Waterford 2-24 Dublin 0-13: Dublin suffered their third consecutive heavy defeat in the league when going under to Waterford at Walsh Park yesterday in a game devoid of any competitive edge.
Although the scores remained relatively close for the opening half hour there was never any great excitement for the 4,000 attendance, nor any likelihood of an upset.
It was 1-6 to 0-5 at the end of the first quarter with the home side playing well within themselves. Goalkeeper Gary Maguire and centre forward David Curtin stood out for Dublin.
Waterford's opening goal came from Eoin Kelly on 14 minutes following a great run along the left wing by John Mullane.
The second goal arrived on the stroke of half-time from corner forward Paul O'Brien who finished with an impressive tally of 1-5, all from play.
His goal made it 2-10 to 0-9 at the break and five quick points for the winners after the re-start ensured a totally one-sided and lacklustre final half hour.
Two of those points came from Dave Bennett, who received the only yellow card of the match after 50 minutes for an what seemed like an accidental trip on Curtin.
Dublin had a goal disallowed for a charge on Waterford goalkeeper Clinton Hennessey in the first half and a Curtin penalty was saved five minutes from time but really those incidents made little difference to the end result.
WATERFORD: C Hennessey; T Feeney, F Hartley, D Coffey; E Murphy, J Murray, B Wally (0-1); D Bennett (0-3), B Phelan; D Shanahan (0-1), M Walsh (0-4), E Kelly (1-5, two frees, one 65); P O'Brien (1-5), S Prendergast, J Mullane (0-3). Subs: E McGrath for Walsh, P Flynn (0-1) for Shanahan, A Moloney for Phelan.
DUBLIN: G Maguire; G O'Meara, T Russell, S O'Shea; C Billings, S Hiney, P Bergin; C Meehan (0-2, line ball), G Bennett; D Sweeney, D Curtin, (0-7, six frees), E Moran; E Carroll (0-1), J Kingston (0-1), F Chambers (0-2). Subs: A McCrabbe for Moran, S Daly for Bergin, M Breathnach for Chambers, S Mullen for Carroll, and C Hennebry for Russell.
YELLOW CARD - Waterford: D Bennett replaced by T Browne (0-1).
Referee: G Harrington (Cork).
