Where once they were cozy together on the Sunday Game panel, Donal Óg Cusack has now made a clear break from his former punditry brethren.
On Sunday the Clare team he assists Davy Fitzgerald in managing takes on Waterford in the third instalment of an early season epic that has left many hurling traditionalists cold.
A drawn Allianz League final that produced no goals in 90 minutes of hurling was followed by an intense, hard-fought replay, which saw Clare take the Dr Croke Cup form their Munster rivals on a scoreline of 1-23 to 1-19.
Cusack’s former RTÉ colleagues have been lining up to take pot-shots at the structured approach adopted by Clare and Derek McGrath’s Waterford – who rely on a sweeper and look to flood the middle of the field at the expense of leaving men up front.
Before the first league final was even played former Offaly hurler and RTÉ analyst Michael Duignan was on the record as saying modern hurling is “hard to watch”.
“I’m a traditionalist and I’m not mad about the way it’s going at the moment. It’s a hard time being a forward in the modern game – great forwards having two or three on them all the time,” said Duignan.
“If both teams can score from distance, which they can, then it will look fine. I prefer the old game where you left room for the full-forward line. Too many men behind the ball makes it difficult for the good forwards in the game.”
Following the drawn game, it was the turn of Tipperary All-Ireland winning manager and Sunday Game pundit Liam Sheedy (above, left).
“The sweeper seems to be the new system right across the country. When you got 80% of the players in the middle third it’s difficult to find space. Both defences were on top, but you’d expect that due to the numerical advantage they had back there.”
Even Henry Shefflin is on record as saying he does not believe a team built around a sweeper can win an All-Ireland.
“It’ll get you so far but you just need to have that attacking style. We saw in the rugby as well, I think attack wins out.”
Ahead of Sunday’s Munster SHC semi-final rendezvous with Waterford at Semple Stadium, Cusack has hit back at the critics. While he doesn’t name individuals, it is clear he is unhappy with the “defensive hurling” narrative that is framing all talk about Clare and Waterford.
“I saw some commentary about tactics being a threat to the game,” he tells Philip Lanigan of the Irish Daily Mail.
“To be honest, I think a lot of the lazy analysis, and lazy analysts out there, are much more of a bigger threat to the game of hurling than any tactics that are being employed. I genuinely think that.”
Cusack points to the many skilful players populating both sides and highlights a moment of improvised brilliance from Patrick Curran during the much-maligned drawn final, when the Waterford man controlled the sliothar with one touch before flicking it towards a team-mate.
“I said to myself, ‘Isn’t that the most beautiful bit of skill?’ But there was no commentary about that.”
