MUNSTER HURLING Waterford 1-17 Clare 0-8:DESPITE THE picturesque surrounds of the Ballyduff Upper ground in the west of the county, a bright sunny afternoon and a resounding victory that sends his team into the final of the Waterford Crystal Cup, David Fitzgerald was far from jubilant after the final whistle.
In what will be the counties’ only rehearsal for next June’s championship encounter, the Waterford manager detected an early sighting of one of Gaelic games’ most baffling phenomena, the “mind game” – or the otherwise puzzling desire to appear worse than you actually are.
“I’m happy, but I’m not under illusions,” said Fitzgerald of this canter against his own county. “Clare, in my opinion, did not try. Last Tuesday night they tried very hard.
The way they fought and the way they battled were unreal. But that was only mind games and I’m not into that shit. We came out and played the game. I just feel they didn’t work hard. I know there’s way more in Clare than that.
“Against Tipperary they blocked and tackled and hassled and harried. You tell me did they block and tackle out there. We did what we had to do and that’s fine, but I’m not fooled. They’ll say there’s no mind games, but that’s rubbish. They did not go flat out there.
“All I’d say is that we’re reading nothing into that and we’re expecting an avalanche on June 7th.”
New Clare manager – and former All-Ireland team-mate of Fitzgerald – Ger “Sparrow” O’Loughlin smiled when the accusation was put to him.
“I wouldn’t expect him to say anything different. We came down genuinely to give a good account, but we were very flat and didn’t play any brand of hurling. We’re trying to settle a team and playing five or six new fellas in every match. That’s not an excuse, though; we were just very poor today.
“It was a wake-up call. We were well and truly outclassed in every position. But we’ve got a bit out of the Waterford Cup. We were decent against Tipperary – we were honest and tried very hard.
“Against Waterford IT we were honest, but today we just came up against a smart and sharp team. We’ve a mountain to climb if we’re going to be able to compete with them in June.”
It’s hard to know why any team would consider it worth their while to throw matches in January, given the ring-rustiness of county panels, the experimental line-ups and the absence of college players – one of whom, in a piece of genuinely worrying news for the county, Clare’s under-21 star John Conlon, picked up an injury playing for NUIG on Saturday.
The match only occasionally wandered into the realms of conjecture. For the most part, Waterford were in cast-iron control. At the end of the first quarter, Clare could have felt slightly gratified that they trailed by only three, 0-3 to 0-6, but any notion that this might be a springboard into contention evaporated when the home side hit 1-2 without response in the next 10 minutes.
The goal came from a 20-metre free by Eoin Kelly and it put no more than an accurate reflection on the scoreboard.
Waterford had been making all the threatening moves with crisp, decent ball into the attack – especially from Jamie Nagle at wing back and later from All Star Michael Walsh who had a commanding second half during which his mobility and positioning put him under an array of hopeful, attacking ball – where Gary Hurney at full forward repeatedly took Cian Dillon out to the right wing and created trouble for Clare.
The big Abbeyside player had a less productive second half, but by then the slack was taken up elsewhere. Maurice Shanahan did well from frees and also struck for a couple of points from play while, in the corner, another of the county’s rising generation Thomas Ryan belied his slight frame on heavy ground to glide around and cause problems for the visiting defence.
Waterford could have had more. John Cusack’s shot just on half-time dribbled wide and Eoin McGrath had a goal ruled out for encroachment after leaping to flick home a Nagle free.
The introduction of Barry Nugent after the break looked to have improved Clare’s fortunes as he struck for points with his first two touches within a minute of his arrival. That sense of opportunity flared even more brightly when McGrath was red-carded a minute later for an off-the-ball altercation with Alan Brigdale.
There was no need for beta blockers, however, as Waterford ran off another seven points without reply – a couple of them nicely set up by Kelly for the hard- working Shane Walsh.
Waterford cantered home, leaving their manager looking for a stewards’ enquiry, but the bulk of the crowd of around 1,500 headed home feeling mildly diverted – and even the stewards would have had difficulty getting too worked up by it all.
WATERFORD: C Hennessey; J Meagher, L Lawlor, M O'Brien; D Prendergast, M Walsh, J Nagle; E Kelly (1-1, 1-0 free), J Murray (0-1); S Walsh (0-3), K Moran (0-1), M Shanahan (0-7, five frees); E McGrath, G Hurney (0-3), T Ryan (0-1). Subs: O Whelan for Ryan (52 mins), M O'Neill for Hurney (57 mins), N Jacob for Shanahan (58 mins).
CLARE: D Tuohy; P Vaughan, C Dillon, A Brigdale; P Donnellan (0-1), B O'Connell, G Quinn; A O'Brien, M Scanlon, A Markham; M Flaherty (0-3, two frees), D McMahon (0-1), J Cusack. Subs: B Nugent (0-2)for Cusack (half-time), C O'Donovan for O'Brien (half-time), F Lynch for Clancy (43 mins), M Hawes (0-1, free)for Quinn (48 mins).
Referee: J Sexton(Cork).
Next Up . . .
Waterford will play UCC in the final this Sunday at Fraher Field, Dungarvan. Throw-in is 2pm.
