Relief must have been the overriding emotion in the Waterford dressing room on Sunday evening. John Mullane’s late winner, his 14th in championship hurling, papered over a performance that only merited a replay at best. Limerick will be scratching their heads at how they let this one slip after a tremendous second half effort.
While the first half struggled to spark into life until the closing minutes, the next thirty five minutes thrilled the 15,650 in attendance. This was mainly due to Limerick’s change in game plan by opening up the space and exploiting it at will. Corner forwards Sean Tobin and Graeme Mulcahy moved into deeper areas allowing oceans of space to supply Kevin Downes. The 19 year old who stands at six foot two gave Wayne Hutchinson a nightmare championship debut at full back. His two goals looked to have handed the underdogs the fuel for victory but an alarming wides tally cost them dear. Eoin Kelly’s poor decision to opt for goal didn’t come back to haunt him as his crossfield ball led to that memorable injury time strike.
Aside from the never say die attitude Davy has injected into this team the maturity shown by some of the younger players shone even brighter on Sunday. Pauric Mahony’s two second half points from play came at crucial stages when Limerick looked the most likely victors. If Downes inspired at one end, Mahony steadied the ship at the other. His man of the match award is all the more remarkable as he shot two wides and missed a first half penalty. The courage in his response to those setbacks roused those around him. The O’Sullivan brothers also led the charge. As a late inclusion David worked himself into the ground especially in the first half with Brian terrorising Damien Reale for the afternoon. The experience of Mullane and Michael Walsh also nudged the outcome in the right direction with Stephen Molumphy relishing the midfield exchanges. Shane Walsh’s goal proved a valuable contribution while Shane O’Sullivan and Maurice Shanahan know there is room for improvement in their levels of performance.
For Limerick, Donal O’Grady’s imprint on this team was there for all to see. In a short period of time he has instilled the running and support play associated with his native Cork. In that process however the traditional heart, drive and physical power haven’t been diminished. No one characterised the mixture of the two more than Donal O’Grady. An under rated midfielder in the modern game he once again left his mark with three points from play. In Downes at full forward they now possess a marquee name to shape an attack around. Along with Pauric Mahony he is an early candidate for young hurler of the year. Tom Condon and Niall Moran mixed the sublime with the ridiculous and summed up how close the margins are in championship. If Moran nailed one or two more to add to his four points or if Condon didn’t slip up for two Mullane scores the spoils would be residing on Shannonside.
Davy Fitzgerald didn’t care about the ifs, buts or maybes involved in claiming victory but the big worry waiting down the tracks for this Waterford team remains the defensive set-up. In the second half alarming gaps opened up with the pace of Limerick’s attack causing real difficulty collectively as well as individually. While Hutchinson may be the scapegoat, many of his colleagues in defence were fortunate to last the seventy minutes. Michael Walsh eventually curbed Downes in the closing exchanges but is it a viable long term option? Remember that the Brick is the All Star centre back for two years running and only tasted life at number three for that final quarter. Changing the two central defensive structures mid way through a championship and ahead of a Munster final may do more harm than good. If Walsh moves to full back, Kevin Moran will go to number six but don’t rule out Liam Lawlor to also make a bid for inclusion.
A major decision for July 10 lies in wait for the management team but for now they will be thankful just to be there. The manner of victory was far from convincing but Davy's record of three Munster finals on the trot is hard to argue with.
Good report. I think Eoin Kelly was acting under instructions when he went for that goal, there was a conference on the sideline before it. Wherever the decision came from it was wrongheaded and it's not very encouraging that we're attempting such Hail Mary nonsense
ReplyDeleteKelly definitely acting under instructions for the free, and thought it was both a little cruel on Kelly who had just come on, and also a little foolish of Davy as I feel we would have been better going for a point and reducing the margin to 1 with a minute or two of norma time plus injury time left to try draw or clinch it.
ReplyDeleteIn fairness, given Limericks passion-fuelled game, conceding before half time to reduce the margin to 3 was always going to see a hell of a kick from Limerick, and we should have tried to kill off the game as best we could before the second half. Thought it was a soft goal into the bargain, and one we should have done better to defend against.
Thought Hutchinson got a very raw deal, being shifted after slipping to see Downes bury it. Davy seems to have no empathy for mistakes at full back, and it will be the death of any prospect of a decent full back in a county shirt.
Terrible to see Brick shoehorned into defence as a make-shift full back, even if it worked to curb the damage by Downes in the 2nd half. The move only served to highlight how Davy and the line failed utterly to deal with Limericks withdrawing of their corner forwards, flooding of midfield and isolation of Downes upfront. We will win nothing with Brick at full back, and Davy has revealed himself as very vulnerable tactically.
We showed great passion and fight in the second half, but Davy's tactical naievety put us in a far more vulnerable position than we should have been, and we lost any semblance of shape, panicking to stem the Limerick tide from O'Grady's tactical shifts.
Lot of good from the game too though, and many of the new championship faces showed very well. Fives and O'Mahony have taken to championship like a duck to water, and in no way should Fives error to let Downes in detract from his otherwise strong showing. Hutchinson showed up quite well, although crucified by Davy's tactical ineptitude to react to O'Grady's re-alignment. David O'Sullivan had a decent game, and Brian a strong one, with the experience bringing him on immensely I suspect, and we won't see him deliver more effectively on the great positions he got in to, as the season goes on.
Great game from Molumphy, and finally at midfield, which the world and his dog knows is his optimal position. Shane Walsh likewise, although pulling him further out the field in the 2nd half was pointless, even if the supply to him had dried up.
Great game from Mullane too, and great to see him taking goals from the positions he got himself into. A true testament to the man, that 2-2 was seen as a mercurial performance and that he could have had more.
We showed on Sunday we have the players to mix it, with great performances from younger faces (even if Maurice was clearly unfit after injury). although equally the line needs to own up to their lack-lustre performance and improve, if we are to be a real threat this year and not simply be outmaneouvred when it comes to the crunch.
Looking forward to a Munster final against Clare or Tipp, although do not want to see Brick starting at 3!
Enjoyed reading your match report and look forward to exploring your previous articles, and anticipate your future ones! :)
Just to add to Déiseach's comment on the conference before Kelly's free , a good 45 seconds was wasted on this nonsense in the 68th minute, when we could have simply taken our point and used the time to seek additional scores to win or at least level it. We would have looked very foolish indeed had Mullane not goaled in the death!
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