Waterford 2-17 Cork 0-20:Once again Waterford and Cork took the Croke Park crowd to the edge of their seats in another spellbinding drama in yesterday's Guinness All-Ireland quarter-final
Despite trailing for much of the first three quarters it was the Munster champions who did what they had to do, including negotiating a nervy final 10 minutes to reach next week's penultimate stage against Limerick, the side they beat in the provincial final.
As befitted modern hurling's most frequent and reliable fixture, there was much that was, if not predictable, recognisable about the sparkling exchanges.
The tightness of the match both on the field and on the scoreboard was unsurprising given the counties' habit of being as easily separated as continental plates.
After much criticism in its early years it's also worth mentioning the pitch at Croke Park, which despite hosting its sixth match in two days and on a day when the rain punished everyone for the recent dry spell, held up exceptionally well apart from an unusually large bald spot in the Canal End goalmouth.
When the vital incisions had to be made, it was the familiar figure of Dan Shanahan that supplied the assassin's blade. Tributes to his recreation as a goalscoring machine have been in wide circulation in the past three years but he has surpassed himself this season.
Yesterday saw his seventh and eighth goals of the championship. His conversion rate was exceptional, as he didn't see a great deal of possession and the match passed him by for periods. But his second goal was the hinge score of the match.
That came in the 57th minute at a point when Waterford had taken the lead for only the third time in the match - the sides having been level on 10 occasions up until then. Having slipped the defence Shanahan moved on to Stephen Molumphy's long ball and pulled a ground shot past Donal Cusack with lethal precision.
From then on Cork were chasing and although they did so with customary intent - trying to engineer a path through the increasingly loose and anarchic play and throwing Diarmuid O'Sullivan up front - the match had turned against them.
The final 10 minutes of play were greatly extended by eight minutes of injury time, mostly taken up by an injury to Neil Ronan, who had to be stretchered off - though he was unconscious for a few minutes he recovered and returned home with the team.
It was a frustrating outcome for Gerald McCarthy's team, which for the first half looked to have made the necessary improvement from the previous week's drawn encounter. They were that bit sharper and more finely tuned and attacked with greater economy, recording just one wide in the first half and stretching their opponents.
They started strongly and but for the intervention of Clinton Hennessy in the Waterford goal could have had goals from Tom Kenny and Timmy McCarthy in the opening five minutes.
Thereafter it was the Munster champions who exhibited the greater goal menace, a threat that was ultimately realised.
As has become the norm for the teams, the play in the first quarter flowed from one end to the other and was free-scoring - the first dozen scores came from 12 different players - but Cork looked slicker.
Kieran Murphy got two points, Ben O'Connor was steady and accurate, the centrefield of Tom Kenny and Jerry O'Connor glided through the middle and Timmy McCarthy was giving Waterford's Ken McGrath unexpected problems on the 40.
There was a hesitancy about Waterford's attack and a failure to take chances. Cork's half backs were steady and if Seán Ó hAilpín wasn't as dominant as in the drawn match, he covered well and drove forward purposefully.
Shanahan's first goal tilted the match back toward his team.
Molumphy, who confirmed his emergence as a major contributor to the team with two assists for the goals, one point and a mountain of hard work, dug out the possession and popped it across to Shanahan. Having come into the middle, the big Lismore forward picked his spot, rifling the ball to the top left corner, for a 1-5 to 0-7 lead.
In the drawn match Waterford had done a lot of hurling to be only level at the break; yesterday it was Cork who had reason to be dissatisfied with a scoreboard that showed them only a point ahead, 0-11 to 1-7, despite their superiority.
It must have been in everyone's mind that Waterford would need to hit the pedals at some stage in the second half if they were to put their opponents under pressure and take the initiative.
That improvement did come. Michael Walsh put in a terrific second half, winning a lot of loose ball in deep positions and punching forward for two valuable points. The half backs tightened up considerably and made attacking position far harder for Cork to secure.
By the finale Tony Browne and Brian Phelan nailed down the flanks while Ken McGrath's powerful clearances got the team on to the front foot and one big catch chasing back was inspirational.
Eoin Kelly also got through a lot of work in his own half of the field and the arrival of Eoin McGrath as a second-half replacement perked up the attack. If at times he spilled possession needlessly he also scored two points and energised the team.
Shanahan's second goal put four between the teams and although Ben O'Connor sniped away at the margin Cork couldn't reduce it beyond three.
The injury to Ronan looked to have stalled Cork's momentum and after the lengthy break Shanahan took a great catch and drew a priceless free, which allowed Paul Flynn to cool the clock before slotting over a point.
In the end it was a deserved victory for Waterford, who now have only a week to prepare for the semi-final against Limerick. But so far everything's going to plan.
Eoin Kelly (Waterford) and Cork's Ben O'Connor try to control the sliotar during yesterday's All-Ireland hurling quarter-final replay at Croke Park.
- (Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill)
... WATERFORD: 1 C Hennessy; 2 E Murphy, 3 D Prendergast, 7 A Kearney; 5 T Browne, 6 K McGrath (0-1, free), 4 B Phelan; 8 M Walsh (capt; 0-2), 12 E Kelly (0-4, one free); 13 J Mullane (0-2), 14 D Shanahan (2-1), 10 S Molumphy (0-1); 9 S Walsh, 11 S Prendergast (0-1), 15 P Flynn (0-3, all frees). Subs: 22 E McGrath (0-2) for S Walsh (45 mins), 21 D Bennett for Mullane (63 mins).
CORK: 1 D Cusack; 2 S O'Neill, 3 D O'Sullivan, 4 B Murphy; 5 J Gardiner, 6 R Curran, 7 S Ó hAilpín; 8 T Kenny (0-2), 9 J O'Connor (0-2); 10 B O'Connor (0-9, five frees, one 65), 11 T McCarthy (0-1), 12 P Cronin; 13 N Ronan (0-2), 14 K Murphy (Sarsfields; 0-2), 15 J Deane (0-2, both frees). Subs: 24 C Naughton for Deane (53 mins), 23 N McCarthy for T McCarthy (54 mins), 18 K Hartnett for J O'Connor (56 mins), 22 K Murphy (Erin's Own) for Cronin (62 mins), 28 E Murphy for K Murphy (Sarsfields) (68 mins).
YELLOW CARDS: Waterford: B Phelan (53 mins); Cork: J Gardiner (25 mins), P Cronin (53 mins).
Attendance: 54,994.
Referee: Barry Kelly (Westmeath).
