WIT 1-20 Waterford 0-23 Challenge Match At Carriganore

On a bitterly cold afternoon at the Carriganore complex, the Waterford senior hurlers battled back in the second period to earn a draw against WIT in a lively challenge match.

The students made first use of a stiff breeze to push clear by 0-15 to 0-7 at the halfway point. Eoin Murphy led the scoring stakes along with wing back Kieran Hough who landed a number of impressive long range efforts. Shane Walsh buried home a goal early in the second half to make it 1-15 to 0-9, after latching onto a clever flick from Jake Dillon. Bit by bit, Waterford began to eat into that lead through Maurice Shanahan’s free taking and Paidi Nevin’s accuracy in open play with four well taken points. Eight white flags without reply left the sides all square with five minutes remaining. Shanahan and Dillon exchanged scores before Brian O’Sullivan put Waterford into the lead. Willie Dunphy had the final say however to ensure a stalemate at full time.

Ian O’Regan, Aiden Kearney, Paul O’Brien and Brian O’Halloran returned to county colours after absences of varying lengths while Maurice O’Gorman and Paidi Nevin were also handed a chance to stake a claim. The De La Salle forward enhanced his credentials here by picking off five points from play after an industrious performance at number ten. Darragh Fives was the pick of the defensive unit while in attack Maurice Shanahan and Brian O’Sullivan along with Nevin stepped up to the mark. Enda Barrett, Eoin Murphy, Shane Walsh (who won an interesting duel against Shane Fives) and Jake Dillon stood out on the WIT team.

Scorers:- WIT: E Murphy 0-7 (4f), S Walsh 1-1, K Hough 0-4, W Dunphy 0-3, J Dillon 0-2, J O’Dwyer, E Moore, A Power (1f) 0-1 each.
Waterford: M Shanahan 0-10 (8f), P Nevin 0-5, B O’Sullivan 0-3, S Casey 0-2, K Moran, S O’Sullivan (1f), P O’Brien 0-1 each.

WIT: A Power, S O’Keeffe, K Joyce, N Connors, K Hough, E Barrett, S Murphy, J Dowling, E Moore, E Madigan, L Harney, J O’Dwyer, E Murphy, S Walsh, J Dillon.

Subs: W Dunphy for O’Dwyer, A Kenny for Madigan, M Power, for Connors.

Waterford: I O’Regan, M O’Gorman, S Fives, A Kearney, D Fives, S O’Sullivan, D O’Sullivan, K Moran, P O’Brien, P Nevin, M Shanahan, E McGrath, B O’Sullivan, S Casey, B O’Halloran.

Subs: O Connors for O’Halloran, D Twomey for O’Brien, J Nagle for McGrath.

Referee: Paul Foley (Waterford)