Waterford will once more look to Shane Briggs for leadership this Saturday.
However, having a home game is a plus for Waterford, having had to travel for so many of the qualifier games in recent years.
While the game against the Faithful will be seen by some as a daunting task, it’s worth nothing that while Offaly will be strong, but they’re as strong as they were in the past.
Both sides go into Saturday’s game having suffered first round defeats. Pat Flanagan’s charges won the Division Four league final back in late April beating Longford 4-16 to 1-12 at Croke Park but when the two sides met in the Championship in May, Longford ran out 0-16 to 0-13 winners.
Offaly will, despite being hot favourites, probably view this game as a potential banana skin game given that few if any football observers will be expecting anything from Waterford in the wake of their 1-24 to 0-5 trimming in Thurles.
Waterford, in the eyes of many, will have their chances of securing a win written off well before the ball is even thrown in.
But it’s worth remembering that just two years ago, Waterford came into a qualifier away to Galway on the back of a 4-21 to 1-4 defeat to Kerry in Killarney. And, once more, the men in white and blue were written off.
Despite this, heading into the final few minutes of that game in Salthill, arguably our finest senior Championship performance since the defeat of Kerry in 1957, Waterford, inspired by Paul Whyte, deservedly led. However, the team then managed by Niall Carew succumbed to the late pressure exerted by the hosts to lose by 1-12 to 0-14.
Offaly, just like Waterford, have often displayed questionable appetite for the qualifiers so they will also feel that they’ll have something to prove when they visit Fraher Field.
With three-quarters of an hour played in O’Connor Park in their Leinster Championship game against Longford, they led by 0-12 to 0-5 but registered just one further point in the last 25 minutes, while conceding 11.
The visitors to Fraher Field on Sunday will bring with them a strong panel and are unlikely to show many changes to the side that lost to Longford.
That should mean a formidable full-forward line of Bernard Allen, Nigel Dunne and William Mulhall for Waterford to deal with.
Further out the field, Eoin Carroll, Niall McNamee and Anton Sullivan are also able to cause teams plenty of problems while nearer to their own goal, Brian Darby, Daithi Brady, Paul McConway, Niall Darby, Johnny Moloney, Joseph O’Connor, Graham Guilfoyle and Niall Smith as well as regular net minder Alan Mulhall are likely to features.
While many will be writing off the chances of Waterford ahead of this game, including many of our own, I for one have no doubt that the Deisemen will dig deep and produce something unexpected. They’re more than capable of winning on Saturday.
The players to do so are there in the likes of Shane Briggs, Thomas and Maurice O’Gorman, Tadhg Ó hÚallachain, Tommy Prendergast, Liam Ó Lonáin, Paul Whyte and Cillian O’Keeffe, to name but a few.
Heading into the game, all the pressure will be on Offaly to win. Nothing is expected of Waterford apart maybe from nothing more than an improved performance in the wake of that Tipp defeat.
Will Waterford serve up a better performance? I feel they will. Will Waterford win on Saturday and advance to the next phase of the competition?
The bookies have tipped Offaly for the win, and customarily it’s hard to go against what they tell us, but bear in mind what I stated previously.
Waterford are capable of winning at Fraher Field on Saturday afternoon. Expect the unexpected.
