taken a team that are supposedly on the wane and going nowhere and thought, not necessarily about how hurling should be played but how it can be played.
Of course, Waterford have a great crop of young players and some of the big guns are still knocking around but Derek McGrath is still trying to get more out of them than some good performances.
Like McGuinness, Loughnane and hell, even Davy Fitz, Derek McGrath and Dan Shanahan seem to want to win the All-Ireland for Waterford and they are using tactics as a key weapon in that assault on the Liam McCarthy.
T.J. on the other hand spoke of 15 on 15 working for Limerick against Kilkenny last year and how that seems to suit the players but it didn't work against Kilkenny last year because Limerick lost the match.
Limerick gave Kilkenny plenty of it so to speak but then Kilkenny's aging but somewhat better players won the day just as everyone expected. Limerick playing their part as glorious, brave, clear and obvious losers with as little fuss as Richie Hogan displayed in banging in the first goal.
When you haven't been on top for so long, it takes something extra, something special to achieve that. Hurling is a game in which the use of tactics has been almost frowned upon such is Kilkenny's dominance but all that says to me is that the right formula simply hasn't been found yet.
Hopefully Derek McGrath and Waterford will be rewarded for their efforts even all the way into September.
I was at a lunch last week. It's what I do nowadays. Well, part of what I do, when I'm not in the office and trying to avoid going to lunches.
It is, it seems, also about as close as I get to the cutting edge of sport these days. Gone are the days smelling whiskey on Trappatoni's breath, telling Shane Long 10 minutes into the interview that we'll have to start again because I didn't have the recorder turned on or Paul McShane telling me for the fourth time (quite firmly this time!) that he doesn't want to answer any more questions about Roy Keane.
Nowadays it's lunches and trying to get back to the office. Luckily at this particular lunch, Limerick hurling manager T.J. Ryan was the guest speaker.
The genesis of the talk was how he was able to manage the Limerick hurling team by night and his company by day.
When the question of tactics came up, TJ said that while Waterford's new defensive style might work in the league, he wasn't as confident it would be successful in championship "when the ground is fast" and presumably the players are all moving a bit quicker too.
It is easy to be critical of that comment now that Waterford have won the league but regardless of how Waterford go (and let's face it, it can't ever get any worse than the All-Ireland Final of 2008), surely what they are doing now is borderline revolutionary in hurling terms.
Derek McGrath has taken a team that are supposedly on the wane and going nowhere and thought, not necessarily about how hurling should be played but how it can be played.
Of course, Waterford have a great crop of young players and some of the big guns are still knocking around but Derek McGrath is still trying to get more out of them than some good performances.
Like McGuinness, Loughnane and hell, even Davy Fitz, Derek McGrath and Dan Shanahan seem to want to win the All-Ireland for Waterford and they are using tactics as a key weapon in that assault on the Liam McCarthy.
T.J. on the other hand spoke of 15 on 15 working for Limerick against Kilkenny last year and how that seems to suit the players but it didn't work against Kilkenny last year because Limerick lost the match.
Limerick gave Kilkenny plenty of it so to speak but then Kilkenny's aging but somewhat better players won the day just as everyone expected. Limerick playing their part as glorious, brave, clear and obvious losers with as little fuss as Richie Hogan displayed in banging in the first goal.
When you haven't been on top for so long, it takes something extra, something special to achieve that. Hurling is a game in which the use of tactics has been almost frowned upon such is Kilkenny's dominance but all that says to me is that the right formula simply hasn't been found yet.
Hopefully Derek McGrath and Waterford will be rewarded for their efforts even all the way into September.
