Kilkenny v Waterford midfield battle will be key
Kevin Moran
By John Harrington
The middle-third of Croke Park won’t be for the faint-hearted on Sunday when Kilkenny and Waterford do battle in the All-Ireland Hurling Semi-Final.
The key to Waterford’s success in the past couple of years has been the way they’ve flooded this area with bodies and harried and hassled the heart out of opponents.
If you can’t match them for work-rate and sheer bloody-mindedness in the middle third, then it’s only a matter of time before they grind you down.
Kilkenny, though, will meet them head on and bid to beat them at their own game.
They have arguably the two most powerful midfield warriors in the country in the shape of Michael Fennelly and Conor Fogarty, and they’ll relish the battle.
Fennelly’s ability to train has been severely compromised in recent years by a chronic back-injury, but he has somehow remained the same unstoppable force in a Kilkenny jersey that he has always been.
“He’s a very good hurler,” says his Kilkenny team-mate Padraig Walsh. “Midfield has gone very competitive these days, all the teams have very strong midfields. The likes Michael Breen is really standing up and making a name for himself this year, he’s very strong and fast and mobile and I think that’s what you need to be at midfield.
“There seems to be great battles at midfield in all the matches this year. It’s becoming a very important place again. There were a few years there where midfield was kind of getting by-passed at the time of the light balls but again this year it has become very important and it’s very important for teams to get on top in that area.”
Conor Fogarty ruled out for up to six weeks
It’s a testament to how much Conor Fogarty has improved as a player year on year that he’s arguably now eclipsed Fennelly in terms of his importance to this Kilkenny team. He was man of the match in the Leinster Final over Galway when his incredible work-rate both in defence and attack played a huge part in Kilkenny’s victory.
“He’s serious, but he’s doing that for years,” says Walsh. “Everybody knows the workrate that he had and he really has blossomed since going out to midfield.
“He’s a great help for the forwards, he really does the dirty work and he’s very unselfish as well. He is well able to pick off a few scores as well. He’s a serious hurler and I like having him in front of me anyway because he’s a great lad just to be there for you and give you a hand when you need it.”
Fogarty really made a name for himself in 2014 as a deep-lying midfielder, a sweeper almost, who did Trojan work in defence. He’s a more complete player now though and is just as likely to have an impact on the game in an attacking sense like he did in the Leinster Final when he hit three points.
“He seems to have but he was doing that last year as well in training and stuff,” says Walsh. “This year when the chances pop up for him he is taking them. He really is flying it this year. I’m delighted for him because he’s worked so hard on his game.”
It’s going to be a hell of a battle when Fogarty and Fennelly go toe to toe with Waterford’s Kevin Moran and Jamie Barron. If either midfield partnership gains a significant advantage over the other, it will probably decide the winning and losing of the match.
