GAELIC GAMES: For a fleeting moment during yesterday's Munster hurling semi-final it seemed the championship would be handed its first shock. Waterford dug deep into their reservoir of hurlers and out came Dan Shanahan. The man who supplied so many goals in 2004 saved his best for now.
With Waterford chipping away at the Tipperary lead, Shanahan turned the rearguard before galloping 30 yards toward goal and unleashing a thunderbolt past Brendan Cummins. With 15 minutes to play Waterford were in Tipperary's slipstream.
Justin McCarthy marched onto the field bellowing instructions. Páirc Uí Chaoimh was a cauldron of sound. Screams of anguish. Screams of hope.
Yesterday, however, was never going to belong to Waterford. It didn't even belong to Tipperary. It was Eoin Kelly's day by the River Lee. Last month he made headlines for shooting 14 points in downing Limerick at Semple Stadium. His rampage across Munster continued here with an even bigger tally, 2-9.
Within three minutes of Shanahan's strike Tipperary did a fine impression of All-Ireland champions Cork by delivering a devastating counter-punching combination. Lar Corbett fielded possession in his stride before shooting Tipperary's second goal. Kelly then hit a 65. John O'Brien gathered the puck-out to make it 3-11 to 1-10. Goodnight and good luck.
By the full-time whistle, Babs Keating had already refocused on Cork as a repeat of last years Munster final looms: "We have a lot of work to do over the next three weeks, in my opinion. I was genuinely nervous there but thankfully Lar Corbett scored to put a bit of space between us again."
There should of course have been two Eoin Kellys on the pitch yesterday. Unfortunately, one of them swiped across an Offaly man in the national league and is serving a hefty ban. Being honest, even if the Waterford version of Eoin Kelly had been present the day would still have belonged to his namesake.
Babs admits he gets selfish when it comes to Kelly: "I thought maybe he could have sneaked a goal there in the first half that might have made the difference - but I'm greedy with Eoin."
Leinster football also went according to plan yesterday. While the "open" side of the draw descends into farce with Kildare's decision to pursue due process on the alleged use of a sixth substitute by Offaly, Dublin and Laois charted relatively unfussy passages to a Leinster semi-final clash on June 25th.
Some 30,000 people were split evenly enough between Portlaoise and Longford to view the early-summer fare.
Dublin relied upon eight points from their one-time hurling jewel, Conal Keaney, to steer them past Longford. A goal from the otherwise anonymous Mark Vaughan also proved crucial as a late rush of scores from the hosts unnerved the 10,000-odd city folk present. It finished 1-12 to 0-13.
Laois had a less stressful afternoon. Donie Brennan and Beano McDonald featuring prominently in a 1-17 to 1-9 defeat of Carlow, whose manager, Liam Hayes, must now prepare for a visit from Meath - the county with which he made his name - in the qualifiers.
"Their penalty was a real killer, and looked a very strange decision to me," said Hayes of the 14th-minute award by referee John Geaney - availed of by Fergal Byron. "I don't want to be a bad loser for one second, but I thought the referee was a disaster from start to finish. We were getting players booked like flies, including our entire full-back line. We dug our own grave but the referee filled it in very quickly.
"But we're not leaving with our heads down. We took a good slap on the jaw today, but maybe that will make us realise a few things about ourselves. Our ambition is still to get back to Croke Park this year, and that ambition is still alive."
Elsewhere, an experimental Donegal commanded the respect of the Ulster championship by beating Down 1-12 to 1-11 in Ballybofey. Had they not kicked 10 wides it might have been a comfortable ride. It earns them a tilt at Derry in a fortnight. "Full credit to the players of Donegal," said the new manager, Brian McIver. "They are a very young side but then we can call on the experience of Adrian Sweeney and Damien Diver. Donegal was taking a serious amount of stick in the media, which was very much undeserved, and today they got their just rewards."
