Waterford take chances to see off visitors

Waterford 1-13
Dublin 1-10


Spring cleaning at Walsh Park. Between the dust and the cobwebs there wasn't much polished hurling and in the end Waterford nearly spoiled what should have been an utterly convincing win.

Down a man for the entire second half – losing captain Michael “Brick” Walsh to a truly harsh red card – the home side still shone well above Dublin. The scoring chances may have been even enough, but Waterford made their big ones count, while Dublin were left counting a series of misses.

So, with Waterford now just off the heels of league leaders Kilkenny, Dublin are still left bringing up the rear. That Dublin managed to finish within three points of Waterford is some consolation, especially as they went 28 minutes into the second half without any score at all.

A late consolation goal from Conal Keaney, who capitalised on a rare mistake in the Waterford defence, then a late point by Eamon Dillon, actually left Dublin sniffing around for a very late equalising goal, but that would have been beyond anything they deserved.

By then, Dublin were also down a man – losing substitute Conor McCormack to a truly foolish red card – and not even a skewed free-count can fully explain Dublin’s shortcomings on the day.

Scoring chances
Indeed Anthony Daly made only light reference to these statistics afterwards, that Dublin practically equalled Waterford's scoring chances (25 to 26) but lost out on the free count (17 to 5).

“They’re the little things that decide matches like that, on very heavy ground,” said the Dublin manager. “But we had some awful misses, created goal chances and missed those too, so we can only hold our hands up with what we missed.

“And sometimes when you go down to 14, it changes the mentality. But the free count, 17-5? I don’t know, we might be filthy altogether, but I’m not a man for sour grapes and things like that. That’s the way it goes sometimes. But look, we’ll have to look at the video and see are we giving away too many silly frees, because that’s too high a count in a game like this.”

Especially when the opposition have a player like Pauric Mahony to inflict the complete punishment: Mahony ended with 1-8, seven of those points coming from placed balls, and his goal, on 23 minutes, was deftly finished, again capitalising on some slack defence.

Overall Waterford’s defence was far more consistent, too, even after losing Walsh: Kevin Moran was shifted back, with Shane O’Sullivan taking over at midfield, and with Shane Fives and Noel Connors also in excellent form, there was no easy way through for Dublin.

Superb save
Even when Dillon got into a great scoring position, midway through the second half, goalkeeper Stephen O'Keeffe showed his worth with a superb save. By then, Dublin had missed seven scoring chances in succession, and it was 28 minutes into the second half before Alan McCrabbe ended this famine with a free. That left it Waterford 1-13 to Dublin 0-9, and as suspected too late for any reversal of fortunes.

No wonder Waterford manager Derek McGrath was satisfied, even if Walsh’s red card made little or no sense: “Yes, I had a perfect view. Basically his left hand came back, just to give himself some balance, and I don’t think he saw the man (McCrabbe), on his blindside. So I think there will be grounds for appeal, definitely. Because while Michael is a teak-tough player there’s not a dirty bone in his body.”

McGrath also had praise for his defence, which even in the sudden absence of Walsh, held firm: "I'd make the point again, that while our numbers one to nine, all year, have been receiving great plaudits, I think it's the shape of our forward line, the work rate of our forward line, that's contributing to the backs being able to get the plaudits. We're happy our forwards aren't allowing that dirty ball, if you like, come up to the defence."


WATERFORD: S O'Keeffe; T de Burca, S Fives, N Connors; J Nagle, M Walsh, P Mahony; K Moran (0-1), S McNulty; R Barry, S Molumphy, S O'Sullivan; R Donnelly (0-1), S Prendergast (0-2), P Mahony (1-8, 0-6 frees, 0-1 65). Subs: B O'Sullivan (0-1) for Donnelly (46 mins), S Roche for McNulty (46 mins), E Barrett for Barry (55 mins), B Coughlan for Prendergast (58 mins), G O'Brien for Molumphy (63 mins).
DUBLIN: G Maguire; C O'Callaghan, P Kelly, N Corcoran; S Durkin, L Rushe, M Carton; J Boland (0-1), J McCaffrey (0-1); R O'Dwyer, A McCrabbe (0-3, frees), C Cronin (0-1); D O'Callaghan (0-2), C Keaney (1-1), M Schutte. Subs: E Dillon (0-1) for Schutte (44 mins), C McCormack for Cronin (59 mins), S McGrath for O'Callaghan (59 mins).
Referee: Cathal McAlastair (Cork).