Between 2002 and 2010, Waterford and Cork engaged in championship combat on eleven occasions. Five wins for Waterford, four to Cork, two draws, 42 goals and over a half a million spectators.
1. Donal Óg Cusack
Appearances: 10
Goals conceded: 19
Unforgettably stretched a stick to deny Ken McGrath in the 2006 semi final but his overall handling and control of the square on that slippy Sunday earned the man of the match prize. He sat out the 2007 provincial semi final after pre-match altercations with Clare led to the Semplegate suspensions. He won’t reflect too fondly on the goals that Tony Browne (Munster semi final 2002) and Dan Shanahan (Munster final 2010) managed to slip past him.
2. Eoin Murphy
Appearances: 11
An understated member of the wonder years and his duel with Joe Deane always proved a well-matched pairing. The battle of the gold helmets. On his way to winning an All Star in 2006, he held Deane scoreless from play during the All Ireland semi final. His clearance two minutes from time in 2004 found the paw of Seamus Prendergast to score and grant the fourteen men breathing space.
3. Diarmuid O’Sullivan
Appearances: 8
A 6 foot 1 inch obstacle known as ‘the Rock’ always stood loud and proud to guard the gates in front of Cusack’s castle. He danced with Dan Shanahan, Seamus Prendergast and Paul Flynn in dust-ups at the perimeter of the square. Subdued days also arrived. He only lasted 15 minutes in 2003 due to illness and an early roasting from John Mullane. The four time All Star claimed back to back awards in 2004 and 2005. He handled Flynn in the Croker quarter final of 2005 and his man was substituted.
4. Brian Murphy
Appearances: 9
Scores: 0-1
His tangles with John Mullane bubbled over in 2004. “It had been building. Brian wouldn’t be the quietest of characters and John wouldn’t be the quietest of characters,” is how Diarmuid O’Sullivan described the dispute. The number four from Bride Rovers tied up his marker in 2005 and gained an edge. Mullane only mustered one point in two meetings that year. He scored his solitary championship point from 65 metres with seven minutes remaining of the drawn 2010 Munster final.
5. Tony Browne
Appearances: 11
Scores: 2-4
Timmy McCarthy, Neil Ronan and Pa Cronin all crossed his path but with little success. An ever present over the eleven games, he interjected with scores on five occasions from half back. In 2010, he turned up at opportune moments. “It’s a long time, eight years, to wait to score a goal,” he said after forcing the draw. “When Eoin’s drive was stopped the ball hopped up nicely for me and I just took a swipe.” A calming free and head first block during extra time of the replay added another layer of drama to that tension-filled Saturday night.
6. Ken McGrath
Appearances: 11
Scores: 0-10
The last leap to fetch above Diarmuid O’Sullivan and the hundred yard point are engraved in the Munster final story of 2004. While backpedalling in 2007, he also picked the sliotar out of the tree. A spectacular playlist but Ken also performed the mundane duties of a centre back. He kept Niall McCarthy scoreless on three huge championship Sundays. Ken always stayed at the hub of the action. He got every last iota out of the free on 73 minutes to earn a semi final rerun. Injuries also encouraged pre-match debate. After damaging his shoulder against Dublin, he was listed at the bottom of the substitutes’ list for the 2002 Munster semi final. He was summoned after 25 minutes and swung over two points in the rain, including an injury time clincher. Three years later, Justin McCarthy named two An Others on the programme but McGrath (wearing number 17) lined out.
7. Seán Óg Ó hAilpín
Appearances: 9
Scores: 0-4
Seán Óg quietened Dan Shanahan in the 2004 Munster final after switching with John Gardiner. He rifled over his first point in championship hurling during the second half of the 2005 All Ireland quarter final. It levelled that particular match and he enjoyed a destructive afternoon on Eoin Kelly. Scoring was a secondary concern but he amazingly added three more in subsequent meetings.
8. Eoin Kelly
Appearances: 11
Scores: 4-44
Kelly averaged five points per game as he tended to rise for championship collisions with Cork. As captain, he received man of the match for six fireworks in 37 minutes during the 2005 Munster semi final. He eluded Seán Óg Ó hAilpín to strike five by half time. He motored down the wing in 2004, stabbed home from close range in the 2006 All Ireland semi and clinched the 2007 provincial semi final by lofting the sliotar past Anthony Nash in an eight goal epic. He outwrestled Shane O’Neill and launched a rocket to revive Waterford’s ailing challenge in 2010.
9. Jerry O’Connor
Appearances: 10
Scores: 0-12
A toss between Tom and Jerry for the second midfield slot. Their engines rarely died. In 2005, the Newtownshandrum speedster got his hands on the Hurler of Year award. They tackled Waterford twice that summer. In the Munster semi final, he scored two points and raised the temperature for the second half to overturn an interval deficit. For the quarter final rematch, he managed one and launched the delivery for Brian Corcoran’s famous drop shot.
10. Ben O’Connor
Appearances: 11
Scores: 2-51
Like Eoin Kelly, Ben O’Connor also scored consistently in this fixture. If a game got stuffy, the black helmet was discarded. He minded long range matters. The 2006 semi final marked a rare blank Sunday for Ben. He saved some of his best work for lost causes. He nailed nine points when Waterford finally knocked Cork out of the ball park in 2007. 2-10 split evenly over both Munster finals in 2010, including that low flying, Paul Flynn influenced free, couldn’t deliver provincial silverware.
11. Seamus Prendergast
Appearances: 11
Scores: 0-11
Arguably, his finest seventy in a Déise jersey arrived when he skinned Ronan Curran for four points (all from awkward angles with a high degree of difficulty) during the 2005 quarter final at Headquarters. John Allen withdrew his centre back before the end. Arriving from the bench with number nineteen on his back, he supplied John Mullane’s hat trick strike in 2003. He also rounded off that game turning move in the 2004 Munster final when the ball was worked up the field to give Waterford a two point gap.
12. Dan Shanahan
Appearances: 10
Scores: 9-9
In seven of his ten appearances against the red shirt, Dan defied Donal Óg. He did the bulk of the damage in 2007 with five in three games including his fantastic first in the drawn quarter final that he took confidently in his stride and angled across Cusack to the far corner. An often forgotten offering of 1-3 during the first half of the 2004 final kept tabs on a Cork train that threatened to run away. He also won the famous free off Seán Óg which still appears rather dubious! Add the swansong in 2010 which Ger Loughnane labelled in the makeshift studio. “If there is ever a film made about this, it could well be entitled ‘The Legend of Dan the Man.’”
13. John Mullane
Appearances: 11
Scores: 4-24
Another constant character to this eleven part boxset. An extraordinary hat trick off his left side in 2003 followed by an early shower 38 minutes into the 2004 episode marked a couple of early blockbuster offerings. He was tied up to just the bare minimum by Brian Murphy in the two 2005 games. He made up for that shortfall with four points in the 2006 semi final and a man of the match return of 1-4 a year later in the craziest of Munster matches. He hit seven of jaw dropping quality from the flanks over the 2010 draw and replay. He nearly had to be restrained from re-entering the fray during extra time.
14. Paul Flynn
Appearances: 9
Scores: 4-40
Flynn’s daredevil act is just over ten years old. “It was a chance to nothing. If I didn’t hit it and it didn’t dip, it would go over and if it did dip, it might have a chance of going in.” That much celebrated 1-7 casts a shadow over other significant inputs against the Rebels. He shot a dozen in that important leap at the semi final fence two years previous. He scored goals in both the Munster semi final and drawn quarter final of 2007. When he lost Diarmuid O’Sullivan in 2005, a perfect connection whipped the sliotar over Donal Óg Cusack. In 2003, he teed up Mullane’s second with a piece of quick thinking that caught Cork cold.
15. Joe Deane
Appearances: 9
Scores: 2-41
In the 2003 Munster final, he escaped from Brian Greene when a ball was floated over which he collected, shortened and finished. “The Deano has got it!” exclaimed Cyril Farrell in commentary. He did his bit the following year to stop the force of fourteen men. The 5 foot 7 inch Killeagh stickman weaved three from play. Eoin Murphy managed to silence him on a couple of occasions but he let loose on others. He snapped a goal in the 2005 Munster final to instantly punish a defensive slip. The following year, he flicked the hand pass for Cathal Naughton to strike.
