Five Star Waterford into All-Ireland Final

Three years ago when Sean Power was named as Manager of the Waterford Minor Hurling team for the 2013 season, his name was an unknown to many within the county let outside the county.

Often at underage level, County Boards go for a big name or an established name to look after its underage teams to try and get the best out of their sides.

But while Sean Power was a relatively unknown, he along with his management team were able to guide their side to a Munster Final appearance where they lost out to Limerick and to bounce back from that defeat to go on an capture the biggest prize available to sides competing at that level, winning the All-Ireland Final with a very strong display at Croke Park on the first Sunday of September.

Sean Power however while still a relatively unknown in some quarters is quickly gaining a reputation for himself, having helped a second team he has managed Waterford to this years All-Ireland Under 21 Final against Galway after a massive win over Antrim in the first of this years All-Ireland semi finals played at Thurles today.

Nobody will need telling anyone in Waterford that a win in the All-Ireland Final will not happen easy as Galway, while they find it difficult to make the big break through in the senior grade, for the past few decades they have put together some excellent under age teams and this years under 21 team is no different.

If and it is a very big If at this stage, Waterford do win what would be a first All-Ireland at this level since 1992 then in such time that Derek McGrath indicates that he does not want to stand for the position of Senior Hurling Manager, the name of Sean Power will be amongst those that should take over from him.

This was Waterford’s third game in this years Championship, and after scoring 3-23 against Clare in the Munster Semi Final and 2-19 against Tipperary in the Munster Final, Waterford were expected to put up another big score in this game and they did not fail to deliver, but few if any expected Waterford to win here as easily as they did.

This game was in fact over at a very early stage, as Waterford were in control from start to finish and at the break they were 3-10 to 0-6 in front.

Antrim made one change to their named team earlier in the week ahead of the game as Ryan Elliott from the Dunloy Club replaced Colin Heyden between the posts.

Waterford began this game in fine fashion as the inspirational Austin Gleeson made a surging run at the Antrim defence and split the posts with just two minutes played.

Patrick Curran added a second Waterford point two minutes later and by the ninth minute when brothers Stephen and Shane Bennett also had the umpire reaching for a white flag, the writing was on the wall for Antrim.

On eleven minutes, Waterford hit the first of five goals, as Modeligo club man Tom Devine was on the right place to benefit from a mishit Patrick Curran free. The Dungarvan Club man failed to pick the sliotar properly and whipped it along the ground to Devine who once in control of the ball got inside a couple of Antrim chances and them with a trademark bullet like shot he blasted to the Antrim net to give Waterford a 1-4 to 0-0 lead.

Minutes later Waterford had a second goal, this time an own goal from Eoin McManus after a DJ Foran effort hit of him.

Points from Tom Devine and Mikey Kearney followed for the Déise as they opened up a twelve point lead which was followed with Antrim’s first scores of the game, firstly from a Saul McCaughan free and then a Domhnail Nugent effort.

With Waterford well in control, Sean Power and his selectors withdrew Shane Bennett on 21 minutes possibly as a precaution and with an All-Ireland Final to look forward to in three weeks time after he looked to pick up an injury in the warm up before the game and was replaced by Peter Hogan who scored a wonder goal after some brilliant work by Stephen Bennett in the Munster Final win over Clare recently.

Points from Maoi Connolly for Antrim and a response from Austin Gleeson had Waterford cruising 2-7 to 0-3 with twenty four minutes played.

Further scores from McCaughan and Patrick Curran followed before the brilliant Dungarvan Club man hit Waterford’s third goal of the game on the half hour mark as he batted to the net after an initial effort from Stephen Bennett was kept out.

In added time at the end of the first half Damon McMullen and DJ Foran swapped points before Patrick Curran pointed just before the whistle to give Waterford a 3-10 to 0-6 lead at the break.

Waterford began the second half with a point from Mikey Kearney, but Antrim hit back almost straight away with a Saul McCaughan goal but Waterford replied with a point from Mark O’Brien to give Waterford a 3-12 to 1-6 lead with just two minutes of the second half played.

Well in front at this stage, Waterford refused to let up in front of the Antrim goal as Mikey Kearney, Tom Devine and Patrick Curran gave Waterford a fourteen point lead with the third quarter not yet having reached its conclusion.

Waterford hit a fourth goal at the three quarter stage mark of the game as Patrick Curran and Stephen Bennett linked up before the latter finished to the Antrim net.

Peter Hogan after a good showing after coming off the bench against Tipperary in the Munster Final did his chances of staking a place in the team for the upcoming All-Ireland Final against Galway no harm with another good display here and he got on the score sheet eleven minutes from time with a fine point.

Waterford added a fifth goal when Patrick Curran finished to the net.

Waterford continued to dominate in all sectors of the field for the remainder of the game and ended up winning with twenty-nine points to spare.

This win sets up Waterford for a first All-Ireland Final appearance at this level since the side beat Offaly after a replay at Nowlan Park in 1992.

That win coupled with the All-Ireland Minor Final defeat to Galway in the same year was the catalyst to great things over the coming years, in which so much was achieved under the likes of Gerald McCarthy, Justin McCarthy and Davy Fitzgerald over a decade and a bit.

Should Waterford beat Galway in the All-Ireland Final in three weeks time, coupled with the All-Ireland Minor Win of 2013 and the League Final win in 2015, we could be about to see a new glorious chapter in the history of Waterford hurling be opened sooner rather than later, as a new generation of young hurlers will be inspired by what they will see as those that have come before them were when they saw Waterford reach levels that many had not seen before and older hurling supporters had to go back to the 50’s and 60’s to see such successes.

Waterford; Gavin Power; William Hahessy, Conor Gleeson, Darragh Lyons; Míchéal Harney, Austin Gleeson, Conor Prunty; Colm Roche, Shane Bennett; Stephen Bennett, Tom Devine; Mark O’Brien; Mikey Kearney, DJ Foran, Patrick Curran. Subs: Peter Hogan for Shane Bennett (17 mins), Adam Farrell for Colm Roche (39 mins), Billy O’Keeffe for Darragh Lyons (42 mins), Jack Fagan for Tom Devine (44 mins), Dermot Ryan for Austin Gleeson (50 mins).

Scorers: Patrick Curran 2-7 (0-4f), Tom Devine 1-2, Stephen Bennett 1-1, DJ Foran, Mikey Kearney (0-1 sideline) 0-4 each, E McManus 1-0 (OG), Austin Gleeson 0-2, Shane Bennett, Mark O’Brien, Adam Farrell, Peter Hogan, Jack Fagan 0-1 each.

Antrim: Ryan Elliott; Gerard Walsh, Tomás Burns, Eoin McManus; Damon McMullan, Paddy Burke, Ryan McCambridge; Cormac Ross, Alec Delargy; Maoi Connolly, Domhnail Nugent, James O’Connell; Saul McCaughan, T Butler, Ryan McKee. Subs: James Connolly for Cormac Ross (25 mins), Ryan Gillan for Gerard Walsh (40 mins), Christy McNaughton for Domhnail Nugent (43 mins), Cormac McAllister for James O’Connell (47 mins), Ryan Delargy for Eoin McManus (52 mins)

Scorers: Saul McCaughan 1-4 (0-3f), Maoi Connolly 0-2 (1f), Domhnall Nugent, D McMullan (0-1f) 0-1 each.

Referee: David Hughes (Carlow)