Gleeson finds form but it’s Bennett’s day
ANY other day, Austin Gleeson would have been a good pick for man of the match. While Stephen Bennett took that honour with a flawless display of shooting – 16 points from 16 shots, including two cracking points from play to go with 14 frees into a tricky breeze – the 2016 Hurler of the Year announced himself for 2019.
Wearing number seven, he thrived in a loose role at wing-forward where the bulk of his five points from play were collector’s items. The first came from a move he started himself, rejoining the play to take a pass on the loop and fire over with just three minutes gone.
The second was arguably the pick of the bunch, losing his marker Jack Browne in a game of tag around the goalmouth before tearing out to take Jamie Barron’s pass in full flight in front of the main stand at Walsh Park.
He slung the ball over his shoulder and over the bar. That was his first-half scoring contribution. Trailing 1-10 to 0-11 at the break, Waterford cut loose with the strong breeze in their favour in the second half, routing Clare to the tune of 020 to 0-4.
In doing so, they broke hurling’s traditional glass ceiling of 30 points in a single game with some champagne hurling.
Gleeson added three more himself, a routine strike in the 46th minute as his team hit nine points to just a single Peter Duggan sideline in reply to take complete control. His fourth involved an overhead flick from Bennett and his fifth came after a storming solo run that started inside his own 45.
And yet one of the moments that drew an audible murmur of appreciation was when he cut a sideline ball the width of the field into the path of the onrushing Kevin Moran. Waterford hitting 31 points was just one reason he had a smile on his face afterwards. ‘Especially in Walsh Park. We haven’t had the best track record against teams.
‘It was good to play here two weeks in a row and get two wins. Whether Clare showed their hand for a Munster Championship first round, it’s hard to know. They are going to come down here and want to avenge that so we’re not going to get carried away.
‘We know we’ve a semi-final against Galway next weekend, so just move on. You have to keep winning your games, no matter who you’re playing or where you’re playing. Winning games gives you confidence. You see it there with 10 minutes to go we started to zip it around.
‘We want to keep winning and winning. We want to win next weekend. We’re going to give it our all. At the end of the day there is a League final there. It’s a national title.’
Saturday’s results mean that Waterford face Galway in one semi-final – a rematch of the round five tie at Walsh Park that was won by a Shane Bennett goal – while Limerick face a Dublin team flying high after shocking Tipperary at Thurles, a win that bridges a gap back to 1946.
Gleeson was only too happy to signpost the contribution of Bennett when a strong wind blowing into the corner should have made scoring difficult.
‘I’m the same age as him. I’ve been playing with him since I’ve been 13, 14. You could see it when we won the minor and Under-21, he was putting up scores. Now he’s just starting to play with confidence. Stephen is a massive confidence player. If he stays going the way he is going, I personally would hate to mark him. His movement, his speed, his strength is actually scary. We just want him to keep going.’ There’s not showing your hand ahead of a first round Munster round robin match at the same venue – and then there’s just a miserable day at the office.
It’s a bit early to judge the ramifications of this defeat in terms of the summer but the bare bones didn’t make for pretty reading, Clare ending the game with 13 players on the field. Joint manager Donal Moloney revealed they would be appealing the straight red issued by referee Seán Cleere to centre-back Conor Cleary in the 63rd minute while the second yellow that saw Peter Duggan walk looked innocuous.
If the second half drubbing was damning, Clare were left with some worrying injuries over key players, the midfield pairing of Colm Galvin and Shane Golden both forced off.
‘John Conlon is a couple of weeks away from coming back. Colm Galvin, we’re worried about a broken bone in his hand, and Shane has that hamstring strain.’
Clare have until May 12 to regroup before returning to Walsh Park.