Bogey team Waterfo
Repeat of 2016 outcome as year of man
WATERFORD WEXFORD
HISTORY REPEATED itself twelve months down the line on Sunday, albeit at a different venue as the magnificent new Páirc Uí Chaoimh witnessed Wexford’s exit from the race for All-Ireland hurling championship honours at the quarter-final stage at the hands of near neighbours Waterford.
Just like the outcome in Thurles last July, the Slaneyside support among the 31,753 crowd journeyed home with heavy hearts after the Munster men advanced to the last four after always looking the more likely team to prevail in a low-quality affair.
The margin was lessened considerably in the space of that year, from ten points down to four, but still there can be no denying the reality that Waterford were a step ahead of us and never appeared to be in any great danger.
They’re simply further down the line in terms of developing their team and their system of play, and after the natural disappointment gradually dissipates over the coming days, Wexford fans should reflect on a year of incremental progress.
Certainly, two wins over Kilkenny and a return to the top flight of the National League shouldn’t be scoffed at, and it was always going to take time to bridge that clear gap between the quarter-finals and the teams with genuine designs on actually winning the All-Ireland.
We’re not at that stage yet, a point clearly borne out on Sunday, because we don’t have the depth of talent within our squad to compete with the very best.
We need our leading players to be in top form at all times, and we also require the rest to be operating to their highest possible level. Unfortunately, it’s a rarity in team sport to have the complete 15 firing on full cylinders on any given day, and Wexford suffered from some below-par performances in this outing.
The deployment of their regular sweepers by both teams, Shaun Murphy and Tadhg de Búrca, made it very difficult to track who was actually meant to be marking who elsewhere from the off, and there was a lot of disjointed play on a day when Waterford got the job done without producing All-Ireland winning form.
Davy Fitzgerald had kept supporters guessing in terms of the starting line-up until the last minute, and there was a full Senior debut for exciting prospect Rory O’Connor who only completed his Leaving Cert. last month.
He certainly justified the faith shown in him with a clever and energetic performance around the half-forward and midfield areas, while his older brother, Jack, ended up as the team’s top scorer with 1-2 after coming off the bench with a point to prove early in the second-half.
The latter was one of four players who started in the Leinster final loss to miss out, along with Simon Donohoe, Aidan Nolan and Harry Kehoe, with Eoin Moore, Rory O’Connor, David Redmond and Podge Doran all coming into the team.
Unfortunately, the game arrived a little too soon for Damien Reck or David Dunne to feature, and both will be major additions when the 2018 campaign comes around.
Free-takers Páuric Mahony and Lee Chin swapped early points, the latter after Austin Gleeson was booked for a challenge on Shaun Murphy close to the left sideline.
Waterford captain Kevin Moran was a colossus in the middle third, and he set the tone for what was to follow when he picked off his opening point from a 1-3 haul in the fourth minute.
Eoin Moore levelled quickly though, with Rory O’Connor showing the first glimpse of his undoubted talent when he created the opening with a clever jink and handpass after a Murphy clearance.
Moran controlled a breaking ball superbly before restoring his side’s lead, and a Paul Morris effort that dropped short led to Michael Walsh making it 4-2 at the other end.
The experienced ‘Brick’ was rampant at right half-forward in the first-half, giving Willie Devereux a torrid time early on before the physically-stronger Liam Ryan was sent out in a bid to keep him quiet. Three of the five frees pointed before the break by Páuric Mahony came from fouls on the Stradbally veteran, with the second widening the gap to 5-2 in the eighth minute.
Conor McDonald had an outing to forget, apart from one well-taken point to narrow the gap to two. He was relieved of the free-taking duties on this occasion, and Jack Guiney settled into this role when he made it 5-4 in the twelfth minute after Podge Doran caught a Diarmuid O’Keeffe delivery and was impeded.
Alas, that was an all too rare occurrence as in general Wexford’s inside attacking line made no impact against a Waterford defence packed from start to finish with extra bodies.
Our opponents always seemed capable of matching a Wexford point with one of their own or even better, and this was the case near the end of the first quarter as Jake Dillon and Páuric Mahony (two frees) hit a trio on the run to leave them 8-4 clear.
Rory O’Connor was booked for a foul on Michael Walsh but Mahony had an uncharacteristic wide, one of ten from the winners while Wexford posted eight.
An advancing Liam Ryan was fouled 30 metres out from an Eoin Moore handpass and Jack Guiney tapped over the free to reduce the gap to three, only for the unmarked Darragh Fives to latch on to the puck-out and split the posts from long range.
Ryan was again impeded as Chin made it 9-6 from a midfield free in the 21st minute, and a neat move involving Shaun Murphy and Eoin Moore ended with Paul Morris registering his sole point.
Diarmuid O’Keeffe followed up with a trademark score from a short Matthew O’Hanlon pass, but once again Waterford prospered from Stephen O’Keeffe’s puck-out as Jack Guiney fouled Conor Gleeson and Páuric Mahony widened the lead to 10-8.
Efforts from Rory O’Connor and Guiney dropped short before Shane Bennett was booked for taking down the former, but Chin was off target from the free and missed another from 85 metres shortly afterwards.
In between O’Keeffe and Darragh Fives combined before Conor Gleeson darted forward to push Waterford ahead by 0-11 to 0-8, and Austin Gleeson showed a glimpse of his class when he cut out a Willie Devereux line ball and swivelled in a devastating movement to split the posts.
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