Munster SHC: Waterford 0-25 Cork 1-26
For Waterford the terrible agonies continue. Against Cork on Saturday night, they pushed the fight into stoppage time for the third time in this year’s championship without ultimately getting what they needed. There is a convoluted combination of results that can still save their summer, but that also involves beating Limerick in the Gaelic Grounds next Sunday. It could all be a mirage.
Cork have one foot in the provincial final now and with six points already banked they are certain to qualify from Munster at least. They didn’t play with the kind of fluency that has characterised their best days over the last couple of years, but they were composed down the stretch when the game was in the balance, and they met force with force.
This year, Cork have traded some exuberance for pragmatism and that served them well on a night like this. They lost the lead after 14 minutes and didn’t reclaim it until 11 minutes from the end, and in that time there were no guarantees about the outcome. Waterford did enough in the middle third to stymie Cork’s running game and as long as the scoring was tit-for-tat Waterford gave themselves a puncher’s chance.
The game finally turned on a contentious black card penalty, the second of the evening. Alan Connolly was brought down by Jack Fagan, with covering players to their left. Cork, though, also had attackers in that zone and if Connolly had not been brought down there is no question they would have had a significant goalscoring opportunity.
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In the event, Mark Coleman stepped up to the penalty and sent Billy Nolan the wrong way. That put Cork four points clear on the hour mark, 1-23 to 0-22, the biggest gap between the teams at any stage of the game.
To their credit, Waterford stiffened their resolve and with 14 men they charged at Cork again. They desperately needed a goal, and it so nearly arrived with four minutes remaining. Peter Hogan turned sharply in a congested space and fired a fierce shot that Patrick Collins deflected brilliantly from close range.
A couple of Dessie Hutchinson frees brought the margin back to two points in the last minute of normal time, but they didn’t have any more bullets to fire. Just as they had done against Limerick a fortnight ago, Cork managed the endgame with a couple of soothing points.
It was another excruciating outcome for Waterford. In this year’s championship they have gone toe-to-toe with the last two All-Ireland winners and the team that lost both of those finals. They didn’t lose games that they necessarily deserved to win, but to break out of this rut, they will need to start winning games against the head, somehow.
“I’m so proud of the lads but I’d love to change that emotion to elation,” said Peter Queally, the Waterford manager. “I’d love to feel elated and not so proud but again, I’m massively proud of the effort.”
For Waterford the first half was simply too expensive. The sides were level 11 times before the break, but Waterford were playing with such a stiff breeze that one of Nolan’s puck-outs carried all the way to Collins in the Cork goal. The home team needed to build a cushion but instead they led by just a point at the break, 0-14 to 0-13.
To add to their difficulty they lost Iarlaith Daly and Ian Kenny to hamstring injuries in quick succession at the beginning of the second quarter and Stephen Bennett to a worrying knee injury at the end of the half. The cost of his loss was incalculable.
On top of all that they couldn’t manage Brian Hayes, although four different Waterford players tried their hand. Hayes finished the game with seven points from play and three assists in a performance of overwhelming athleticism and class. He was also fouled for a penalty that Cork failed to convert, when Connolly’s shot was saved by the outstanding Nolan late in the first half.
Unusually, Cork’s full-forward line didn’t come up with a goal but they delivered 13 points from play and young William Buckley was nearly as good as he had been against Tipperary on his debut, consistently getting his hand on the ball and linking the play.
Waterford had to work harder for their scores. Having committed 22 misses against Tipperary they had just seven here, including no wides in the second half. But even with those extraordinary levels of economy, they came up well short of 30 points, which is the baseline target for all the elite teams now.
Calum Lyons and Jack Prendergast were terrific in the half-forward line and Jamie Barron had magical spells of influence around the middle, but they had very little penetration on the inside line. Hutchinson forced a save from Collins in the first half, but it was an hour before they threatened another goal.
For Cork, the long march continues.
WATERFORD: B Nolan; I Kenny, M Fitzgerald, A O’Neill; J Fagan, P Leavy, I Daly; S Mackey (0-2), J Barron (0-3); S Walsh (0-2), J Prendergast (0-2), C Lyons (0-3); D Hutchinson (0-8, 7f), Stephen Bennett (0-2f), K Mahony (0-3).
Subs: C Keane for Kenny (20 mins), Shane Bennett for Daly (22), P Hogan for Stephen Bennett (35+1), M Kiely for Mahony (64), D Lyons for Mackey (65).
CORK: P Collins; N O’Leary, D Cahalane, S O’Donoghue; E Downey, T O’Mahony, M Coleman (1-0, pen); T O’Connell, D Fitzgibbon (0-3, 1f); D Healy, S Barrett (0-1), H O’Connor (0-2); A Connolly (0-9, 6f), W Buckley (0-3), B Hayes (0-7).
Subs: R O’Flynn for O’Connor (51 mins), C O’Brien for Downey (55), S Harnedy (0-1) for Healy (60), P Power for Connolly (69).
Referee: S Stack (Dublin).
