GAELIC GAMES: KEITH DUGGANgets the views of Waterford manager Davy Fitzgerald and Limerick's Donal O'Grady after yesterday's clash at Semple Stadium
THE OLD place doesn’t take long to empty out. Semple Stadium has seen sunnier, noisier days courtesy of Waterford hurling.
But as Davy Fitzgerald stood in the long corridor he has walked God knows how many times as a player and more recently as Waterford manager, he looked as content as he has ever done.
Maybe his team had played yet another get-out-of-jail card, opting to gamble with a long Eoin Kelly free and, when that failed, then concocting an equally-speculative goal from John Mullane.
But it was the fact they defied the likely outcome when a famous day for Limerick was just seconds away that pleased him most.
“What I am happy about is that in the last year or two there has been transition but the character these lads show is immense. We might get beaten in this championship but we won’t throw in the towel.
“Everything was going against us today but we kept with it. It is very hard to play against that running game when they get it going right. And that is why we had to let the bodies go out because if you leave loose men out the field, they are going to overlap on you all the time and that is why Hutch (Wayne Hutchinson) and Darragh (Fives) were left one-on-one inside. But Brick (Michael Walsh) went back in there and I thought he did well.”
As he talks, the thrilling, desperate nature of the injury-time period comes back to him. Mullane has scored and Limerick are pressing forward, throwing the ball around and trying to create enough space to at least shoot for an equaliser. They never got it.
“The amount of blocks we had in that last period was unbelievable. I saw Shane Walsh making a hook or block 45 yards out from our goals. I saw Noelie Connors throwing himself at a ball.
“They showed some courage in their blocking. When a team gets a run on you, it is hard to stop. We were lucky in the end, but we are still there and we will march on and see what happens.”
It was put to Donal O’Grady that he said he would know where Limerick hurling was after this game. So where is Limerick hurling now, someone asked.
“In the qualifiers,” O’Grady said with the an inscrutable smile, ever the man for the bottom line.
“A draw would have been a fair result but the team that gets the most scores deserves to win. We had chances. Waterford did too. It was a ding-dong struggle. But the youngsters stood up well and just a bit of luck at the end would have brought us home, but that is the way things go. We did our best and that is what I asked the players to do. But we couldn’t do anymore.”
O’Grady wasn’t hearing having any of the old moral victory tonic either.
“In the world of sport, you don’t get anything for that. You can go down the clichés that you get nothing for second. We have to go down the qualifiers now and we are not going to get the same intensity or build-up and that is what Limerick hurling needs now. But I think we played well enough. We were a little naïve at times. I can’t have any criticism of our players. They did their best and came up a bit short.
“I’d be disappointed if they weren’t disappointed. Chances to come into Munster finals don’t come around every year.”
Waterford, though, are making a habit out of turning up for them. They made this one by the skin of their teeth. Michael Walsh turned solemn when we talked about the task ahead.
“Clare and Tipp are two very strong teams coming through and we are going to have our work cut out. On that performance you couldn’t justify being in a Munster final, so we will have to up it.
“Limerick could have and – you wouldn’t like to say should have – but they could have come out on top there today.
“And they were unlucky. They will feel very disappointed but it is a tribute to them.”
