​By John Harrington

An epic 2017 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship will now end with a fitting climax after Waterford's win over Cork yesterday set up a novel All-Ireland Final against Galway.

Here are four of the main talking points from yesterday's semi-final.

Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh is a horse of a man

Few men have given such consistent and distinguished service to their county as Waterford’s Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh.

At the relatively ripe age of 34 he’s been a key figure in their march to this year’s All-Ireland Final, and was hugely influential once more in Sunday’s win over Cork.

Coming into the match Cork’s rookie wing-back Mark Coleman was looking like the outstanding candidate for this year’s Young Hurler of the Year award, but on Sunday he came off second-best to Walsh.

The Waterford veteran used all of strength and wiles to dominate Coleman under the high-ball and prevent him having the sort of influence on the contest he did during Cork’s victorious Munster campaign.

Walsh also scored that crucial goal for Waterford in the first half and was a vital ball-winner and distributor throughout the match.

This is his 15th championship campaign for the Deise and over the years he’s manned a variety of positions in both defence and attack with great effect.

Very few hurlers are as adaptable, but that’s because very few have the sort of game intelligence that Walsh has.

No-one deserves the opportunity to play in another All-Ireland Final more than the Stradbally man.

Waterford got their match-ups spot-on.

Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh’s dominance of Mark Coleman wasn’t the only key battle that Waterford won.

Bill Cooper had been a hugely influential player for Cork in the Munster Championship, but yesterday he was eclipsed by the brilliant Kevin Moran who shot four points from play.

The scoring threat that Moran provided and his ability to cover vast distances meant Cooper had to track him rather than hold his position in front of the Cork half-back line like he had been doing to such good effect this year.

So not only did Moran make a big contribution with his own scoring tally, but by dragging Cooper around the pitch he also helped create opportunities for his team-mates.

Another key match-up from a Waterford point of view was the job that Conor Gleeson did marking Cork’s chief danger-man, Conor Lehane.

Restricting the centre-forward to just two points from play was a fair achievement considering just how good Lehane has been this year.

Gleeson dirtied his bib late in the game when he was red-carded for a wild pull off the ball, and on the basis of his performance yesterday he’ll be badly missed in the Final if he’s suspended.

When Waterford and Cork have met in recent years Noel Connors has always taken up man-marking duties on Patrick Horgan, but yesterday he was detailed to mark Alan Cadogan.

That’s probably because Cadogan was Cork’s most obvious goal-scorer, and Waterford manager Derek McGrath prioritised shutting that threat down.

Connors did his job, restricting Cadogan to just two points from play.

It was very much a team performance by Waterford, but winning those four key battles was crucial.

There’s no substitute for speed

It’s clear by now that Waterford’s ploy is to make the contest as much as a physical arm-wrestle as possible, because they’re confident that when their opponent tires they have the substitutes to take full advantage.

Maurice Shanahan, Brian O’Halloran, Tommy Ryan, and Colin Dunford are all flying machines, and when they were introduced yesterday they ran through a tired Cork defence at will.

Obviously Cork losing Damien Cahalane to a red-carded meant they fatigued more quickly than they might normally have, but the legs that Waterford can spring from the bench was also a big factor in their previous wins over Kilkenny and Wexford.

Derek McGrath’s sweeper system might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s not fair to describe it as a defensive brand of hurling.

Sure, he likes to keep things tight at the back, but always with the goal of creating space at the other end of the pitch and then exploiting it with pacy runners from deep.

Jamie Barron did huge damage to Cork yesterday with his ability to do just that, as did Kevin Moran and Austin Gleeson.

Cork going a man down obviously made things easier for Waterford, but a tally of 4-19 is still serious shooting.

Fast ball into a full-forward line might be the more traditional route to goal, but Waterford are showing that fast feet can get the job done too.

Derek McGrath wears his heart on his sleeve

In an era when so many inter-county managers prefer to give little or nothing away, Derek McGrath is a refreshing antidote.

He spoke to the assembled media for 17 minutes after yesterday’s match, and everything he said came absolutely from the heart.

He has never been afraid to let his emotions show, and you get the feeling both he and his players are going to harness the excitement of playing in an All-Ireland Final rather than shy away from it.

“It is going to be brilliant,” said McGrath after the game. “The general theme in Waterford is that we have suffered, not politically, but just in general, the town and the county needed some sort of uplifting surge, in terms of pursuing the Cath Lab or things that are central to the Waterford people’s emotions.

“And this will give everyone a pep in their step ahead of it. This group pride themselves on their humility and the modesty of their approach.

“That will see us in good form ahead of the game if we can get just the balance right, everything for me hinges on one word, balance, in terms of their approach.

“We will probably get a different song, I hope, for the final, which is a bonus!”

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