DÉISE BRUSH REBELS ASIDE
Waterford blitz Cork, but pay a high price
THE old order is officially no more. Waterford made sure of that. For the first time since 1996, none of hurling’s traditional ‘Big Three’ – Kilkenny, Tipperary and Cork – will be represented in the AllIreland senior hurling final. Instead, a slice of new order intrigue: a first meeting in the history of the association between Waterford and Galway.
‘The final that everyone wanted,’ Derek McGrath dared to suggest as Waterford go chasing a first title since 1959 while their opponents look to build a bridge to the double success of The only question is whether Waterford will be able to pick their best 15 for the final.
The lid came off a slow-burning affair in a sprawling, incidentpacked second half, Cork’s chances unravelling with the 52nd-minute dismissal of full-back Damien Cahalane on a second yellow card offence.
From a position where they were a point ahead — 0-15 to 0-11 — Waterford made the extra man pay in devastating fashion. Jamie Barron netted twice, though the man beside him – Kevin Moran – might dispute that with four points of his own from play.
And just like Joe Canning last Sunday, another of the game’s shining stars, Austin Gleeson, emerged from the periphery to stamp his class all over proceedings, playing in Barron for the goal that rocked Cork and then slaloming through the centre of defence to scoop the ball to the net in brilliantly improvised fashion.
A defensive team? A final tally of 4-19 is a serious response to those who feel the counter-attacking set-up limits Waterford’s true attacking capabilities with Darragh Fives outstanding as sweeper in Tadhg de Búrca’s absence.
If they thought the build-up to the semi-final was messy — De Búrca’s failed appeal against a straight red card for helmet interference only being decided in the early hours of Friday morning — then they have another anxious wait on the disciplinary front.
Video footage of a first-half incident involving Gleeson and Luke Meade looked damning, with the Cork player’s helmet pulled off his head. Given that De Búrca was suspended for far less, Waterford supporters will be lighting a candle that the current Hurler of the Year will be available for the final. Conor Gleeson’s straight red card with just a couple of minutes to go — a loose strike out at Patrick Horgan that was so unnecessary given his team’s emphatic lead – means that the defender too is facing a one-match suspension. Horgan also received a straight red though it wasn’t clear whether it was a case of mistaken identity with Shane Kingston getting involved in the same incident.
It would be so hard on Waterford if they have play Galway without two key players, but these two wounds look self-inflicted.
That Waterford struck for 3-6 from the 58th minute until the end with the spaces opening up in Cahalane’s absence, told exactly where the winning of the match lay. Because right up until then, Cork’s hopes of a first title since 2005 were well and truly alive, Patrick Horgan proving that he deserves mention in the same breath as Christy Ring.
Horgan’s seven first-half points, three from play, kept Cork in touch at half-time with Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh grabbing the goal to give Waterford a 1-7 to 0-9 lead.
Shane Bennett had the smarts to get his head up and play a lovely ball to back post where Brick was lurking behind Mark Coleman who endured a tough afternoon in his company. Anthony Nash spread himself to half-block the shot which just had enough on it to sneak over the line.
Waterford’s puck-out strategy to curtail Conor Lehane’s influence was working a dream. Cork’s centre-forward was a peripheral figure all through and three of Nash’s puck-outs went out over the sideline in the first half alone as Cork struggled to find a way around Darragh Fives as sweeper.
Moran dominated his midfield duel with Bill Cooper and hit three big points from play, and Cork needed Nash to make a great diving save from a Pauric Mahony shot in the 24th minute.
And with Horgan in inspired form, it continued in that closefought manner until Cahalane’s sending-off – a neck-high challenge on Conor Gleeson one foul too many after being yellowcarded for a loose pull as Austin Gleeson had possession in the first half.
Darragh Fitzgibbon carried the fight heroically for Cork, but after a three-point burst to go 0-18 to 1-13 ahead, Waterford took them apart from there until the end. Gleeson dispossessed Christopher Joyce to play in Barron and then incorporated a shimmy and dummy handpass into his own solo goal barely a minute later.
Barron’s second goal — Waterford’s fourth — deep in injury time came after he was sent scampering into space by a through ball from Colin Dunford.
Waterford were through to an All-Ireland final for only the third time since 1959 after the near miss of 1963 and the hammering of 2008 against the same opposition, Kilkenny.
Now to see just who is available to Derek McGrath when the disci1987-88.