Clinical Waterford prove too strong for Offaly in Tullamore

Allianz Hurling League Division 1A: Offaly 0-17 Waterford 3-20

Waterford made light of their relative inexperience as they produced a far more clinical and efficient display than their hosts in Tullamore, ensuring a comfortable start for David Fitzgerald’s troops in this year’s Allianz Hurling League.

“To be honest, missing the bodies we were missing, if you were to give me that win at the start of it I’d be absolutely delighted, so we’ll take it,” was the Clare man’s summary of proceedings.

“Bar the 15 or 20 minutes at the start of the second half, I’d be happy enough with our performance,” he added, though certainly the third quarter will no doubt get plenty of focus in this week’s video review sessions.

On the Faithful County’s last tilt at Division One hurling, heavy defeats to Cork, Galway, Clare and Limerick left them scarred and weakened in advance of their ill-fated relegation final against Antrim.

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This time around Brian Duignan, Eoghan Cahill and Eimhin Kelly picked off some good first-half points, with all three members of the half-back line adding points from distance.

However, 10 first-half wides proved costly, and once Seán Walsh nicked in to deliver the first goal midway through the half and against the breeze, an away win looked inevitable.

Seven minutes later, Stephen Bennett found the net twice in 30 seconds, and Waterford were home and hosed. His first was an excellent piece of improvisation after his mis-hit a free, but his second saw him ruthlessly capitalise on a sloppy pass out of the Offaly back line.

“The goals were disappointing,” Offaly manager Johnny Kelly admitted. “At this level you just can’t do that. It’s a collective responsibility thing. On top of that we had a good number of wides, I think the shot count was 37 to Waterford, 32 to us. We took 17 scores. Our shot efficiency was off a bit, particularly in the first half.”

At 3-8 to 0-10 up with 35 wind-assisted minutes to come, Waterford were well set to power ahead and win well, but instead they laboured, and Offaly drew to within three points, largely on the back of solid free-taking from Duignan.

Fitzgerald had more firepower to call upon from the bench however, and five points from Séamus Fitzgerald and Neil Montgomery, allied to a red card for Leon Fox and a handful of late frees, ensured a double-digit margin of victory for the winners.

Whether that will be enough, given the race to secure a place in next year’s top seven, remains to be seen. On a weekend when Limerick and Galway ran up monstrous victories, Fitzgerald refuted the idea that his side lost a step in the scoring difference race.

“Not really, we just set out to win the game. You have to respect Offaly and you have to respect what we were missing as well, so we just wanted to get a win.”

Scorers for Waterford: Stephen Bennett 2-4 (0-3f), S Walsh 1-1, P Curran and S Fitzgerald 0-3 each, M Kiely and N Montgomery 0-2 each, Pádraig Fitzgerald, K Bennett, J Prendergast, J Fagan, and C Sheehan 0-1 each.

Scorers for Offaly: E Cahill 0-6f, B Duignan 0-5 (0-4f), E Kelly 0-2, K Sampson, J Sampson, C Kiely and D Nally 0-1 each.

OFFALY: S Corcoran; B Conneely, C Burke, S Bourke; K Sampson (0-1), C Kiely (0-1), J Sampson (0-1); C King, L Fox; D Nally (0-1), E Kelly (0-2), D Bourke; C Mitchell, B Duignan (0-5, 0-4f), E Cahill (0-6f).

Subs: D King for Cahill (30), J Clancy for D Bourke (40), D Shirley for Conneely (59).

WATERFORD: S O’Brien; M Fitzgerald, C Prunty, T Barron; J Fagan (0-1), C Lyons, P Fanning; K Bennett (0-1), P Leavy; P Curran (0-3), M Kiely (0-2), J Prendergast (0-1); Pádraig Fitzgerald (0-1), S Walsh (1-1), Stephen Bennett (2-4, 0-3f).

Subs: C Ryan for Lyons (35+2), S Fitzgerald (0-3) for K Bennett (44), Patrick Fitzgerald for Walsh (55), N Montgomery (0-2) for Pádraig Fitzgerald (60), C Sheehan (0-1) for Curran (68) Shane Bennett for Kiely (70+1).

Referee: Kevin Jordan (Tipperary).

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