Cork capitalise as tired Waterford hit wall
THE story of two summers were neatly encapsulated in this entertaining match. Cork stuttered through much of the game, eventually discovering some fluency in the final 10 minutes, which was enough to book their place in a Munster final.
Waterford battled gamely, but were undone by bad luck and fatigue.
The upshot is that the Rebels will return to Thurles in a fortnight’s time for a Munster final against Clare — Derek McGrath and his players head home for a long period of reflection.
The manager is going to think about his future in the coming weeks, but the memory of how they fought here might convince him to give it one more year.
Waterford’s work-rate was immense, as if the players wanted to put on a tribute act for Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh, who became the most capped Championship hurler of all-time. But playing their fourth game in 21 days, they ran out of legs. And yet again, bad luck blighted their team with four injury-enforced substitutes.
Seamus Harnedy’s 66th minute goal, created by the quick-thinking of Pat Horgan, re-energised the Rebels. But to Waterford’s eternal credit, they died on their shields. They responded to that hammer-blow with a Pauric Mahony point. But in the seven minutes of additional time, they just had nothing left to give.
Even if Waterford fatigue played a part, Rebel boss John Meyler was right to be proud of his players’ resilience. Having trailed by a point in the 71st minute, they scored the last four points, including a couple of corkers from Christopher Joyce and Pat Horgan to seal it. Job done — just about.
‘That’s character coming out of the lads,’ Meyler said.
‘In all of our matches we have shown that towards the end. Whether we have been up or down, we have shown tremendous character and resilience. And that came through in the final 10 minutes. Horgan’s point. Seamus Harnedy’s goal. Waterford had a chance in the 75th minute and we blocked it down.’
Harnedy’s goal in the 66th minute gave Cork fresh hope.
His bullet of a shot, after being released by Horgan, gave Ian O’Regan no chance. It was the first time the Rebels, who were inspired by the outstanding Bill Cooper in the second-half, had held the lead since the first minute. But Waterford are a resilient bunch. Pauric Mahony drew them level straight after the goal. However, an extra seven minutes was too much for their legs.
And this defeat, like the entire Championship, has been cruel on Waterford and their manager Derek McGrath. With nothing to play for but pride, there was a sense that perhaps last year’s All-Ireland finalists would find it hard to motivate themselves. Those who were thinking must never have seen this Waterford side play. They were playing for their manager — and for their legendary warrior, Brick Walsh, on his 74th Championship outing.
And they were keen to uphold the integrity of this competition. They certainly did that. For the fourth weekend in a row, Waterford were struck with rotten luck with injuries. Noel Connors had to leave the field in the 24th minute, replaced by Championship debutant Seamus Keating, who equipped himself well in the cauldron. Stephen Bennett only lasted a few minutes before succumbing to a knee injury.
They battled through it all, almost as if they were all playing with the warrior spirit of Brick. He remained on the field for a long time after most of the 14,737 in Semple Stadium had cleared off. Perhaps, savouring his last moments as a Waterford player.
If he doesn’t come back, it is fitting that his final act was to set up the electric Tommy Ryan for his goal. It was a lovely team move that created the 55th-minute score. Jamie Barron showed exceptional skill to engineer a way out of a bottle-neck on the wing. He combined with Colin Dunford who found Brick with a sweet hand-pass.
The goal might have been on for Brick on his special day, but he recognised Ryan was in a better position and passed it off to him.
At that stage, Cork were dazed. They had been off the pace for much of the game. The outstanding Cooper, who roared into the game in the second-half, led the charge for them. He scored three points in the second-half, Mark
Coleman got two, one a sweetlystruck sideline cut. Others were misfiring — Cork hit 17 wides.
There is plenty of room for improvement, as Meyler admitted. ‘We need to put a full 70 minutes together. We are not building, we are patchy. There are little mistakes, options we are not taking at the right time.’
Tom Devine’s physical presence shook the Cork defence up and had referee John Keenan being a bit stricter, Damien Cahalane could have been called for a few first-half fouls on Tommy Ryan. Little things like that have gone against Waterford all year, though.
They still had a handsome halftime lead, 0-15 to 0-11, and had Ryan found the net early in the second-half after being released by a lovely pass by Brick, things might have been different.
Instead, the inspirational Cooper drove Cork forward. Coleman, Horgan and Harnedy stood up at different times. Cork inched over the line, but they will need to find serious improvement if they are to hold onto their Munster crown.
CORK: A Nash; S O’Donoghue (C O’Sullivan 45), D Cahalane, C Spillane; C Joyce, E Cadogan, M Coleman; D Fitzgibbon, B Cooper; L Meade, C Lehane, D Kearney; S Kingston, S Harendy, P Horgan
Scorers: S Harnedy 1-3; P Horgan (2f, 1
‘65) 0-5; B Cooper, C Lehane 0-3; S Kingston, D Kearney, M Coleman (1 s/l cut) 0-2; D Fitzgibbon, C Joyce 0-1. Yellow cards: C Lehane (70+3), C Joyce (70+5) Wides: (8) 17
WATERFORD: I O’Regan; I Kenny, C Gleeson, N Connors (S Keating 24); M Walsh(S Bennett 55 (M Shanahan 60), A Gleeson, Philip Mahony; J Barron, K Moran, T Devine, Pauric Mahony, C Dunford; J Dillon (DJ Foran 40); B O’Halloran(S Roche 45), T Ryan
Scorers: Pauric Mahony (4f, 1 ‘65) 0-7; T Ryan 1-3; B O’Halloran, J Dillon 0-2; M Shanahan, DJ Foran, A Gleeson, J Barron, K Moran, T Devine 0-1. Wides: (4) 7
Referee: J Keenan (Wicklow).