Waterford 1-17 London 0-13:IT WAS difficult to find a negative thought on the final whistle at Ruislip on Saturday. Waterford, predictably, were delighted at having won their first championship qualifier at the 11th attempt, while London, on their best championship run, were refusing to feel too down about being defeated in an encounter where they played 38 minutes with 14 men, and a full 25 with just 13.
Yet, despite the two London players being sent to the line – Paul Geraghty in the first half, Ciarán McCallion in the second after both received a second yellow card from referee Syl Doyle – there remained a truth behind the final scoreline.
With the wind behind them in the first half, Waterford piled players in to their own half to suffocate London, which allowed the reduced full-forward line of Paul Whyte and Gary Hurney to operate in acres of space down the other end. The duo took maximum advantage.
By the interval, the unplayable Hurney had amassed 1-2, Whyte 0-4, and even had Geraghty managed to stay on the pitch beyond the half-time whistle, Waterford’s eight-point half-time lead looked insurmountable.
“Paul and Gary had been threatening that for a while,” said Waterford manager John Owens of the pair who contributed 1-10 between them. They both have great ability as footballers. They’re both handfuls on the pitch but they got great support from other players out there. We wanted to prolong this summer and we’ve managed that now. This will create a bit of buzz around football in Waterford.”
And yet despite Waterford’s first-half superiority, it still would have been interesting to see how they might have fared against 15 London players in the second period.
Already down to 14 at the start of the half, London had chiselled Waterford’s lead back to six points before McCallion received a second booking for a needless lunge.
That put an end to any potential London fightback but even with 13 men, they continued to plug away. Given everything that had gone on, a seven-point defeat was more than respectable.
“It wasn’t our day, lot of things went against us,” said London manager Paul Coggins. “The first sending off was disappointing. I think it was very soft, there was a little bit of pressure put on the linesman.
“But we dug in. I always talk about the performance and while our first-half performance was not good enough, our second half effort was excellent. Everybody is disappointed but we’re looking forward to the future.”
WATERFORD: K Cotter; M O’Gorman, T O’Gorman, E Walsh; T Grey, K Connery, W Hennessy (0-3); M Ahearne, G Hurney (1-3); C O’Keeffe, S Fleming (0-2), P Whyte (0-7, 0-4 frees); B Wall (0-2, frees), S Dempsey, P Hurney. Subs: C Phelan for Walsh (half-time); JJ Hutchinson for P Hurney (52 mins), B Phelan for Dempsey (58 mins), J Phelan for Grey (61 mins), C McGrath for Wall (61 mins).
LONDON: E Byrne; B Comer, M Moloney, D McGreevy; S Doolan, T Gaughan (0-3), D O’Neill; D Hagan, M Gottsche (0-1, 45); C McCallion, P Geraghty (0-1), S McVeigh (0-1); K O’Leary, P McGoldrick (0-1, free), E O’Neill (0-3, frees). Subs: S Browne for Hagan (27 mins), K Phair (0-2, frees) for McGoldrick (44 mins), S Kelly (0-1, free) for Comer (52 mins), C O’Sullivan for O’Neill (59 mins), J Collins for McVeigh (65 mins).
Referee: S Doyle (Wexford).
