Stephen Bennett hopes Waterford strike the right balance against Cork

Michael Bolton

If Waterford are to make it out of the Munster championship, a huge part of it will be down to Stephen Bennett.

After scoring 3-12 in the defeat to Clare, the Waterford forward was crucial to their comeback against All-Ireland champions Tipperary as he scored 1-10.

Despite his sharp shooting, Waterford find themselves in a must-win game against Cork this weekend.

Arguably the form county in the country, a win for Cork will likely secure their final place, as Waterford aim to turn positive displays into wins, with Bennett looking back on their comeback against Tipperary.

"We'd be really disappointed to be going 11 points down. It wasn't like an 11-point hammering. I think we had 50 shots. With 40 shots from play, we scored 18, you know, we had 22 missed shots, and they had six.

"At this level, you can't afford that. So, I suppose the efficiency wasn't good. You'd see with Limerick over the last weekend, their shooting was really good. I think Clare had more shots in Limerick in the match. But you really need to be hitting 70 per cent of your shots.

"Simple mistakes, I suppose, really. You know, giving away cheap scores at this level, you just can't do it. You get punished like little bad passes or missed pickups or anything really. It is just about bringing more than we have been, and cutting out the simple mistakes."

After relegation from Division 1A, Waterford have come out firing in the Munster championship, with Barrett's scoring an example of Waterford's impressive scoring.

However, despite Waterford scoring 33 points in both their games against Clare and Tipperary, it was somehow not enough for victory.

Having been part of several Munster championships where Waterford have failed to get past the round robin, the scores needed to win games are another example for Bennett of how the standard is rising.

“The last couple of years, you might lose by two or three points, and you might score 25 points. You have to score 30 points these days. In the first two games, we scored 33, but still didn’t win.

"How attacking do you go? You still need a defence as well. It is hard to get the balance right. Do you try to keep it tight, or do you go to outscore them? It is hard, but an exciting game. I would say they are brilliant to watch.

"Over the league, we probably weren’t happy with the shots we were getting off and what we were scoring. You need to be creating the chances and getting the shots off to beat the teams.

"Against Tipp last week, we had 22 missed shots. You can’t win games with that. We did well to come back, but we shouldn’t have been in that position either. The teams that are winning are getting the scores.

"Against Clare, it was the same. We had two chances at the end to draw the game, but we didn’t take them."

It is a busy time in the Waterford man's life, having recently welcomed his first child.

A teacher in a primary school in Cork, where a communion will be the first priority this weekend, as the rivalry with Cork is never far away.

"We had a baby girl a few weeks ago, our first child, so it's been a mad enough time in fairness. I was back last week, and the kids are delighted.

"When you're going into them, all they want to do is talk about Niall O'Leary, that's his parish, or talk about the Cork hurlers. Sure, they love it. They were writing notes to me yesterday, telling me I'm nearly as good as Alan Connolly and this kind of stuff. Sure, it's brilliant.

"If you're coming out of Munster, you've a right chance of winning the All-Ireland, you've seen that. But, yeah, I suppose Monday morning I'd rather be beating Cork because I could go in with a smile on my face. If not, sure I'd probably deserve a slagging, so it's all good."