Kilkenny fall over the finish line to book semi-final date with Cork

Allianz National Hurling League, Division 2A: Kilkenny 0-18 Waterford 0-16

Warning: this match report may contain traces of hurling.

On a gloomy, rainy afternoon in the Marble City, both teams served up heaps of fare entirely suited to that mood, the strangely messy contest only partly redeeming itself when a minor spurt of excitement broke out over the last 10 minutes or so.

Just as well it’s only the league.

With a bonus home advantage (given the unavailability of Walsh Park), Kilkenny huffed and puffed to eventually get past Waterford, who went three points up early in the second half and looked at that stage poised to kick on.

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Thanks again in the main to the flawless placed-ball accuracy of Billy Drennan, filling in admirably for TJ Reid, Kilkenny out-scored Waterford five points to two in those last 10 minutes, helped by some enduring wastefulness from Waterford which best summed up their afternoon.

With that comes the winning prize of a league semi-final next weekend, against Cork, another test Kilkenny could well do with based on the performance here. It’s a repeat of last year’s pairing, which Cork won.

Drennan finished with 0-10, including one from play, while replacements Alan Murphy and Shane Walsh also chipped in with critical points in that endgame. Waterford’s lack of such accuracy was their ultimate undoing; they finished with 12 wides, eight in the first half.

Conditions and the heavy ground hardly accounted for some of the repeated mishandling and plenty of misfiring too. Over the 70-minutes plus the number of shots directly at goal from both teams added up to zero, and indeed Waterford shot more wides than points in the first half.

Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng admitted it certainly wasn’t pretty, still the end result was satisfying given what comes next.

“A tough game, wasn’t perfect from either side, we made plenty of mistakes,” he conceded. “But I thought our attitude at all times was really good, particularly in the second half, when it looked like Waterford might be getting the run on us. We did well to get the few scores back, and get ahead. But overall plenty to work on.

“But happy to be in the semi-final. We knew today would be tough, we’d need to grind it out, so to see it through is welcoming. We picked up a few knocks, lads who played last week couldn’t feature this week, that’s a challenge, when you’re chopping and changing, it is going to break down at times. Particularly with the conditions. We made some mistakes, but we weren’t afraid to go back at it again, and that’s a positive.”

Waterford played Tadhg De Búrca as a sweeper throughout, certainly limiting Kilkenny’s attacking options, direct or otherwise. The only problem is that Dessie Hutchinson is so frequently lost in the transitioning, unable to get off a single shot at goal all afternoon.

The one half-goal chance fell to Waterford, early in the second half, only for Tom Barron to fire it too high; Pádraig Walsh cut out another possible chance for Patrick Curran, still both goalkeepers had little to fret about throughout.

Afterwards Davy Fitzgerald was listing off all the players he was missing, eight from last year’s championship team, the Waterford manager hardly feigning any grievance about the end result.

“My honest belief is that we were the best team out there,” he said. “We had eight wides to two, in the first half, should have converted a few more of them

“It was a tough battle, but if you’d given me that before the game, with all the lads we’re missing, I’d have taken it. Disappointed we didn’t get through to a league semi-final, but we know Cork and Limerick are a bit ahead of the rest in Munster at the moment.

“But the league wasn’t bad for Waterford, I’ll put it like that. We got to try out over 30-something players, I think started 30, used another one or two. So that’s brilliant, we know were we are panel wise.”

Fitzgerald provided one eventful moment from the otherwise dull first half when, on 18 minutes, he was yellow-carded by match referee Liam Gordon for offensive language on the sideline; his complaint was the overuse of advantage, rather than awarding a free.

He also defended Waterford’s style of play, certainly more successful that last week, when they shipped four goals to Tipperary.

“It’s not a sweeper, to us,” he said, “it’s a plus-one counter-attacking team, we are. Some teams will play with 11 or 12 defenders, we won’t be one of them. We’ll be more of an attacking team.

“This team are still in the mid 20s, most of them, and we’re not going to rush the process. As much as Waterford want to win an All-Ireland this year, I can’t say that straight out. But over the next two or three years we’ll be there or thereabouts with our system of play.”

After Curran mis-cued a couple of frees, Paudie Fitzgerald took over to some relief, scoring six in all.

Kilkenny though took more of the scoring chances, including Martin Keoghan and Darragh Corcoran in the first half, Kilkenny leading throughout, up 0-8 to 0-7 at the break.

Once de Búrca levelled it with a free at the start of the second half, Waterford grew more into the game, up 0-12 to 0-9 Niall Montgomery added his second. If they’d maintained that accuracy they likely would have won, leaving Fitzgerald to perhaps feign a little more delight.

KILKENNY: D Brennan; T Walsh, C Delaney, P Walsh; D Corcoran (0-1), P Deegan, D Blanchfield; C Kenny, C Fogarty (0-1); E Cody (0-1), J Donnelly (0-1), B Ryan; B Drennan (0-10, nine frees), M Keoghan (0-1), G Dunne (0-1). Subs: A Murphy (0-1) for Kenny (half-time), T Clifford for Ryan (42 mins), S Walsh (0-1) for Dunne (58), T Phelan for Keoghan (68), R Corcoran for Cody (70).

WATERFORD: B Nolan; I Daly, M Fitzgerald, C Ryan; T de Búrca (0-1, a free); J Fagan, C Lyons, C Daly; T Barron (0-2), N Montgomery (0-2); Paudie Fitzgerald (0-6, all frees) P Curran (0-1), J Prendergast (0-1); C Dunford (0-2), D Hutchinson. Subs: Patrick Fitzgerald (0-1) for Curran (49 mins), P Leavey for I Daly inj (59), K Mahony for Paudie Fitzgerald (69), DJ Foran for Dunford (71).

Referee: Liam Gordon (Galway).