Waterford Crystal Cup Senior Hurling Quarter Final – Clare 1-14 Limerick 0-11

Clare defeated Limerick by 1-14 to 0-11 in the Waterford Crystal Cup Hurling Quarter-Final on Sunday January 19^th at Sixmilebridge.

New lads put down marker for Davy

Clare 1-14 Limerick 0-11

Report from the Irish Examiner newspaper

Waterford Crystal Cup: Limerick were late arriving at Sixmilebridge yesterday for this Waterford Crystal Cup quarter-final, for which manager TJ Ryan had a valid excuse. “There was a crash in the Shannon tunnel which caught us up, the whole tunnel was closed. We were late for the warm-up in Meelick, late getting here. We had decided not to go by Thomond Park because of the match there (Munster v Edinburgh) but we still got caught.”

Limerick were also late in getting into this game: scoreless after eight ineffective minutes, and already 1-1 behind against a Clare side that was shorn 14 starters from last September’s All-Ireland triumph (late call-up Pat O’Connor the only exception). For this TJ had less of an excuse: “We’d have been happy with a few of the performances but we missed a lot of chances in front of goals, missed a lot of frees. We had a few chances to get back into the game but conceded a few soft frees which they scored — that was the difference.” Let it be noted, however, late start notwithstanding, there were other extenuating circumstances yesterday, and for both sides — this was winter hurling. The Sixmilebridge pitch showed the effects the recent torrential rain and cut up badly. It made for a disappointing spectacle for the 1,456 souls who had braved the cold.

Clare led 1-9 to 0-6 at the break, their goal coming in the first minute when corner-forward David Reidy appeared to get a touch on a Cathal ‘Tots’ O’Connell centre, deceiving Barry Hennessy in the Limerick goal. The second half was even more low-scoring, just five points apiece as a dominant Clare defence comfortably coped with what an admittedly limited Limerick attack could throw at them. A winning start to 2014 then for the All-Ireland champions, an emphatic start especially for two debutants in the forward line, the precocious Bobby Duggan (just out of minor he ended with a cool 12 points to his name) and the diminutive ‘Tots’ O’Connell, a thorn in the side of the Limerick defence from first ball to last.

Midfielder Shane Golden also caught the eye but best news of all for Davy Fitzgerald: the display of the defence, the inside trio of Killian Ryan, Cillian Duggan and flying Seadhna Morey especially impressive. Bearing in mind that neither Paul Flanagan nor Jack Browne, corner-backs on the U21 All-Ireland-winning side of last year, were available, it just goes to show the depth of talent in Clare currently.

“It will be interesting to see how the lads who didn’t play today have wintered,” mused Davy: “The lads today were saying ‘We want to be on the panel, we want to be on the team’. We’ll have to cut the panel later and it won’t be easy. A lot of the lads out there today gave a fair performance. I’ve got to get my first team a bit of action although a good question now is — what is my first team? I’m going to have to start giving game-time to the other (first-team) lads.” Good day for Clare then, bad day for Limerick, but neither manager was getting carried away. “We played alright but Limerick had three goal chances in the first half which they didn’t take.” said Fitzgerald. “Limerick were missing a lot (of players) as well so we won’t be reading much into it. My honest opinion is that we are going to be under pressure in the first few rounds of the League. I don’t think we’ll have enough done. “I’m looking at other counties – the likes of Kilkenny and Dublin – they have weeks and weeks of work done. That’s a worry for us going into the League.”

TJ Ryan was more circumspect: “You want to win the game, ultimately, but it’s not the be-all and end-all. “Our first league game is on February 15 and we’ll aim for that, keep the training going.”

Scorers for Clare: B Duggan (0-12, 9fs); C O’Connell (1-1); K Ryan (0-1).

Scorers for Limerick: J Fitzgibbon (0-5 frees); W Hickey (0-2); D O’Donovan, P O’Brien, S Tobin, T Quaid (0-1)..

CLARE: D Touhy; K Ryan, C Duggan, S Morey; C Cleary, P Kelly, P O’Connor; L Markham, S Golden; N O’Connell, C O’Connell, A O’Neill; B Duggan, C Cooney, D Reidy

Subs: S Collins for O’Neill (35); D O’Halloran for Cooney (59); D O’Donovan for Kelly (59); C Ryan for Markham (64); S Gleeson for Reidy (65).

LIMERICK: B Hennessey; S Walsh, P O’Loughlin, R English; W McNamara, G O’Mahony, C McNamara; P Browne, P O’Brien; D O’Donovan, D O’Grady (c), W Hickey; G Mulcahy, M Ryan, J Fitzgibbon.

Subs: S Tobin for O’Donovan (53); T Quaid for Ryan (59); B Lynch for Walsh (65); R McCarthy for English (67).

Referee: D Copps (Cork)

For the Record

Waterford Crystal Cup Senior Hurling 2014

Preliminary Round

Friday January 10^th

@ Mick Neville Park Rathkeale     Limerick 10-17 IT Tralee 0-9

Sunday January 12^th

@ WIT GAA Grounds Carriganore University of Limerick 1-11 Waterford 0-10

@ MacDonagh Park Nenagh        Tipperary 3-20 LIT 0-5

Quarter-Finals (Extra Time)

Sunday January 19^th

@ Austin Stack Park Tralee           Kerry v Tipperary                                                      @ 1:00pm

@ WIT GAA Grounds Carriganore WIT v UL                                                                  @ 2:00pm

@ Sixmilebridge                               Clare v Limerick                                                       @ 2:00pm

@ Mardyke                                        UCC v Mary I                                                @ 2:00pm

Semi-Finals (Extra Time)

Sunday January 26^th

Kerry or Tipperary v WIT or UL

Clare or Limerick v UCC or Mary I

Final (Extra Time)

Sunday February 2^nd

Waterford Crystal Cup Senior Hurling – Odds and Ends

Limerick have not defeated an inter-county team in the Waterford Crystal Cup since the 2006 semi-final when they defeated Clare by 1-14 to 0-13 at the Gaelic Grounds Limerick.

Clare are the only team who have won at least one game each year since the Waterford Crystal Cup competition began in 2006. Clare also have the best won / lost record in the competition, winning 18 and drawing 1 of their 25 matches played while winning 2 titles.

35 goals were scored in the 2013 Waterford Crystal Cup competition over 11 matches (an average of 3.2 goals per match). This is the exact same number of goals scored in the 2012 competition while only 23 goals were scored in the 2011 competition over 10 matches (an average of 2.3 goals per match).

Since the Waterford Crystal Cup began in 2006, Clare (18 wins), Tipperary (16 wins) and Waterford (13 wins) have accounted for 47 of the 84 victories in the competition (56%).

Tipperary hold the record for the longest winning streak in the Waterford Crystal Cup since the competition began under that guise in 2006 when they won 10 consecutive matches between 2007 and 2009.

None of the five teams who take part in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship have a losing record in the Waterford Crystal Cup since 2006.

Since the Waterford Crystal Cup began in 2006, 69 games have been played with just 1 draw – the 2012 Limerick v Clare Quarter-Final after two periods of extra time.

The record of the Third Level Colleges in the Waterford Crystal Cup since 2006 is Won 22, Lost 47, a 32% success rate.

Waterford have lost their last 3 matches in the Waterford Crystal Cup having won 8 in a row from 2010 to 2012.

IT Tralee is the only team not to win a game in the Waterford Crystal Cup since 2006, losing their first match in the last 7 seasons.

Waterford Crystal Cup Senior Hurling Roll Of Honour

Tipperary (3) – 2007, 2008, 2012

Waterford (2) – 2010, 2011

Clare (2) – 2009, 2013

Limerick (1) – 2006