Saturday summed up Waterford. Everyone expected Cork to win but most people also expected the match to go down to the wire, as both of Waterford’s other matches did. Sure enough, that is what happened – Cork winning 1-26 to 0-25 – but in this case, in exceptional circumstances.
In the first half, they lost three players to injury, including Stephen Bennett, an early front-runner for Hurler of the Year whose scoring exploits have been the foundation of Waterford’s competitiveness. Also gone were corner back Ian Kenny and wing back Iarlaith Daly, who had been playing really well.
Throw in two black cards – one questionable, in my view – and that’s a lot of adversity for a team with not great panel depth. Mark Fitzgerald’s sinbinning wasn’t contentious and, not for the first time, Billy Nolan came to Waterford’s rescue and saved Alan Connolly’s penalty.
Jack Fagan was unlucky in that I felt there were covering defenders. Mark Coleman made no mistake and that was the decisive score.
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You have to hand it to Peter Queally and the spirit he’s created that the rest of it played out every bit as expected: it did go to the wire and Waterford were still in touch in injury-time.
For all that endeavour, the county is facing another early exit from the championship.
[ Cork composure piles yet more agony on WaterfordOpens in new window ]
Cork came with a simple objective: get the points and guarantee progress to the All-Ireland stages. It never really looked like they weren’t going to achieve that even though the match was tightly balanced with backs to the wall for both teams at various stages.
Waterford went close at times, leading for much of the second half, and Patrick Collins made a good save from Peter Hogan in the tense final minutes but you felt if Dessie Hutchinson got the chance, there would probably have been no saving it.
Brian Hayes was outstanding in the first half for Cork. He scored six points in the first half and into that tricky wind in Walsh Park. He was the key player and Cork’s full-forward line is playing very well.
William Buckley was always dangerous and if not quite as productive as he was against Tipperary in the first round, he wasn’t far off it and is a huge addition.
Connolly and Hayes weren’t at their best in Thurles but they are now functioning at a higher level. Paddy Leavey did a decent job of limiting Hayes in the second half – or at least did better than any of his team-mates assigned the task – but the damage had been done and Hayes continued to be a threat.
Darragh Fitzgibbon and Shane Barrett came into the match more in the second half and Ben O’Connor will have been pleased to win while not operating at their best. His reconfigured defence held up. Tim O’Mahony was fine at centre back but I thought he wasn’t in the game as much as you’d expect him to be at midfield.
The full-back line held up, Niall O’Leary doing pretty well, but it wasn’t the anticipated test with Bennett gone by half-time – he had been well marshalled up until then but didn’t look 100 per cent. Then again, his performances to date have been particularly telling in the second half.
There was one ground-breaking aspect to the match – for me anyway. I believe Paddy Leavey is a pioneer of this although Mark Coleman executed it as well. It’s a pickup off the hurley. There’s no separation between the ground, the hurley and the ball. You simply pick the ball off the hurley. There’s no rule against it because it’s not directly off the ground.
In Leinster, there was some excitement on Sunday after an uneventful Saturday. Offaly confirmed their status as a rising force in the game with a hard-fought draw with champions Kilkenny, ending 0-24 to 1-21. The final score to equalise by Eoghan Cahill was a contested 65 but it was the first time since the All-Ireland final in 1998 that they didn’t lose the fixture.
If it confirms Offaly’s improvement, it is equally commentary on Kilkenny’s struggle for form and sets up a very interesting battle for who is to accompany Galway out of Leinster.
Kildare gave the same Galway a rattle in the first half and although it was commendable by Kildare, I imagine Micheál Donoghue will be asking questions about how his provincial front runners ended up 1-5 to 1-15 behind at half-time.
Slow start or complacency – neither is particularly acceptable.
Wexford have probably lost out on their chance to progress after a poor enough match ended in defeat by Dublin. They probably weren’t contenders after failing to raise a gallop against Kilkenny but again, their touch wasn’t great and it wasn’t a good sign for Dublin that they let an authoritative lead slip away in the last 10 minutes.
[ If you think hurling referees are influenced by the scoreboard, you are rightOpens in new window ]
