Brilliant Deise Prove Too Strong In Munster Final

For the second time in this years Munster Under 21 Hurling Championship, Waterford produced a brilliant second half performance to beat Tipperary at Walsh Park last night and in doing so won a first Munster Final at this grade since 1994 and only a fourth title in the competition overall.

Austin Gleeson on the night produced a Man of the Match performance playing at centre back.

The performance of the Mount Sion man had people saying it was the greatest individual performance by any player at the Keane’s Road venue by any player in a long number of years.

In fact it was possibly the best performance by any player in a white and blue shirt in almost two decades at any grade and rivalled that of Ken McGrath while playing against Clare in the Minor Championship at Bansha in the mid 90’s as a performance that will be remembered for many years to come.

The question has been asked many times in recent years as to whether the Mount Sion man is a better back or a forward. The same was often asked of Ken McGrath, another Mount Sion player while he played for Waterford, and is one which is still asked to this day.

It was always my view that McGrath was always a better defender than a forward even if he was a very good forward and of what I have seen of Austin Gleeson I would hold the same opinion of him.

The Mount Sion man on the night hit five points on the night, four of which came from play, including two at the start of the second half which were as well struck as anyone could imagine which doubled the two point advantage that Sean Power’s side had on the scoreboard which they went to the dressing rooms with at the break.

In front of just short of 8,850 of an attendance, Waterford had a dream start to this game going 0-4 to 0-0 up inside the opening minutes of the game as Patrick Curran put over three points and DJ Foran hit one, but by the mid way point of the half, Tipperary pulled the scores level with four unanswered points in a four minute spell.

Tipperary continued their purple patch in the early part of the second quarter and by the twenty first minute they were 0-6 to 0-5 in front.

Three minutes from the break Waterford hit the first of two crucial goals.

The home side won a free under the stand as they attacked the city end of the ground. It was expected that Dungarvan’s Patrick Curran would split the posts but his effort fell just short of the target but Stephen Bennett who has produced some big performances at Walsh Park before in the white and blue shirt of Waterford was in the right place and he had no problems in hitting low and hard past Brian Hogan in the Tipperary goal for a score that helped Waterford to a 1-6 to 0-7 advantage on the score board at the break.

Waterford began the second half as they did with Austin Gleeson firing over two long range points to increase their advantage. Ronan Teehan who replaced Jason Ryan at the break pulled one back for Tipperary before Tom Devine and Patrick Curran gave Waterford a five point advantage.

Andrew Coffey pulled a point back for Tipperary before Stephen Quirke and Josh Keane landed efforts to leave just one between the sides.

In a tit for tat third quarter Colm Roche further extended the Déise lead but a brace of Josh Keane points levelled the game 1-11 to 0-14 with the game about to enter its final quarter.

In the final quarter however it was Waterford all the way as they outscored their opponents 1-8 to 0-1.

The home side added a second goal on 50 minutes and what a goal it was as Stephen Bennett released Peter Hogan with a sublime over the head pass into space and when the Ballygunner man got one on one with Brian Hogan there was only going to be one winner.

Waterford added late scores from Tom Devine, Patrick Curran, Stephen Bennett and Austin Gleeson to secure a ten point victory and an All-Ireland semi final appearance against Antrim where the winners will play either Dublin or Galway in mid September.

With many of this panel already the owners of All-Ireland medals from three years ago in the minor grade and with the secondary schools that they played for in the last few years, few if any at this point would not be surprised if they were to add another one this year to their collection.

But lets get past next months semi final game with Antrim first.

Waterford: Jordan Henley; Darragh Lyons, Conor Gleeson, William Hahessy; Míchéal Harney, Austin Gleeson, Conor Prunty; Colm Roche, Shane Bennett; Mark O’Brien, Tom Devine, DJ Foran; Patrick Curran, Stephen Bennett, Mikey Kearney. Subs: Peter Hogan for Colm Roche (42), Jack Fagan for Mikey Kearney, Dermot Ryan for Darragh Lyons (60), Niall Fives for DJ Foran (61), Barry Whelan for William Hahessy (61).

Scorers: Patrick Curran 0-8 (0-6f, 0-1 ’65), Austin Gleeson 0-5 (0-1f), Stephen Bennett 1-1, Peter Hogan 1-0, Tom Devine 0-2, DJ Foran, Colm Roche 0-1 each.

Tipperary: Brian Hogan; Paul Maher, Tom Fox, David Sweeney; Sean Ryan, Ronan Maher, Barry Heffernan; Jason Ryan, Willie Connors; Billy McCarthy, Stephen Quirke, Andrew Coffey; Conor Lanigan, Mark Russell, Josh Keane. Subs: Ronan Teehan for Jason Ryan (half-time), Pa Ryan for Conor Lanigan (53), Mark McCarthy for Andrew Coffey (58), Tommy Nolan for Billy McCarthy (60).

Scorers: Josh Keane 0-6 (0-5f), Andrew Coffey 0-4, Stephen Quirke 0-3, Conor Lanigan, Ronan Teehan 0-1 each.

Referee: Johnny Murphy (Limerick)