Waterford 2-24 Tipperary 2-20
Something for everyone on Suirside. Waterford start their campaign with a little air let out of the balloon and nobody imagining they’re any the worse off for it. Tipperary go home encouraged that they’re not as far away as the incorrigible pessimism of their supporters presumes. The Munster Championship is as the Munster Championship does.
A flamethrower spell at the beginning of the second half was enough to confirm Waterford’s favouritism here. They had been edgy and careless in the opening half, handing Tipp far too much unearned possession and giving away scoring chances. But with Jamie Barron and Austin Gleeson appearing off the bench, they turned a six-point deficit in the 30th minute into a seven-point lead by the 50th. It got dicey at times down the stretch but they came through it like a good team should.
The course of an All-Ireland tilt never runs smooth, all the more so when you’re trying to close off a 63-year gap since the last one. Waterford came in here as most people’s idea of Limerick’s closest challengers, primed to mop up the also-rans. But a combination of handling errors, miscommunications and plain scruffy hurling saw them 1-12 to 0-9 behind inside the opening half-hour.
The Waterford puck-out was all a bit too clever for its own good at times, particularly in the opening 20 minutes. All the upsides of a well-worked short puck-out routine - possession, control, drawing the other crowd out of shape - they crumble to dust if your receiver keeps giving the ball to said other crowd.
Four times in that opening spell, Shaun O’Brien picked out a free man in the full-back line, only for Shane McNulty, Conor Gleeson and Tadhg De Búrca to promptly gift it to a Tipp forward. It cost them three points, which was bad enough. The fact that Tipp didn’t have to break sweat for any of them made it worse.
The same applied to the first Tipperary goal, scored by Mark Kehoe after just seven minutes. In fairness, Waterford had started like a train, whipping four points on the spin in the opening exchanges and generally looking as they had been billed. But a long puck-out from Brian Hogan wasn’t dealt with by Conor Prunty in the Waterford full-back line, with Jason Forde picking his pocket and sending Kehoe away.
The pass was neat and the finish was true but Prunty’s initial mistake had been entirely unforced. As Liam Cahill conceded afterwards, it was that kind of first half from Waterford. Something had to change.
“What changed is we discussed how we were jittery and nervous on the ball, making a lot of basic mistakes, which isn’t what we’re about. We try to nail the basics as best we can. It was really nervy and jittery for the first 35 minutes and I just don’t know where that came out of.
“I know we clawed our way back into it just before half-time but even before that I was saying in my own head, ‘I can’t wait to get these fellas in,’ just to get a bit of composure into them. In fairness to the boys, they’ve really matured. They dealt with that at half-time and they came out and played that second half really well.”
Comeback
A couple of sharp points just before the break from McNulty and the excellent Patrick Curran made the job that bit more manageable, sending the teams in with Tipp 1-12 to 0-11 ahead. It had been a fine first half from Colm Bonnar’s side, who frequently seemed to get the sharper end of referee Johnny Murphy’s stick, as if the task wasn’t tough enough. Stellar displays by their half-back line - with Seamus Kennedy especially eye-catching - gave them the upper hand and Noel McGrath had three from play on the board before the break.
But Waterford haven’t come all this way for the giggle. They came out and delivered a quarter-hour of heavy metal hurling that left Tipp’s ears ringing. The four-point margin was wiped out inside two minutes, with a free from Stephen Bennett, a point from Gleeson and their first goal of the day from Mikey Kiely. All of Tipp’s diligence, skill and heft in the first half was brushed aside in 118 seconds of hurling. Waterford were never behind again.
By the time Dessie Hutchinson buried their second goal on 46 minutes, they were rampant. Kiely was involved again, coming out to take a long ball from Jack Fagan and turning inside to find Hutchinson’s clever movement had created an acre of space. The Waterford dangerman didn’t need to be asked twice. A couple more Bennett frees pushed them 2-18 to 1-14 ahead with 20 minutes to go.
Tipp plugged on, all the same. Kehoe was willing throughout and got rewarded for his efforts with a second goal on 58 minutes. Dan McCormack came off the bench to whip two defiant points from centrefield and Conor Stakelum nailed a fine score with his first touch to bring the margin down to two with nine minutes left.
But Waterford had the heavy lifting done at the stage and weren’t of a mind to let the effort be wasted. Gleeson was terrific in the endgame, spearing a sideline ball through the posts from 50 metres and setting up McNulty for the sealing score.
“I suppose as the saying goes, every sinner has a future,” chuckled Cahill afterwards when asked about Gleeson’s contribution.
Not a bad nutshell for Waterford’s day in general.
Waterford: Shaun O’Brien; Conor Gleeson, Conor Prunty, Shane McNulty (0-2); Jack Fagan, Tadhg De Búrca, Cathrach Daly; Darragh Lyons, Calum Lyons (0-1); Neil Montgomery, Jack Prendergast (0-1), Patrick Curran (0-4); Dessie Hutchinson (1-3), Stephen Bennett (0-10, 0-10 frees), Mikey Kiely (1-0).
Subs: Austin Gleeson (0-2, 0-1 sideline) for Montgomery (half-time), Jamie Barron (0-1) for C Daly (half-time), Shane Bennett for Kiely (60 mins), Iarlaith Daly for Fagan (63 mins), Peter Hogan for C Lyons (67 mins).
Tipperary: Brian Hogan (0-1, 0-1 free); Cathal Barrett, James Quigley, Craig Morgan; Dillon Quirke, Ronan Maher, Seamus Kennedy; Alan Flynn, Barry Heffernan (0-1); Conor Bowe (0-1), Noel McGrath (0-6, 0-2 frees), Michael Breen (0-2); Jason Forde (0-4, 0-4 frees), Mark Kehoe (2-0), Jake Morris (0-2).
Subs: Robert Byrne for Kennedy (blood, 35-38 mins), Patrick Maher for Bowe (half-time), Dan McCormack (0-2) for Flynn (45 mins), Conor Stakelum (0-1) for Heffernan (52 mins), Ger Browne for Forde (60 mins), John McGrath for Breen (67) mins.
Referee: Johnny Murphy (Limerick)
