Waterford start 2014 with a defeat

Waterford manager Derek McGrath will have to put up with a series of challenge games over the next month as he awaits his first outing in this years National Hurling League Campaign after his side went out of the Waterford Crystal Cup at the preliminary round stages of this years competition against the students of University of Limerick at Carriganore on Sunday afternoon.

It was the second year in a row that Waterford bowed out of the competition to the students from Limerick and at the same venue, as twelve months ago they lost out by five points at the same stage of the competition.

While in the long term the winners of this annual competition wont be remembered for too long outside of their own county, it none the less is a great way of building up confidence within a team. Since 2010, three of the winners have gone on to win more valuable pieces of silverware, Waterford in 2010 and Tipperary in 2012 went on to win the Munster Senior Hurling final later in the year while last years winners Clare went on to lift the Liam McCarthy Cup in Croke Park at the end of the championship.

Playing with the aid of a very strong wind that blew at the Carriganore venue, Waterford at the break held a two point advantage at the break, but Waterford could and should be further in front at this stage as the old problem of wayward shooting in front of goal was again to haunt Waterford as they shot seventeen wides over the course of the game.

Waterford at the end of the first quarter were in front. Kevin Moran, Jamie Nagle and Maurice Shanahan all with points for Waterford to give the home side a 0-3 to 0-2 advantage, the students scores coming from Tom O’Brien and the man who replaced him after just ten minutes Tommy Heffernan.

The second quarter proved to be as equal as the first proved to be, as both sides scored the same in the second quarter as they did in the first, two of Waterford’s points coming from sixty-fives stuck by Shane O’Sullivan while the students relied on Tommy Heffernan for their scores.

The decisive score of the second half came four minutes after the restart when a long delivery by Brian Stapleton was put past Iggy O’Regan who replaced Stephen O’Keeffe at the break by Jonathan Glynn.

Further scores from Tommy Heffernan who put over a brace of frees as well as efforts from Padraig Walsh a brother of Kilkenny star Tommy as well as Brian Stapleton gave the students a five point 1-8 to 0-6 advantage at the end of the third quarter.

Waterford were struggling for scores in the second half. They had to wait nineteen minutes into the half for their first score of the game, a point from Maurice Shanahan, the only Waterford forward to score in the game. The Lismore man raised half dozen white flags, all but one coming from placed balls.

At the other end of the field the Students were fairing somewhat better as Mikey Ryan and Mikey O’Neill two second half substitutes and Brian Stapleton hit his second of the game to give the students victory of Waterford for the second year in a row.

The students will return to Carriganore on Sunday next for a meeting with Waterford Institute of Technology in the quarter finals with the winners set to play Kerry or Tipperary in the semi final one week later.

University of Limerick: S Hassett (Tipperary); M Carmody (Limerick), J Sheehan (Cork), J Browne (Clare); D Quinn (Tipperary), D Morrissey (Limerick), P Walsh (Kilkenny); B Maher (Tipperary), T Ryan (Limerick); C Malone (Clare), B Stapleton (Tipperary), T O’Brien (Limerick); J Forde (Tipperary), J Glynn (Galway), E Murphy (Waterford). Subs: T Heffernan (Tipperary) for O’Brien; M Ryan (Limerick) for Murphy; M O’Neill (Clare) for Forde; P Ryan (Tipperary) for Quinn.
Scorers: T Heffernan 0-5 (5fs); J Glynn 1-0; B Stapleton 0-2; M O’Neill, M Ryan, P Walsh, T O’Brien (f) 0-1 each.
WATERFORD: S O’Keeffe; S Fives, B Coughlan, T Bourke; Philip Mahony, M Walsh, K Moran; S O’Sullivan, J Nagle; J Dillon, S Walsh, R Barry; R Donnelly, M Shanahan, J Barron. Subs: S Molumphy for Barry; I O’Regan for O’Keeffe; Pauric Mahony for Donnelly S Roche for Barron.
Scorers: M Shanahan 0-6 (5fs); S O’Sullivan 0-2; J Nagle, K Moran 0-1 each.
Referee: C McAllister (Cork).