All-Ireland Minor Hurling Championship Semi-Final – Dublin 6-19 Waterford 5-13

Dublin Minors through to first final since 1983

Report from the GAA.ie web site

Sunday, August 14, 2011

GAA Hurling All-Ireland Minor Championship Semi-Final

Dublin 6-19 Waterford 5-13

Four goals from Cormac Costello helped Dublin overcome Waterford in a thrilling GAA Hurling All-Ireland Minor Championship semi-final. Goals were the order of the game with no fewer than 11 scored over the course of the game, with four coming for the Dubs in the first half. This game was over as a contest before the break. The four goals that had passed Paddy Cooke in the Waterford goal killed the game as a contest and all the Déise could do was try and make the score respectable in the second half. Ciarán Kilkenny rattled in the first goal as early as the fourth minute, Castleknock man scuffing his effort into the back of the net after a long solo run.

The Déise responded well and scored four points on the bounce, the best coming from Cathal Curran which levelled the game with 10 minutes gone on the clock. It looked like Liam O’Connor’s Waterford would push on from there but that failed to materialise. Costello opened his goal-scoring account with quarter of an hour gone. Some fine work by Emmet Ó Conghaile left Costello in yards of space to finish with ease. The Dubs pushed on then scoring seven points and there looked to be only one winner.

The men from the capital did not stop there and two more goals before the interval looked to have finished off any chance of Waterford making a comeback. Paul Winters stepped up with Dublin’s third, and their fourth came on the stroke of half time. Costello caused all sorts of confusion in the goal area after a long ball was fired in by Kilkenny. The ball was not dealt with by the Waterford defenders and Costello helped the ball into the back of the net, leaving the scores at 4-12 to 0-7 at half time. Waterford registered the first point of the second half through corner back Jamie Barron but further damage was caused five minutes after the restart by the Dublin forwards. Costello was on hand to score his third goal of the game and show the Dubs were the team in control.

Points from Stephen Bennett, Jake Dillon and Gavin O’Brien helped narrow the gap but thanks to three goals in a 10-minute spell, it looked like there could be a comeback on. Substitute Cormac Heffernan, on 41 minutes, gave the Déise a glimmer of hope and six minutes later they had a second goal from another sub, Adam O’Sullivan. O’Brien was next up for Waterford with the pick of the bunch as his strike sailed past Cormac Ryan in the Dublin goal and nestled into the top corner. Dublin turned on the style again and Costello was on hand to hit a fourth goal in the 44th minute to end any hopes of Waterford fight back. Heffernan was in the thick of things for the Déise as he was brought down in the Dublin area and Bennett stepped up to fire home the penalty but the damage was already done at that stage.

Shay Boland’s Dubs responded well and three points from Kilkenny and a point piece from Aodhán Clabby and Brian McCarthy made sure of the victory. A fluke goal from Waterford took the one-sided the look off the score line a little but there was no doubt Dublin were going on to face Galway in the final.

Dublin Scorers: C Costello 4-2, C Kilkenny 1-6 (0-1f), P Winters 1-3 (0-2f), A Clabby 0-3, E Ó Conghaile 0-1, C Cronin 0-1, G Whelan 0-1, J Desmond 0-1, M McCaffrey 0-1, B McCarthy 0-1.

Waterford Scorers: G O’Brien 1-3, S Bennett 1-1, P O’Keeffe 1-1, C Heffernan 1-0, A O’Sullivan 1-0, D Breathnach 0-3, J Dillion 0-2 (0-1f), C Curran 0-1, J Barron 0-1, C Chester 0-1.

Dublin: C Ryan; E Lowndes, C O’Callaghan, S McClelland; C Crummy, J Desmond, M McCaffrey; G Whelan, C Cronin; C Kilkenny, C McHugh, E ÓConghaile; C Costello, A Clabby, P Winters. Subs: O’Rorke for Winters (44), B McCarthy for McHugh (47), D Gormley for Cronin (59).

Waterford: P Cooke; J Barron, D Ahern, C Wlash; I Kenny, D Foley, J Power; S McNulty, R Barry; J Dillon, G O’Brien, D Breathnach; P O’Keeffe, S Bennett, C Curran. Subs: D O’Brien for P O’Keeffe (HT), A O’Sullivan for D Breathnach (37), C Chester for C Curran (37).

Referee: Garrett Duffy (Aontroim)