Some little excitement but quality lacking

Waterford 0-11 Limerick 1-8: CLOSE BUT no cliffhanger. Ah, the mysteries of Munster. A game played amidst deluges of biblical proportions ended up in the equality of two lessers as Waterford and Limerick slugged their way to a replay next Saturday.

Only the possibility of fine sunshine and perhaps dancing girls is likely to draw a crowd greater than the 25,292 who endured yesterday’s farrago.

Limerick reappeared for the second half and stood out in the rain for a few minutes before thinking better of the whole thing and deciding to return to their dressingroom. As they went back in they met Waterford on their way out and Waterford duly took a turn at standing in the rain.

A quick poll among the attendance at that point would have shown a strong desire for both teams to return to their dressingrooms and for us all to leave and never speak of this day again.

Limerick returned, however, and the second half had some excitement, if little quality to it.

Davy Fitz had lots on his mind afterwards and made a formal complaint to the Munster Council about several unspecified incidents and one which concerned his son, Colm. This week, however, he will turn his mind to solving the conundrum of his own side, who having enjoyed a six-point lead at half-time, managed to put in an entire second half without scoring from play.

His counterpart, Justin McCarthy, had more reasons to be cheerful; afterwards. Conceding with a smile it was a game that wouldn’t be ranked among the Munster classics, he knew his side had produced a second-half performance which should have won them the game.

He knew, too, his forwards could scarcely be as poor again next Saturday as they were in the first half yesterday.

With Ollie Moran, who started at full forward, and Andrew O’Shaughnessy turning in afternoons of the sort of anonymity which would be considered a success on a witness protection programme, the slack was taken up by Niall Moran and by David Breen who after weeks of injury worries came in as a sub after half an hour and gave some focal point to a generally incoherent attack.

Breen’s lanky presence was badly needed. Limerick teams tend to fare better when playing off a big full forward and by the time of his introduction it had become clear there were no better ideas floating around.

Waterford, not hurling too fluently themselves, were gouging out a lead based on the metronomic reliability of Eoin Kelly’s frees and the good form of John Mullane, whose four first-half points were the most fundamental difference between the sides.

Mullane’s ability to beat a succession of markers to the ball and then to find the space to try a shot made him the defining influence in the first half.

He got a knock late in the half and then seemed to get lost in the busy traffic of the Semple tunnel at half-time, however, and Waterford missed his energetic promptings in the run-in.

In the final minutes of the first half Mullane had the chance to perhaps put the match out of its misery when he latched on to a ball on the right wing and drove it just wide of Brian Murray’s post. That miss and a denied penalty appeal for a foul on Eoin McGrath kept Limerick just about within sight.

The benefit of being within touching distance of Waterford at half-time seemed dubious, however. In the first half Limerick’s forwards exhibited an alarming cluelessness for which a half- time remedy seemed unlikely.

Things reached a low point when Donie Ryan took possession on the right and turbo-charged towards goal.

With free men inside him screaming for the pass he took the unusual decision to go for a point and hit it wide off the far post.

All over Semple Stadium heads were placed in hands.

Form the puc out Waterford moved upfield in a move which Mullane crowned with point.

At half-time, Justin McCarthy insisted on a bit more aggression in the business of getting possession and his side got the most encouraging of starts when Breen latched on to a ball at the end of a run by James Ryan and put it across the body of Clinton Hennessy and into the Waterford net.

Thereafter the momentum was Limerick’s – even if they weren’t too sure what do with it. Their half back line of Denis Moloney, Brian Geary and Mark Keane became the dominant unit on the field, mopping up Hennessy’s puc outs and repelling most Waterford breaks through the middle.

The glut of possession they were creating deserved more sharpness at the business end of things, however.

The scores came dripping agonisingly slow, especially considering they were interrupted only by two Eoin Kelly frees over the space of 35 minutes. In fairness, the conditions weren’t helping and the catching and stick handling were both hindered by the continous rain.

In the 64th minute O’Shaughnessy briefly burst into life and provided the equalising point at a time when Waterford looked so limp that defeat seemed inevitable.

Mullane stirred himself, though, and won a free which Kelly converted again to put Waterford one point clear again.

By now Limerick were beginning to realise it would be an affront to their self-respect to lose a game in these circumstances. Mark Foley launched yet another free into Waterford airspace, it broke off Breen’s hand to James Ryan, who coaxed the sliotar safely over the bar.

There was a full minute left plus injury-time but the flow of people looking to dodge the rain and the worst of the traffic continued unabated.

WATERFORD: 1 C Hennessy; 2 E Murphy, 3 D Prendergast, 4 N Connors; 5 K Moran, 6 M Walsh, 19 R Foley; 8 S O’Sullivan, 9 S Molumphy; 10 S Prendergast (0-1), 11 K McGrath, 12 J Nagle; 13 J Mullane (0-4), 14 E Kelly (0-6, frees), 15 E McGrath. Subs: 18 D Shanahan for E McGrath (44 mins), 20 G Hurney for K McGrath, 17 T Browne for O’Sullivan (both 64 mins)

LIMERICK: 1 B Murray; 2 D Reale, 3 S Lucey, 5 S Walsh; 4 M O’Riordan, 6 B Geary, 7 M Foley; 8 D O’Grady, 9 S Hickey (0-1); 10 J Ryan (0-2), 12 N Moran (0-4, three frees), 14 J O’Brien; 13 A O’Shaughnessy (0-1), 11 O Moran, 15 D Ryan. Subs: 24 D Breen (1-0) for O’Brien (30 mins), 23 D Sheehan for D Ryan, 19 D Moloney for Walsh (both ht), 20 P Browne for O’Shaughnessy (67 mins)

Referee: D Kirwan ( Cork)