Waterford have their sights set on Croke Park and a date with Brian Cody's Cats this weekend. The Deise are in All-Ireland semi-final action with throw-in under lights at GAA HQ at six o clock on Saturday.
The sides last met in Championship Hurling in 2017 during the qualifiers - a game that Derek McGrath's side won in extra time.
This year has brought about a lot of change in the Waterford camp in terms of work rate, working as a team, and a far greater scoring threat from across the park.
Liam Cahill, Mikey Bevans, Stephen Molumphy, and Stephen Frampton have made it known that they won't accept any man walking, they won't tolerate laziness and they certainly won't accept a player leaving the field without having given everything they have to offer - the results are clear to see, but they will need all that and more this Saturday if they are to topple Brian Cody's resurgent Cats.
Irish Independent GAA writer Michael Veryney has been impressed by what Cahill et all have offered to the Deise set up so far
"It's amazing what can change within a year - If you look at it, Waterford scored 10 points against Limerick last year in Walsh Park - all of a sudden now they're averaging 29 points in their three championship games so far this year".
With the prospect of playing their third game in as many weeks, the Deise will be facing a new task compared to their early championship games where their opposing sides had played the same number of minutes. Recovery and rest in the build-up will surely have been on Cahill's mind. Verney says the game time might come back to bite the Deise
"My only worry would be weary legs and not being able to bring that same energy to the Munster final or the Cork game. Kilkenny might have a bit more freshness and they've got a few guys with points to prove with Walter Walsh and Collin Fennelly coming off in the Leinster Final. Richie Hogan will probably be kept in reserve I imagine. Its a really intriguing game heading in to the weekend - I'd probably favour Kilkenny just based on the freshness in the legs but I think Waterford are flying that high at the moment that they wont see anything as impossible at the moment"
Michael Verney spoke to Nigel ahead of the Semi-Final and you can hear the full interview as well as all the On The Ball content at “On The Ball with Nigel Kelly” on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4rTiGruKeo6wpbj86guvnj?si=wV9Gn9JBQwy-Xwxq7p28XQ
