OH BROTH ER!
Shane and Stephen back in tandem for free-scoring Déise outfit
Hip injuries didn’t help Stephen’s early career Shane has hit 3-4 in his four League games this season 3 Years since Waterford’s Shane Bennett won an Under 21 All-Ireland title
IT’S tempting to imagine Stephen and Shane Bennett in full Blues Brothers mode, one picking up the phone to the other some time late last summer and declaring, ‘We’re putting the band back together.’
When Waterford romped to the All-Ireland Under-21 title in 2016, the pair worked in sweet harmony up front. Like a hurling rhythm section, they helped set the tempo and timing and were well disposed to a dramatic flourish.
With 10 minutes to go and Galway already suffering a pummelling, the pair combined for Waterford’s fourth goal in devastating fashion. Stephen chased a ball out near the end corner in front of the New Stand at Semple Stadium and turned to play an inviting ball across the goal. It was as if he instinctively knew younger brother Shane would be racing in to slide and flick the sliotar to the net.
Earlier, a sweet reverse handpass from Patrick Curran played in Stephen to blast to the net and the same player caught an Austin Gleeson sideline to grab his second — Waterford’s fifth — before the finish.
Rewind to the Munster final and while Gleeson won the Man of the Match award by announcing himself as a future Hurler of the Year with a dizzying performance from centre-back, it was Stephen who went viral with his part in a stunning goal where he conjured up an overhead pass off his stick to put through Peter Hogan.
Combined with the vision and natural finishing of Patrick Curran, the common perception was that in the Bennett brothers and Curran in particular, here was a triumvirate to build the future around, at least in an attacking sense.
For various reasons, it just never happened on Derek McGrath’s watch at senior level. The effects of two double hip injuries didn’t help Stephen’s ascension, and by the time older brother Kieran had come along to make the cut for the 2017 All-Ireland senior final against Galway, Shane was becoming frustrated in a workhorse role in an outnumbered inside line, the odds constantly against him to the extent that he opted out in 2018.
With Kieran deciding to take a year out after finishing his college exams, the pair went to America for the summer and hurled away with Tipperary Boston as Waterford failed to make it past the Munster round-robin.
This spring? It’s just like old times with Stephen and Shane shooting the lights out on a Waterford side that has taken the handbrake off under new manager Páraic Fanning. Waterford’s goal rate over the group stage of the league was a stand-out feature, the only team across Division 1 to not only hit double digits but find the net 14 times. In fact, only Dublin and Clare even managed half of that with seven goals.
Division 1B or not, compare that to Galway who only found the net five times, so it can’t be put down to the quality of the opposition. And their 14-98 was just two shy of the 100-point mark that Galway hit, so they have been scoring every which way.
Being entrusted with free-taking duties as well has helped put Stephen top of the Division 1 scoring list. His 3-53 (1-42 from placed balls) means he is averaging a remarkable 12.4 points per game. Serious going.
Joint second are Cork’s Patrick Horgan with 1-46 and Carlow’s Martin Kavanagh with 0-49. Shane, for his part, has 3-4 in the four games he played, not featuring in round two against Laois.
At Walsh Park last weekend as Clare prepare to visit the same venue for this afternoon’s League quarter-final, the brothers were up to their old tricks, plus some new ones. Stephen hit 0-10 (0-8 frees) while two moments of brilliant invention came via Shane.