LUKE Meade is the unsung hero of the Cork forward line.

The Newcestown native only landed one point from the Rebels’ tally of 2-30 against Waterford on Saturday night but his work-rate, support play and clever passing mean he’s a vital clog up front.

In Christy O’Connor’s statistical breakdown of the game at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Tuesday's Echo, he details why Meade is keeping the likes of Shane Kingston and Conor Lehane on the bench.

“Individually, Cork also had some impressive performances against Waterford,” explains O’Connor.

“Cork had six players with 14 or more possessions, while Waterford only had one player – Tadgh de Burca – with those numbers.

“Daniel Kearney and the excellent Mark Coleman had the most possessions, with 18 each. Darragh Fitzgibbon had a fine game when scoring three points from 15 possessions, while Luke Meade was also impressive from 14 possessions; Meade won six puck-outs, scored one point and had two assists.”

Cork dominated in the key areas against Waterford but, despite Clare’s awful display last Sunday, they will find it much tougher in Ennis next weekend.

“Over the 70 plus minutes, Cork had 21 more shots at the target than Waterford (46-25). Cork led in all the key categories – scoring chances, puck-outs, hooks-blocks-tackles, turnovers.

“Cork won the puck-out statistic 28-24 but turned over possession on a host of those short Waterford puck-outs.

“There was one stage in the second half when Cork turned over three of Billy Nolan’s short restarts within a handful of minutes.”