NATIONAL HURLING LEAGUE DIVISION ONE/Cork 2-17 Waterford 1-19:ONCE AGAIN Waterford and Cork spun us a lively yarn.
Yesterday's Allianz NHL Division One play-off may have been a fairly metaphysical concept, but both sides agreed it had been a fine match for the time of the year.
That qualification was important, as the Walsh Park surface was sticky and ensured first touches would not always suffice even if the contestants had been at a more technically advanced stage of their seasons.
Although the holders weren't at full tilt, their selection was closer to what would be recognised as their first-choice 15 than that of the visitors, who ran a few new names through the system to see how they performed.
That youthful infusion helped tilt the balance on an afternoon when the teams served up another helter-skelter match, swapping periods of scoring dominance and ending the ebb and flow with hardly the thickness of a bus ticket between them.
Cork appeared hungrier for the match and its notional prize of playing Limerick in the quarter-finals. Their enthusiasm drove them to a narrow victory.
There were a few reasons for satisfaction. Eoin Cadogan capably manned - a neat flicked intervention on John Mullane in the 53rd minute exemplifying a good display - the centre-back position in the absence of Ronan Curran and the late withdrawal John Gardiner.
The new-look centrefield of Steven White and Lee Desmond brought several familiar virtues to the role. Busy and mobile, they linked effectively with the forwards. Desmond - who finished with an impressive four points - ultimately switched to wing forward at the end of the first half, allowing Tom Kenny drop back from the 40 to more accustomed surroundings.
Waterford started well and had 1-1 up before the first minute had clicked away. Eoin Kelly swept over a point within 10 seconds and Séamus Prendergast capitalised on a defensive lapse after a good save by Donal Cusack to fire in the first goal.
Ben O'Connor, who looked sharp throughout, dispatched some early frees to get some balance back on the scoreboard and we were off and running, both sides exchanging some well-crafted and finely taken scores.
Cathal Naughton burned down the left and along the end-line for a Cork goal in the 13th minute.
The few travelling supporters in an estimated crowd of 5,000 had apparent difficulty in making out where the sliotar had gone so the score was registered in silence.
In response, Waterford rattled off an unanswered five points for a 1-10 to 1-4 lead in the 23rd minute.
It was the home side's best spell, featuring good scores and accomplished work by captain Michael Walsh, Eoin McGrath, Brian Phelan and Shane O'Sullivan.
There could have been a goal for that green-flag authority Dan Shanahan but a slick move ended in another important save from Cusack.
At the other end it didn't look promising for Cork.
Ken McGrath thundered into rookie full forward Fintan O'Leary before launching a massive clearance. But somewhere around then the match turned once more and a sequence of frees brought Cork back into it and by the break there was little enough between the teams, 1-14 to 1-12.
O'Connor and Pat Horgan contributed the frees, and the former added a point off his stick from play while Desmond hit another couple, also from play.
The vital score in the second half came early, in the 39th minute, when O'Leary got the final touch to a move started by Kenny and continued by McCarthy and Horgan.
A major influence on proceedings came with the onset of Eoin Kelly's point-taking yips, which culminated in a match total of seven wides and featured a couple of bad misses from frees.
John Mullane, who racked up five points from play, kept Waterford in touch, and, when Kelly eventually relocated his radar to tie up the match in the 70th minute, thoughts turned to extra time.
But a free for a disputed foul on Desmond in injury-time gave Ben O'Connor the sort of chance he was never going to miss.
"I thought it was a tremendous game and am just happy we got out of it with a one-point win," said a happy Gerald McCarthy. "To do it the lads had to show an awful lot of courage there at the end, a lot of hooks and blocks, and they defended for their lives and I think we just about deserved to win it.
"We're happy with their progress," he said of the newcomers. "They're coming on quite well - training very hard and very determined to make it. They've certainly shaken up things within the panel and there's quite a bit of competition for places."
His Waterford counterpart - and former All-Ireland-winning centrefield partner - Justin McCarthy, was less effusive and a bit aggrieved by the refereeing.
"Good game for this time of the year. A few decisions went against us I felt and we missed a few frees - that's what decided it."
CORK: D Cusack; S O'Neill, B Murphy, C O'Connor; K Hartnett, E Cadogan, S Ó hAilpín; S White (0-1), L Desmond (0-4); B O'Connor (0-10, eight frees), T Kenny, T McCarthy; P Horgan (0-2, frees), F O'Leary (1-0), C Naughton (1-0). Subs: J Deane for Naughton (55 mins), B Corry for T McCarthy (59 mins), K Murphy (Erin's Own) for Horgan (62 mins), S Murphy for C O'Connor (67 mins).
WATERFORD: C Hennessy; K Moran, D Prendergast, A Kearney; B Phelan, K McGrath, J Kennedy; M Walsh (0-2), S O'Sullivan (0-2); D Shanahan, E Kelly (0-5, four frees), E McGrath (0-2); J Mullane (0-5), S Prendergast (1-3), S Casey. Subs: T Browne for O'Sullivan (54 mins), S Walsh for E McGrath (65 mins).
Referee: J Ryan (Tipperary).
Division One Quarter-finals (Next Sunday)
Cork v Limerick (Killarney)
Tipperary v Waterford (Nowlan Park)
If Cork and Tipperary win, the semi-final pairings will be:
Kilkenny v Tipperary and Galway v Cork
If Waterford and Limerick win, semi-final pairings will be:
Kilkenny v Limerick and Galway v Waterford
If Cork and Waterford win, a draw will decide who plays Galway and who plays Limerick in the semi-finals. Similarly, a draw will be needed if Tipperary and Limerick win.
