Waterford facing an uphill battle after yesterday's lethargic effort against Clare, writes Nicky Englishhurling analyst

I DIDN'T expect Clare to score as much as they did but I was surprised how poor Waterford were. They should have had enough players even allowing for the injuries to be at least competitive.

I can't see any way that they're going to turn this around. I would question their attitude because they didn't work hard enough and most players seemed to be just waiting for things to happen. Those problems won't clear up in six weeks. There was a lethargy or laziness about them and I don't see them turning it around.

Clare on the other hand were well organised as would have been expected of Mike McNamara who's been involved for 20 years with Clare teams. They knew what they were getting with him: someone who at the very least would turn out teams with a high work rate. But it's been a long time since Clare scored 2-26 - and they had the chances to score another two goals.

Clare showed from the first half a good work ethic. I expected them to be fit but they had a very clear edge. They ground Waterford down in the first half and one by one nearly all of their players picked up the slack.

Diarmuid McMahon did a lot of work in the first half and then drifted off while Tony Griffin stepped forward. You could see Brian Phelan and Michael Walsh and Dave Bennett looking at each other wondering who was supposed to be picking up who.

After an indifferent start Conor Plunkett had Dan Shanahan in his pocket until Dan was moved. He even cut out one of those trademark high balls across the square. Mark Flaherty had a very impressive debut and could have had another goal.

The intensity of Clare's work put them into a great position. They knew it leaving the field at half-time, going off quickly and all together to big applause whereas Waterford were strung out, straggling off.

I've always been a believer that League form matters.

Waterford had no form in the League and you can't just flick a switch when the sun comes out. They felt the absence of Ken McGrath and Eoin Murphy in defence and Eoin Kelly who's so versatile but the rest of the players didn't show enough to suggest that the return of the injured contingent is going to make all that much difference.

Clare on the other hand had showed little flashes during the League. Tipperary won the competition and rated Clare one of the toughest teams they played.

After the play-off in the League against Tipp, Dan Shanahan said that he had work to do but then he got an injury and obviously wasn't able to do that work.

Even though he is the reigning Hurler of the Year he could have been taken off even earlier and it was a big boost to Clare to see him trudging off.

There was a lethargy or laziness about Waterford.

Clare's very good first goal came from Pat Donnellan delivering the ball under no pressure from Shanahan.

Waterford were very subdued and only worked in bursts.

Apart from John Mullane, whose eight points from play I thought made him man of the match, they had no one up front who looked capable of the sort of scoring they needed.

For most of the match the defence was under pressure, particularly the full-back line and Brian Phelan was struggling on Diarmuid McMahon.

They hadn't great options. Maybe Kevin Moran could have switched to wing back and Jack Kennedy dropped back to the corner and Declan Prendergast to full back. Other than Clinton Hennessy, none of the backs even held their own.

There's also a sameness about them. When they needed players off the bench they didn't have them. David Bennett - who did well from frees - got no game time last year and neither did Tom Feeney who came on in the second half. That's not showing much progress.

Any talk of them being All-Ireland contenders is hard to understand. They've no full back and a number of other problems that are worse than last year.

The qualifiers have also totally changed, which makes progress more difficult and could mean having to face Cork or Tipp before the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

You can see how much Clare have improved since last year but it's still going to be difficult for them to add silverware. They have a great shot at reaching a Munster final because whereas Limerick would have been expected to be favourites if Clare won yesterday, I think the performance was impressive enough to change those perceptions and Limerick should be worried.