All-Ireland Senior Hurling Q-Final – Waterford 2-21 Dublin 1-19

Waterford defeated Dublin by 2-21 to 1-19 in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Quarter-Final on Sunday July 26th at Semple Stadium Thurles.

SHC QF: Waterford see off Dublin in Thurles

GAA All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Quarter-final: Waterford 2-21 Dublin 1-19

By Peter Sweeney in Thurles for GAA.ie

Waterford booked an All-Ireland semi-final date with Kilkenny on August 9 at Croke Park thanks to a five-point win over Dublin.

Trailing by a point at the break, the Déise put on the gas in the second half and were well deserving winners of this quarter-final at Semple Stadium. Goals from Shane Bennett, a real rasper within two minutes of the restart, and Maurice Shanahan five minutes from time tied up the result.

Having narrowly edged the first half, the Dubs appeared to be floating towards inevitable defeat through the third quarter. Then, 13 minutes from time, Mark Schutte rattled the Waterford net to cut the gap to four points and this game reignited.

Fair play to the Deise, they reacted strongly and booked their last four spot against their neighbours and reigning All-Ireland champions. This game finished with ugly scenes, Dublin centre-back Liam Rushe seeing red for striking Maurice Shanahan off the ball deep into injury time.

The Dubs played with the not insignificant wind in the first half and led at the break by a single point, 0-13 to 0-12, getting the last three scores of the period. Waterford’s Division 1 League title win and march to the Munster final, where they lost to Tipperary earlier in the month, was based solidly in defence.

Manager Derek McGrath had adopted a defensive system that many people felt was inspired by football’s fashion for getting me behind the ball. On this occasion though they played a far more open game than usual, with Colin Dunford, picked in the full-forward line as usual, playing close to the opposition goal rather than working back.

It’s certainly a tactic that paid early dividends when he picked off two first half points. Austin Gleeson too spent more time in the opposition half, rather than sweeping back in front of his defence. Of course, this allowed Dublin more room to operate in attack and their 13 first half points was a fair return in a free-scoring opening.

The Boys in Blue were extremely economical up front, hitting just three first half wides, an had a spread of six scorers. Danny Sutcliffe weighed in with three points in the first half and exerted a major influence on proceedings. The Dubs’ defence was shaky at times at the start, their skills letting them down even when they were first to the ball on a wet day at Semple Stadium.

Goalkeeper Gary Maguire, a former All Star, came under pressure on a number of occasions too. Once he was impressive when he came to take man and ball, clearing a dangerously dropping effort. A move then swept up the field and ended with Paul Ryan putting over free. A few minutes later Maguire did well to deal with a tricky low shot from Bennett, though he fumbled possession and a debatable ’65’ was awarded that Shanahan flew over as part of his 0-8 first half haul.

On the half-hour Noel Connors limped out of the action, his suspect hamstring giving way. He was replaced by Stephen Daniels, playing his first Championship game in two years following his horror leg break early last summer. Waterford were level within seconds of the restart, the always impressive Kevin Moran adding the second point to his account for the day, and were in front almost straight away.

Shahanan pounced on a Cian O’Callaghan error and just as he was about to point he spotted Bennet free near goals. Bennett fumbled what was a perfect pass, but more than made amends when he hit the ball on the half volley and hammered it into the net. From here they worked a seven-point lead and it appeared as though they were cruising into the next round.

Credit to Dublin, they managed to pull themselves out of their steep decline and Mark Schutte’s goal gave them hope, Ryan O’Dwyer doing well to get his centre away to set up this key score. Waterford were more compact in the second half as they defended their lead, though they did break out to score a magnificent second goal. The move started with Daniels in the left back-back position and ended with Shanahan blasting past Maguire, rounding off his 1-12 total.
***
Scorers for Waterford: M Shanahan 1-12 (9f, 2 ’65’); A Gleeson 0-4 (1 sideline); Shane Bennett (1-0); C Dunford, K Moran 0-2 each; J Dillon 0-1

Scorers for Dublin: M Schutte 1-2; P Ryan 0-5 (5f); D Sutcliffe, D O’Callaghan 0-3 each, R O’Dwyer 0-2, D Treacy 0-2 (1 ’65’); C Crummey, N McMorrow 0-1 each

WATERFORD: Stephen O’Keeffe; Shane Fives, Barry Coughlan, Noel Connors; Darragh Fives, Tadhg de Burca, Philip Mahony; Kevin Moran, Jamie Barron; Shane Bennett, Austin Gleeson, Jake Dillon; Maurice Shanahan, Michael Walsh, Colin Dunford
Subs: Shane Daniels for Connors (30); Patrick Curran for Dunford (54); Tom Devine for Dillon (67); Stephen Bennett for Shane Bennett (71); Eddie Barrett for Gleeson (71).

DUBLIN: Gary Maguire; Shane Barrett, Cian O’Callaghan, Paul Scutte; Chris Crummey, Liam Rushe, Joseph Boland; John McCaffrey, Niall McMorrow; Paul Ryan, Danny Sutcliffe, Ryan O’Dwyer; David O’Callaghan, Conal Keaney, Mark Schutte.
Subs: Peter Kelly for Barrett (47); Cian Boland for McMorrow (53); David Treacy for Ryan (63); Eamon Dillon for Keaney (66); Oisin O’Rourke for Sutcliffe (71).

REFEREE: J Ryan (Tipperary)

Preview: All-Ireland SHC Quarter-Final – @WaterfordGAA v @DubGAAOfficial, Semple Stadium, Sunday, 2pm: http://t.co/ETqtZfIUUa

— The GAA (@officialgaa) July 24, 2015

Fixture Details

26.07.2015 (Sun)
GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship Quarter Final
Semple Stadium, Thurles 14:00
Áth Cliath v Port Láirge
Referee: Johnny Ryan (Tiobraid Árann)

Team News

DUBLIN (SH v Waterford): G Maguire; S Barrett, C O’Callaghan, P Schutte; C Crummey, L Rushe, J Boland; J McCaffrey, N McMorrow; P Ryan, R O’Dwyer, D Sutcliffe; D O’Callaghan, C Keaney, M Schutte.

WATERFORD: S O’Keeffe, S Fives, B Coughlan, N Connors; T De Burca, A Gleeson, P Mahony; J Barron, D Fives; K Moran, Shane Bennett, J Dillon; M Shanahan, M Walsh, C Dunford.

How they got here

DUBLIN
Galway 1-17 Dublin 0-20 (Leinster quarter-final)
Galway 5-19 Dublin 1-18 (Leinster quarter-final) Replay
Dublin 4-17 Laois 0-19 (Round 1 Qualifier)
Dublin 1-17 Limerick 1-16 (Round 2 Qualifiers)

DUBLIN SCORERS
Paul Ryan………………… 0-24 (0-13 frees, 0-3 ‘65s’)
David Treacy………. ….0-13 (0-9 frees, 0-2 ‘65s’)
Mark Schutte…………….2-6
Eamonn Dillon………….1-5
Conal Keaney…………..1-3
‘Dotsy’ O’Callaghan…2-0
Danny Sutcliffe…. …..0-4
Liam Rushe…………….0-3
Ryan O’Dwyer………..0-3
Daire Plunkett…………0-3
Johnny McCaffrey…. 0-2
Darragh O’Connell….0-2
Cian Boland……………0-2
Simon Lambert……… 0-1
Shane Barrett………… 0-1

WATERFORD
Waterford 3-19 Cork 1-21 (Munster semi-final)
Tipperary 0-21 Waterford 0-16 (Munster final)

WATERFORD SCORERS
Maurice Shanahan…1-17 (0-10 frees, 0-3 ‘65s’)
Kevin Moran…………0-4
Jake Dillon…………….1-0
Tom Devine…………..1-0
Austin Gleeson……….0-3 (0-2 frees)
Stephen Bennett…….0-2
Shane Bennett……….0-2
Colin Dunford……….0-2
Patrick Curran………..0-2
Shane Fives………….. 0-2
Tadhg De Burca……..0-1

PREVIOUS CHAMPIONSHIP CLASHES
2005: Waterford 4-17 Dublin 1-3 (All-Ireland qualifiers)
1948: Waterford 6-7 Dublin 2-2
1938: Dublin 2-5 Waterford 1-6

DUBLIN IN ALL-IRELAND QUARTER-FINALS
Dublin have won one and lost two of their previous three appearances in the All-Ireland quarter-final.
2014: Tipperary 2-23 Dublin 0-16
2011: Dublin 3-13 Limerick 0-18
2009: Limerick 2-18 Dublin 1-17

WATERFORD IN ALL-IRELAND QUARTER-FINALS
Waterford have won six, drawn one and lost two of their previous nine quarter-finals.
2012: Cork 1-19 Waterford 0-19
2011: Waterford 2-23 Galway 2-13
2009: Waterford 1-16 Galway 0-18
2008: Waterford 2-19 Wexford 3-15
2007: Waterford 2-17 Cork 0-20 (Replay)
2007: Waterford 3-16 Cork 3-16 (Draw)
2006: Waterford 1-22 Tipperary 3-14
2005: Cork 1-18 Waterford 1-13
1998: Waterford 1-20 Galway 1-10