Tipperary 1-16 Waterford 0-14WATERFORD'S AILING grip on the Allianz National Hurling League title was finally relinquished at Nowlan Park yesterday when a more sustained performance from Tipperary took Liam Sheedy's team through to next week's semi-finals.
The winners' greater sharpness and commitment over the 70 minutes saw them win pulling away for a comfortable victory. Their defence coped well - Eamonn Corcoran playing particularly effectively - on a difficult afternoon when bright, spring sunshine competed with bitterly cold temperatures and intermittent snow storms.
Eoin Kelly ended up in double digits but, on a day when more prosaic abilities were to the fore, it was the hard work and appetite of the team, exemplified by Shane McGrath's industry at centrefield, that proved as telling in the end.
Yet again this was a match that was there for the holders and when they closed to within a point going into the last quarter, with the wind at their backs, it looked as if they were going to win.
Instead Waterford appeared to lose urgency and were outscored in the time remaining.
As manager Justin McCarthy confirmed afterwards, the defence of their league title hadn't been uppermost in Waterford's mind going into this season given their championship draw but if the Munster championship is to be retained the team have some way to go in terms of sharpening up and getting some of their big names up to the level of engagement and focus necessary to make an impact in the summer.
One aspect of the team's display that did improve yesterday was the accuracy rate from dead ball. Eoin Kelly's frustrating campaign ended before the throw-in when the flu he had been suffering from prompted his withdrawal.
Dave Bennett took his place and had a flawless afternoon on free-taking duty, landing six out of six - a strike rate that would have won them the previous week's play-off against Cork. But elsewhere in attack there was disappointment.
Dan Shanahan doesn't really need a storming league campaign to stamp his championship credentials and it's well enough known that he spends much time at this stage of the year doing heavy gymnasium work but his form at the moment is very flat and creates big pressure on the hurler of the year going into the summer.
Waterford tried a stripped-down full-forward line but too often the delivery wasn't effective enough to exploit it. At one stage Shanahan was hitting a delicate ball into the inside line only for it be cleared unopposed because there was no one there.
The first half was tightly contested with the teams swapping points more or less equally for half an hour and Tipp struggling a bit to come to terms with the wind advantage. Then came the match's pivotal score: a driving solo run from Séamus Butler leaving Tony Browne in his wake before he finished crisply across Clinton Hennessy in the goal.
Positives for Justin McCarthy's team were mostly in the back nine with the displays of Brian Phelan at corner back and Kevin Moran at full back plus the return of Browne to the starting line-up although up front All Star Stephen Molumphy returned to the panel after his overseas posting with the army and came on in the second half.
Tipperary hurled solidly throughout. The defence was combative and decisive in its clearances. They maintained concentration in the face of awful conditions and with cold hands militating against clean handling there were many throw-ins and much rucking - Sheedy remarking that McGrath would be at home on the Munster rugby team.
Although they looked the more menacing going forward, Tipp's attack, their full-forward line especially, didn't have a vintage afternoon. Kelly did what was needed but Lar Corbett did his best work in the half forwards and Pa Bourke laboured until replaced at the interval.
Curiously Tipp used their biggest attackers in the second half when facing the wind. Sheedy said that he wanted to hold up the ball more effectively. The results were mixed. Séamus Callinan got a point as soon as he came on but Darragh Egan came and went and Michael Webster didn't quite connect with a goal chance towards the end.
The winners' main difficulty was in executing the best ball into the forwards having created the platform but they kept their composure, most notably when, with Bennett having pulled Waterford to within a point at 0-13 to 1-11, Kelly calmly pointed a 20-metre free instead of attempting the goal that many in the approximately 6,000 crowd might have assumed would be necessary.
Waterford managed only one further point while Tipp pulled away with points from Corbett, now on the wing, and Kelly firing over from a tight angle before adding a free and a 65 - brought about when Ryan O'Dwyer and Webster combined only for the ball to be scrambled out.
TIPPERARY: B Cummins; E Buckley, P Curran, C O'Brien; E Corcoran (0-1, line ball), C O'Mahony (0-1, free), S Maher; J Woodlock, S McGrath (0-1); S Butler (1-1), R O'Dwyer, J O'Brien; E Kelly (0-10, seven frees, one 65), L Corbett (0-1), P Bourke. Subs: S Callinan (0-1), D Egan for J O'Brien (54 mins), B Dunne for Woodlock (58 mins), M Webster for Egan (65 mins).
WATERFORD: C Hennessy; P Phelan, K Moran, A Kearney; T Browne, K McGrath (0-1, free), J Kennedy; M Walsh, D Bennett (0-8, six frees); E McGrath (0-1), S Prendergast (0-1), S O'Sullivan (0-1); J Mullane (0-1), D Shanahan, S Casey (0-1). Subs: S Molumphy for O'Sullivan (50 mins), S Walsh for Mullane (65 mins).
Referee: B Gavin (Offaly).
NHL Semi-finals
Tipperary v Kilkenny
Galway v Cork
Matches to be played next Sunday, April 13th.
Details to be confirmed today by CCCC.
