Waterford minor hurling manager James O’Connor believes his players are still only operating at 70% – despite having reached the All-Ireland Semi-Finals.
Waterford saw off Limerick 1-18 to 1-14 at Semple Stadium yesterday to book their place in the last four, and they will now face Kilkenny next time out.
The Deise have won four games this season – beating Limerick twice, as well as seeing off Tipperary and Clare. They lost to Cork in both the group phase and the Munster Final.
O’Connor feels if his players can show what they have in training – then they will have a huge chance of going further.
“I’m hoping this is all going to take off very near the end. There’ll be a huge game now the next day against Kilkenny and we can’t carry passengers the next day. Everyone has to play. In fairness to our backline, I thought they were outstanding again today, putting in a huge, huge shift. But look, we had three or four scores up front outside of Cormac Spain – I’d be expecting more than that, I’ll be honest with you. Hopefully, we’re holding the best to last. I still think there’s a good 30% more in the team. What I’m looking at in training, I’m looking at forwards and they’re clipping over points from all angles and everyone is contributing. Unfortunately, over the last two games, we’re not doing that up front as much.”
“We’re just kind of playing just within ourselves”, he continued. “We’re just not showing the creativity that normally we can do. So I just want what’s happening on the training field to happen outside on the big stage because then they will really show what they can do.”
O’Connor believes Kilkenny will be one of their toughest tests based on the challenge games between the sides earlier this year.
“I would have rated them in the top three always over the year. I always thought they were one of the better teams that we’ve played in challenge games. This is going to come down to the last couple of minutes. We won one and lost one. I actually think we’re very even. Physically, they’ll match us. Size-wise, they’re going to match us. Again, it’s that bounce of the ball and who just wants it more on the day. That’s what it’s going to come down to.”
