Out of the
blue, Brian O’Halloran hit the big time back in 2010. He had only
graduated from minor and he was thrown into the furnace of a Munster final. Cork led by two points when he was sent on in
place of Seamus Prendergast.
Almost
immediately, he was offered a straightforward point opportunity and he composed
himself before slotting it over. In a low scoring final, every point was
precious and although O’Halloran was called ashore during extra time, he had
freshened up the attack. His searing speed subsequently lit up the training
ground and Davy felt he was ready for another showpiece occasion. He was catapulted into
the starting fifteen for the All Ireland semi final but lasted a mere 22 minutes.
O’Halloran
was never offered a chance of immediate redemption. The following year he
sparkled during the Waterford Crystal campaign from centre forward but cruelly limped
out of the final against Cork
at Pairc Ui Rinn. A string of injuries saw him go off the radar and tumble down
the pecking order. The Clashmore man had to wait until last Sunday to make his
first league start. He showed signs of recovery last year in the intermediate
championship and Mary I’s unexpected run to the Fitzgibbon weekend did him no
harm whatsoever.
He made
sixteen plays at Cusack
Park and each of them was
a telling contribution. He slotted two first half points but also supplied the
delivery for Jake Dillon’s goal and set up Seamus Prendergast for a white flag.
He added
two more points shortly after the restart, one off his right followed by one
off his left. Although his snappy shooting caught the eye, the man in the white
helmet also distributed the ball unselfishly. He kept his head up and picked
out the right pass. He also
wasn’t afraid to put the head down at times and test out the Clare defence. Also in
that frantic four minutes of injury time, he made a vital block. In a
forward line with low mileage clocked up, O’Halloran took the driver’s seat
with Jake Dillon alongside him. The De La Salle flyer nailed five second half points
(after a poacher’s goal in the opening half), earned two frees and also laid on
two points for O’Halloran. The Ballygunner pair of Pauric Mahony (who picked up
possession twelve times in the first half) and Brian O’Sullivan put in industrious
shifts. Seamus Prendergast had a good tussle with Patrick Donnellan but still
grabbed 1-1, won two frees and set up a point.
Clare’s
forward line didn’t pack as much of a punch. Colin Ryan carried the torch
throughout and struck three fine points from play. Tony Kelly gave them
traction around the middle and he also helped out in the scoring stakes. Some
glaring misses among twelve wides and a general lack of direction up front
undermined their best efforts however. The Waterford screen also limited the damage and
two last ditch tackles from Michael Walsh and Stephen Daniels prevented certain
goals. In his new
Irish Independent column, John Mullane identified the stand-in full back as a
player on an upward curve. “Shane
Fives has returned to the fold looking a lot leaner than I’ve seen him. He’s
put himself forward for a regular position on the team on that performance.”
Another player returning to form is Jamie Nagle who pushed O’Halloran all the
way in the man of the match stakes. On 22 plays, he was the most active Waterford player on view.
He cleaned up under the high ball and also offered the launch pad for raids
into Clare territory. Many of those clearances were carefully directed into the
forward line and it was the Dungarvan man who delivered the telling pass to the
unmarked Shane O’Sullivan at the death.
The game was
played at a moderate pace and only caught fire in fits and starts. The
unpredictable officiating of John Sexton also broke the rhythm at times and he
cut down on any robust challenges that may have ignited the contest. He flashed
four yellows to Waterford
players and many of those calls were puzzling to say the least. He could also
have added a couple more minutes of injury time to allow for the stoppages in
the second half. A stop start
thirty five minutes turned into a see saw battle with the teams almost taking
it in turns to swap scores. The game was settled by the calmer and more assured
outfit. The visitors shot six wides in the first half but were far more
economical thereafter. As the clock struck 72:20, Shane Fives bounded out to
win the race for possession. Noel Connors received the sliotar and picked out
Kevin Moran. Despite the fact that the captain’s pass was a bit aimless,
Darragh Fives recovered possession and found Jamie Nagle. This patient build up
paid off as Nagle looked up and spotted O’Sullivan who won the vital free.
Michael Ryan took a nibble at the
pundits and critics within the county in his post match comments on WLR FM. “There
were a lot stories going around outside our camp that things weren’t going
well. We knew ourselves that training was going magnificently well, everybody
was working really hard. We had a fantastic team meeting last night; everybody
was buzzing. We are not one bit surprised by this. We knew this morning that we
could win this match. I’m thrilled with the performance of the players, they
were absolutely outstanding. Clare took the lead with about ten minutes to go
on their home patch but we battled back, Brian O’Halloran got some fantastic
points and we deserved the victory.” Strong words certainly and it indicates
the significance that Ryan attached to this fixture.
They are not out of the woods yet however. Even with two
points on the board and three home games to follow, the bookmakers are still
offering odds as short as 6/4 for Ryan’s charges to take the plunge. There is a long road to travel yet before Waterford can feel comfortable in Division 1A but Sunday’s
win gives them momentum ahead of a top of the table clash with Cork. For now at least, a weight has lifted.
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