Waterford manager Liam Cahill will 'have a huge plan in place' to take down Limerick, says JJ Delaney
JJ Delaney ponders if Liam Cahill can plot Limerick's downfall in the All-Ireland semi-final. Watch the full preview of Limerick vs Waterford and Kilkenny vs Cork on Inside The Game at 8:30pm Wednesday on Sky Sports Arena.
Wednesday 4 August 2021 19:28, UK
Eight months on from the 2020 All-Ireland final, Waterford will have another crack at Limerick in championship hurling.
The Déise were bested by the Treaty last December, but will be hoping to cause a major shock on Saturday evening when the two sides face off for a spot in the 2021 decider.
And manager Liam Cahill will have taken huge lessons from their last championship encounter, according to Sky Sports pundit JJ Delaney.
"Liam will have a huge plan in place. He will be watching back the All-Ireland last year. The one you lose, you will always watch back. He'll have spent January, February and March studying that tape," the Kilkenny great said on Inside The Game.
"It's very good for this Waterford team to play Limerick again, especially in knockout. He will study that within an inch of its life. He knows exactly what Limerick are going to do, but he's going to have to come up with a plan.
"If you're going to win the All-Ireland, you're going to have to beat Limerick along the way anyway. So why not Saturday?"
Waterford have enjoyed fast starts in recent weeks, as they secured eye-catching victories over Galway and Tipperary. And they will need to burst out of the blocks once more on Saturday.
"They need a huge start, and to be fair, Waterford have done that [this season]. If you take against Galway, they blitzed Galway in the first-half," Delaney noted.
"Against Tipp, they were 0-5 to 0-1 up. I know they conceded two goals. But Stephen Bennett tried to push a goal before Tipp went down and scored the first goal. Austin Gleeson was straight through and he barely hit it wide right before the second goal as well. So they could have very easily been 2-5 to 0-1 up in the first 15 minutes.
"I noticed in their warm-up against Galway. I turned to Ollie Canning and said 'they're flying'. It was a very warm day. We said, 'how will they keep this up?'
"But they hit the ground running straight away. Obviously their level of strength and conditioning is phenomenal."
Watch the full preview of Limerick vs Waterford and Kilkenny vs Cork on Inside The Game at 8:30pm Wednesday on Sky Sports Arena.
