Cork blow hot and cold but do enough to put away defiant Waterford

Munster SHC: Cork 2-25 Waterford 1-22

In keeping with their bipolar performances in the championship Cork were slick and sloppy and deadly and dithery. They needed a win to keep their season alive and from about midway through the first half no other outcome looked likely. And yet they failed to kill the game off, and Waterford refused to die.

Fifteen minutes into the second half Cork went eight points clear and with a gale at their backs all jeopardy seemed to have dissipated. But then Cork failed to score for the next 11 minutes, Stephen Bennett conjured a goal out of the blue and in the very next attack hit the butt of a post with Patrick Collins stranded. Suddenly, there were just three points between the teams and the tide didn’t know whether it was coming or going.

For Cork it was a restorative performance that fell short of full rehabilitation. Their aggression and intensity, which had flatlined so calamitously in the Gaelic Grounds a week ago, returned to acceptable levels. In his three years as Cork manager, Pat Ryan had inculcated those values more than any others; their brazen absence against Limerick was a debilitating systems failure.

Cork’s tackling was sharp and concentrated, especially against the wind in the first half. Defensively, they were strong in the air. They hunted together. But the Cork attack, which had been so devastating in the league and in spells earlier in the championship, has lost its rhythm for now, and that wasn’t recovered here.

Munster hurling final tickets up to €50 for the stand

Returning Kerry footballer Cáit Lynch is living proof that a sequel can outshine the original

Darragh Ó Sé: Rian O’Neill being back for Armagh is good news for everyone, especially Rian O’Neill

Waterford’s Shane Bennett and Stephen Bennett with Cork's Darragh Fitzgibbon and Ciarán Joyce. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho

Cork’s inside line of Alan Connolly, Brian Hayes and Patrick Horgan did their best work in short spells, but rarely in concert. Darragh Fitzgibbon and Shane Barrett, who finished last season as viable candidates for Hurler of the Year, are miles off that form now and Tim O’Mahony, who has been one of Cork’s two or three best players this season, struggled to influence this game and was taken off midway through the second half. Until those things change, the odds of Cork unseating Limerick in the Munster final are not short.

“Today was about effort, attitude and a bit of character,” said Ryan afterwards. “I thought we showed that in abundance. I don’t think we were the first team to get a hammering off Limerick. If you are any way off they are going to pulverise you. We were a sitting duck going up to them, they had been waiting for us.

“But from our point of view the attitude last week wasn’t good enough. The effort wasn’t good enough. I don’t think we played brilliant hurling today but today was about attitude and character.

“Credit to Waterford. They’ve always performed in the last game [of the round robin]. They were never going to die today. We went eight points up and the game was going away from them, but they battled like dogs.”

Waterford will take succour from their defiance in the final quarter, but they didn’t play well enough to win. Their set-up often allowed Cork a spare man in defence, and when they played with the wind in the first half, they didn’t play with the kind of directness that might have tested Cork’s nerve.

Waterford’s Kieran Bennett challenges Cork's Diarmuid Healy. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho

Stephen Bennett, Jamie Barron and Tadgh de Búrca have shown extraordinary leadership for many years, but none of them could get to grips with the game and Waterford couldn’t square that deficit. Conor Prunty marshalled Hayes superbly in the first half and young Mark Fitzgerald exhibited his class again, but Waterford are not as good now as they were under Liam Cahill at the height of the pandemic and every year they must deal with a little more erosion.

The wind came from the middle of winter and though it was impossible to guess how much it was worth it is certain that Waterford squandered it. By half-time Cork had worn them down and Waterford trailed by a point, 0-12 to 0-13.

Just like last week, Waterford were sharp out of the blocks and led by 0-5 to 0-1 after 10 minutes. By then the only wide against their name was a long pass that bounced over the endline, but those levels of efficiency tailed off and the only time they threatened a goal was when Stephen Bennett was dragged down outside the large parallelogram after seven minutes.

There was a strong case for black card penalty, but referee Johnny Murphy consulted his umpires and decided against. Bennett still elected to go for goal from the resultant free, but his shot bounced too soon and was easily repelled.

Patrick Horgan celebrates scoring Cork's second goal. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho

If Waterford wanted to explore any fault-lines in Cork’s mentality they needed to score heavily with the wind. Instead, Cork recovered from their shaky start to lead after 18 minutes and never trailed by more than a point for the remainder of the half.

Within 20 seconds of the resumption Cork struck for their first goal. O’Mahony made a block on the sideline, Fitzgibbon straightened the line in rugby terms and fed Hayes with the scoring pass. For Cork’s second goal 14 minutes later, Hayes was the provider and Horgan was the executioner.

Two points in the next minute put Cork 2-18 to 0-16 ahead and there wasn’t a cloud in their sky. But Waterford scored 1-2 without reply in the next 11 minutes, and Stephen Bennett could easily have plundered a second goal straight after his first.

With 10 minutes to go Cork needed to straighten themselves up. They managed it.

CORK: P Collins, G Millerick, E Downey, S O’Donoghue, M Coleman (0-1), C Joyce, C O’Brien (0-1), T O’Mahony, B Roche, S Barrett (0-3), D Fitzgibbon (0-2, 1f), S Harnedy (0-3), P Horgan (1-8, 8f), A Connolly (0-3), B Hayes (1-1).

Subs: D Healy (0-1) for Roche (48 mins); L Meade for Mahony (60); S Kingston (0-1) for Connolly (62); D Cahalane for Millerick (63); C Lehane (0-1) for Horgan (70+3); T O’Connell for O’Brien (70+5).

WATERFORD: B Nolan (0-1f), I Kenny, C Prunty, K Bennett (0-1), M Fitzgerald (0-1), T de Búrca, P Leavey, D Lyons, G Fives, M Kiely (0-2), J Barron (0-1), J Prendergast (0-2), Patrick Fitzgerald (0-3), S Walsh (0-3), Stephen Bennett (1-7, 7f).

Subs: D Hutchinson (0-1) for Leavey (41 mins); K Mahony for Patrick Fitzgerald (51); Shane Bennett for Lyons (52); A Gleeson for Walsh (60).

Referee: J Murphy (Limerick).