Curiosity filled more than half of the stand at Carriganore on Friday night in another roll of the dice for players on the fringes to make the cut among the dead certs.
These challenges are hard to figure but do follow a template. The first half generally means that bit more with some sort of purpose and structure to it. The influx of subs in the second half breaks up any pattern previously established. The game inevitably tails off. All of this results in looking for slight signs that may be relevant for bigger days. Even in a mix and match selection, a semblance of a game plan emerged. There was an emphasis on playing accurate stick passes to the forwards inside and most importantly into the hand. Encouragingly, the majority of them stuck. They also changed the angle of attack with frequency. In terms of formation, Michael Walsh was named at midfield but played in front of Paudie Prendergast at six. Seamus Prendergast shoved back closer to the centre and Ryan Donnelly moved out to the wing forward position. Although this only left two inside attackers in theory, the Dungarvan man energetically covered that right side and wasn’t marked absent when the ball was driven into the corner.
29 players went through the process and ten of them scored in what turned into a routine five goal win over a Mount Leinster Rangers side looking towards Loughgiel in the All Ireland semi final. They started with 12 of the provincial winning fifteen. The hard work was done by the first half home selection who used the breeze and their tidy distribution to exit with 12 points in hand (2-10 to 0-4).
Mount Leinster charged into the contest initially. Paudie Prendergast was minced two minutes in by a shoulder from Jack Murphy which Michael Wadding penalised him for. Mark Wyse was the next victim of a heavy hit but no whistle sounded this time and Edward Byrne pointed from the turnover. It was a false first impression however as Waterford moved them around with their slick passing. In the fifth minute, Thomas Connors sliced through the centre and Cormac Heffernan walloped to the top corner. Connors did plenty of damage in the first half. He scored 1-1 and created opportunities for others. The Passage battering ram started four league games under Davy Fitzgerald back in 2010 but fell off the inter county radar thereafter. Shane McNulty looked eager and barely put a ball astray in his 35 minute trial at number five. Ryan Donnelly tracked back and took a nice point and Heffernan was unfortunate not to add a second goal when Frank Foley blocked his attempt. Killian Fitzgerald roamed loosely and sent two shots sailing over from midfield. Prendergast accounted for five and thundered into everything. They ran up an uninterrupted 1-7 in the space of 12 minutes before half time. On 31 minutes, McNulty placed Connors through to perfection with a raking ball and the centre forward shook the bottom corner.
A flurry 14 Waterford substitutes were introduced throughout the second half. Stephen Molumphy was the only starter to survive the cull. There were bright glimpses from Tadhg Bourke, Philip Mahony and Maurice Shanahan. Eight minutes in, Seamus Prendergast located the net after a wicked deflection off full back Gary Doyle. The gap widened to 16 at that stage (3-12 to 0-5).
Mount Leinster finally started to gain forward momentum in the closing half hour and Waterford conceded a succession of frees. Denis Murphy obliged with six in rapid fire fashion as the deficit was cut to single digits. In a fractured spectacle, a couple of flare-ups developed in front of the Mount Leinster goal. Maurice Shanahan then hammered home two 21 metre frees on 60 minutes and 65 minutes despite a heavy presence on the goal line. Murphy continued to score regularly and ended on 12 points as the Carlow club stayed to the finish. The task of trimming the panel will soon occupy Derek McGrath’s mind as the game strategy begins to bed in.
Scorers for Waterford: S Prendergast 1-5 (4fs), M Shanahan 2-1 (2-0fs), T Connors 1-1, C Heffernan 1-0, Pauric Mahony 0-3 (2fs), K Fitzgerald 0-2, R Donnelly, S Walsh, S Molumphy, S O’Sullivan 0-1 each.
Scorers for Mount Leinster Rangers: D Murphy 0-12 (11fs), HP O’Byrne, E Byrne, P Coady, W Hickey 0-1 each.
Waterford: I O’Regan; M Wyse, L Lawlor, R Barry; S McNulty, P Prendergast, B Coughlan; K Fitzgerald, M Walsh; S Prendergast, T Connors, S Molumphy; R Donnelly, S Walsh, C Heffernan.
Subs used: S Barry, S Fives, A O’Sullivan, K Moran, Philip Mahony, Pauric Mahony, B O’Halloran, T Bourke, S O’Sullivan, J Barron, E Barrett, M Shanahan, T Devine, J Dillon.
Mount Leinster Rangers: F Foley; M Doyle, G Doyle, G Kelly; Diarmuid Byrne, R Coady, E Coady; J Hickey, Derek Byrne; J Byrne, E Byrne, D Phelan; D Murphy,
Referee: M Wadding
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