Waterford Crystal Cup Senior Hurling Quarter Final – UL 2-30 WIT 1-20

UL defeated WIT by 2-30 to 1-20 in the Waterford Crystal Cup Hurling Quarter-Final on Sunday January 19^th at the WIT GAA Grounds Carriganore.

Another win in Déise for UL

UL 2-30 WIT 1-20

By Tomás McCarthy for the Irish Examiner newspaper

Waterford Crystal Cup: Two wins on consecutive Sundays on Waterford soil for University of Limerick as they gorged themselves in a feast of 53 scores in calm conditions at Carriganore yesterday. Clare All Stars Conor Ryan and Podge Collins returned and heavily influenced the outcome. “It’s great to have those guys on your team,” remarked manager Brian Lohan afterwards. “The performances from both were absolutely outstanding.” Ryan acted as the stopper of Waterford IT’s attacks and chief distributor to his own forward line while adding two points from play, one free and a 65. Collins soldiered unselfishly at number 11 and threw in some audacious tricks and flicks.

Ten different players chipped in for the Limerick students and 2-22 of their final total came from play. On the left flank of the defence, Limerick’s Thomas Ryan launched three points, Padraic Walsh (Kilkenny) fired four from midfield and Tipp forward Tommy Heffernan was unerring. The close proximity of next Sunday’s semi-final against Tipperary to their Fitzgibbon Cup opener on January 30 raised alarm bells for the former Clare full back. “Both teams are getting closer to the Fitzgibbon. I don’t know is progressing to the next level of the Waterford Crystal, given it is fixed for within the week of the Fitzgibbon, is what we really we want. That’s going to be difficult enough to manage.”

The unavailability of Waterford quartet Stephen O’Keeffe, Pauric Mahony, Jake Dillon and Stephen Roche along with Kilkenny’s Eoin Murphy hindered WIT’s chances before throw in but Thomas Hamill got them moving within 12 seconds. In a hectic opening half, Harry Kehoe and Liam McGrath dominated scoring for the hosts as they established a 0-11 to 0-8 lead after 27 minutes. For UL, Conor Ryan had fired a hat-trick of points from distance but Cathal Malone was the only forward to make headway with three of his own.

That all changed before the interval as they shot 1-5 in the space of eight minutes. Martin Boran passed to Tommy Heffernan on 34 minutes and he rippled the top corner as UL led 1-13 to 0-12. Raiding midfielder Padraic Walsh resumed the shoot-out within eight seconds. Podge Collins was left isolated in front of goal on 39 minutes and Tom O’Brien picked him out to open up an eight point gap (2-15 to 0-13). Johnny Hayes raised a green flag at the other end almost immediately after a Cormac Heffernan assist but the Waterford students were outgunned thereafter.

Walsh helped himself to three second-half points, Thomas Ryan stepped forward for another three and Tommy Heffernan continued to punish from frees. With 10 minutes left, a triangle between Conor Ryan, Walsh and Collins was finished by the latter who fooled his marker with a cheeky sidestep.

Scorers for UL: T Heffernan 1-8 (6fs), P Collins 1-1, C Ryan (1f, 1 65), P Walsh (0-4 each), T Ryan, B Stapleton, C Malone (0-3 each), B Maher (0-2), J Forde, M Ryan (0-1 each).

Scorers for WIT: H Kehoe (0-8, 7fs), J Hayes (1-2), L McGrath, C Kenny (0-3 each), M Gaffney, T Hamill, A Kenny, M Power (0-1 each).

UL: S Hassett (Tipperary); D Quinn (Tipperary), J Sheehan (Cork), J Browne (Clare); C Ryan (Clare), D Morrissey (Limerick), T Ryan (Limerick); B Maher (Tipperary), P Walsh (Kilkenny); C Malone (Clare), P Collins (Clare), B Stapleton (Tipperary); T O’Brien (Limerick), M Boran (Kilkenny), T Heffernan (Tipperary).

Subs: J Forde (Tipperary) for Boran (47), M O’Neill (Clare) for Malone (53), M Ryan (Limerick) for O’Brien (53), K O’Brien (Limerick) for Stapleton (56), P Ryan (Tipperary) for Browne (64).

WIT: K Hammersley (Waterford); G Teehan (Kilkenny), P Gahan (Kilkenny), J Maher (Waterford); T Hamill (Tipperary), J O’Dwyer (Tipperary), S Murphy (Wexford); C Kenny (Kilkenny), J Langton (Kilkenny); J Hayes (Kilkenny), H Kehoe (Wexford), A Kenny (Wexford); L McGrath (Tipperary), M Gaffney (Kilkenny), M Power (Kilkenny).

Subs: C Heffernan (Waterford) for L McGrath (ht), T Fox (Tipperary) for Gaffney (ht), L O’Loughlin (Clare) for Hamill (58), A McGrath (Tipperary) for Langton (52), L Hickey (Kilkenny) for Maher (64).

Referee: J Sexton (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

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

The University of Limerick is the only third-level college with a winning record in the Waterford Crystal Cup, winning 9 of their 17 matches played to date.

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.

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.

University of Limerick Panel

The University of Limerick Hurling Panel for the Waterford Crystal Cup includes the following players –

Matthew Ryan            Tipperary

Mark Carmody           Limerick

Jason Forde                Tipperary

Brian Stapleton           Tipperary

Podge Collins              Clare

Conor Ryan                Clare

Stephen Daniels          Waterford

Jack Browne               Clare

Cathal Malone             Clare

Paul Flanagan             Clare

Tommy Heffernan      Tipperary

Pa Ryan                      Tipperary

Seadna Morey                        Clare

Dan Morrissey            Limerick

Mark Deegan              Limerick

Thomas Ryan             Limerick

Bill Maher                    Tipperary

Thomas O Brien         Limerick

Kevin O Brien             Limerick

John Fitzgibbon           Limerick

Padraic Walsh             Kilkenny

Johnathan Glynn        Galway

Waterford Institute of Technology Panel

Stephen O Keeffe       Waterford

Stephen O Keeffe       Waterford

Luke O Loughlin          Clare

Jerome Maher                        Waterford

Shaun Murphy                        Wexford

Thomas Hamill            Tipperary

Eoin Moore                 Wexford

Harry Kehoe               Wexford

Stephen Roche           Waterford

Gavin O Brien             Waterford

Pauric Mahony           Waterford

Eoin Murphy               Kilkenny

Liam McGrath             Tipperary

Jake Dillon                  Waterford

Martin Power              Kilkenny

Kieran Hamersley       Tipperary

Cormac Heffernan     Waterford

Andrew Kenny                        Wexford

Joe O Dwyer              Tipperary

Pauric Gahan              Kilkenny

Ger Teehan                 Kilkenny

Shane Ryan                Waterford

Jack Langton              Kilkenny

Tom Fox                     Tipperary

Waterford Crystal Cup Senior Hurling Roll Of Honour

Tipperary (3) – 2007, 2008, 2012; Waterford (2) – 2010, 2011; Clare (2) – 2009, 2013; Limerick (1) – 2006