Déise make no mistake second time around

MUNSTER SEMI-FINAL REPLAY Waterford 0-25 Limerick 0-17:JOHN MULLANE lit up Semple Stadium on Saturday night as Waterford made no mistake at the second time of asking to book their place in the Munster senior hurling championship final on July 12th. Waterford sharpshooter Mullane was irresistible in Thurles as the Déise produced a far more polished all-round performance to win by eight points.

The forgettable draw between these two sides six days previously ended as the lowest scoring Munster championship tie since 1993 but the replay fare was far more appetising.

Forty-two scores compared to 20 tells its own story while it took just 17 minutes for both teams to amass as many points, 12, as they could muster in the entire first half eight days ago. Pleasant weather contributed to an infinitely better game and while both teams improved immeasurably, Waterford had more in the tank.

Limerick manager Justin McCarthy played tinkerman with a championship team, not for the first time, as he made three changes to the line-up listed in the official match programme.

McCarthy did not admit it publicly but this was a match he dearly wanted to win, against the players who ousted him as Waterford boss almost 13 months ago.

McCarthy is overseeing what he described as a “transitional period” for Limerick but the feeling was that his players would carry a certain momentum into the replay having come from six points down to draw first time around.

Instead, Limerick were playing catch-up right from the start as Waterford raced into an early 0-3 to 0-0 lead before Andrew O’Shaughnessy converted a free after seven minutes.

Five times in the opening half, Limerick trailed by three points but they were level at 0-8 apiece with 28 minutes Waterford opened up a 0-10 to 0-8 half-time lead.

Goal chances came and went at both ends. Mullane was denied by Brian Murray at the Killinan End before Gary Hurney failed to bring a lengthy Kevin Moran delivery under control as Waterford threatened.

Limerick had a chance themselves after 25 minutes but Paul Browne, one of the three players called in at the 11th hour, scuffed a shot wide at Clinton Hennessy’s near post.

Limerick stayed in touch for most of the second half, getting to within a point on three separate occasions, but Waterford outscored them 0-7 to 0-1 in the final 10 minutes of playing time to run out flattering eight-point winners.

Mullane, with six glorious points from play, did the most damage. Eoin Kelly doubled his score but 10 of his 12 points were from placed balls while Séamus Prendergast marked a return to form with four points from play.

“There was a point in it in the second half,” McCarthy reflected. “I felt at that stage had we moved up a gear that we could have taken it but we didn’t move up that gear. An experienced team can respond that bit better. You had experienced players who got the scores that counted.”

The result was all-important but fresh injury problems surfaced for Waterford in front of 15,374 spectators, 10,000 down on the previous Sunday.

Joint-captain Ken McGrath is out for at least six weeks after undergoing knee surgery last week and now manager Davy Fitzgerald will closely monitor the joint-captain Stephen Molumphy (knee) and Kevin Moran (ankle).

Nevertheless, Waterford have given themselves a shot at a fourth provincial title in this decade. Fitzgerald, however, insisted: “It’s a good win but we have a lot of work to do. We’re not near the finished article but we had a good score tally. Fair play to the lads; we dealt well with pressure today.

“I couldn’t believe some of the stick and criticism that was there last week. People should stop and think about how this team has done and support them instead of getting on their backs.”

Limerick, meanwhile, must prepare for the qualifiers on July 11th but they will have learned plenty from these two outings.

“We’re disappointed but the qualifiers are there for a reason,” centre back Brian Geary reflected. “Teams have gone through the qualifiers before. We’ll get over this evening and get back down to training during the week.”

McCarthy insisted: “It’s a transitional period for Limerick. It’s not going to happen overnight. They have to start somewhere.”

WATERFORD:C Hennessy; E Murphy, D Prendergast, N Connors; R Foley, M Walsh, K Moran; T Browne, S O'Sullivan (0-1); J Nagle, S Molumphy (0-1), S Prendergast (0-4); J Mullane (0-6), G Hurney, E Kelly (0-12, eight frees, one 65). Subs:D Shanahan for Molumphy inj (half-time), E McGrath for Nagle (46 mins), A Kearney for Foley (54 mins), J Kennedy (0-1) for Moran inj (65 mins), J Murray for Browne (70 mins).

LIMERICK:B Murray; D Reale, S Lucey, M O'Riordan; D Moloney, B Geary, M Foley; D O'Grady (0-1), S Hickey (0-2); P Browne (0-1), J Ryan (0-2), N Moran (0-5, two frees); O Moran, D Breen (0-1), A O'Shaughnessy (0-5, frees). Subs:E Foley for O'Grady (47 mins), G Mulcahy for Foley (58 mins), T Condon for O'Riordan (60 mins).

Referee:B Gavin (Offaly).