Waterford Crystal Cup Hurling Q-Final – Waterford 1-12 CIT 0-11

Davy delighted with Déise attitude

by John Murphy for the Irish Examiner newspaper

Monday, January 24, 2011

Waterford 1-12 Cork IT 0-11

FOR the opening half of this Waterford Crystal hurling quarter-final at Walsh Park yesterday the students of Cork IT were calling the shots and looked odds-on to topple the champions. All would change however in a dramatic second-half and, inspired by Richie Foley, the hosts ground out a hard-earned — but deserved — victory. Waterford manager Davy Fitzgerald said: “We had to work hard for our win, but I was more than pleased about the way the players took on board the tricky situation in which they found themselves at half time. We simply didn’t turn up in the first half and CIT were good value for their six points lead at the break. I can take a lot of encouragement from the attitude of my players on the turnover, and even when we were reduced to 14 with the sending off of Maurice Shanahan it was then that they really showed their mettle. I liked that, I liked it a lot.”

Cork IT dominated the opening spell, with Ryan Clifford from frees and Pat O’Connor from play firing them to a 0-9 to 0-3 half time lead. The wayward shooting of Foley hadn’t helped the home side’s cause in that spell, but it was his virtuoso second-half display that decided the outcome. Waterford’s man of the match finished the day with 1-8. Gavin Crotty and Foley (free) cut the gap inside 60 seconds of the restart, and when Foley goaled from a 20 metre free there was only the minimum between the sides. Waterford lost Maurice Shanahan to a red card in the 55th minute but Fitzgerald’s side seemed to find inspiration from their numerical disadvantage.

CIT failed to score in the closing quarter of an hour, and with Waterford rampantly dominant in the closing stages there was only going to be one result. Foley, now lording things in middle of the field, rifled over four unanswered points to sign and seal a well deserved victory for his side.

Scorers for Waterford: R Foley (1-8, 6f), G Crotty, S Prendergast, M Shanahan (0-1f), B O’Halloran (0-1) each.

Scorers for Cork IT: R Clifford (0-5, frees); P O’Connor (0-3), T Murphy (0-2), L McLoughlin (0-1).

WATERFORD: C Hennessy; J Maher, L Lawlor, C Ryan; D Fives, M Walsh, J Nagle; S Molumphy, B O’Halloran; S Prendergast, R Foley, M Shanahan; G Crotty, S Walsh, S Casey.

Subs: F McGrath for Ryan, P Mahony for Crotty, E Murphy for Casey.

CORK IT: T Quaid (Limerick); S Kearney (Waterford), J O’Callaghan (Cork), J Herlihy (do); S McDonell (do), R Cashman (do), C Leahy (do); L O’Loughlin (do), S White (do); P O’Connor (Clare), C Casey (Cork), M Bowles (do); T Murphy (do), M O’Sullivan (do), R Clifford (do).

Subs: N Kelly (Cork) for McLoughlin, S O’Brien (Cork) for Bowles; S Corcoran for Casey.

Referee: T Ryan (Tipperary)