Back to Back Wins For Waterford Hurlers

Waterford will have to beat Cork for the second time this year when they meet on Sunday afternoon next at Pairc Ui Rinn if they are not to be relegated from Division 1A for the second time in five seasons, despite beating a fancied Clare side at Walsh Park on Sunday afternoon.

The win brings to an end a run of defeats at the Keane’s Road venue dating back to St. Valentine’s Day in 2016, also means that Waterford have now won back to back games this year which if another win is recorded this weekend, Derek McGrath’s side will go into the championship in May in a much more confident mood than they would have after they lost their first three outings of the campaign.

The home side ended this game with a man short after Conor Gleeson was ordered off late in the game by the County Limerick referee, after he collected his second yellow of the game.

Dungarvan’s Patrick Curran often the player many supporters were asking why he was not getting a run more often in Waterford’s drive to the All-Ireland Final last year was Waterford’s main here in this game, as he hit 1-13 of his sides tally of 1-23, 1-4 or which came from open play, and in doing so will have made it very hard for Derek McGrath, Dan Shanahan and Eoin Murphy to leave him out of the championship team barring he picks up an injury or suffers a massive dip in form between now and then.

The Old Boro Club man was not Waterford’s only player to have impressed in this game as Austin Gleeson showed signs as to why he was named Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year in 2016, while Mikey Kearney also impressed for the home side, and the Ballyduff Upper man in his outings in the league to date like Patrick Curran have done his chances of staking a more regular place in the starting line up no end of good.

Playing against the breeze in the opening half it was Clare that were the happier side early in this game and by the seventeenth minute they were 1-8 to 0-5 in front, the goal coming from the stick of Conor McGrath who finished to Ian O’Regan’s net after John Conlon pounced on a misplaced pass by Kevin Moran with Ian Galvin also playing a part in the build up.

This proved to be a wakeup call for Waterford and with Austin Gleeson showing why he might have to play at Centre Back going forward, Waterford upped their game and his seven points in a row, five from the stick of the Dungarvan man to lead 0-12 to 1-8 with four minutes of the first half still to play.

David Reidy levelled matters with his sides first score in 15 minutes, but Waterford would go to the dressing rooms with a 1-13 to 1-10 advantage showing on the scoreboard as Patrick Curran whipped to the net before the break after Stephen Bennett had an initial attempt for a goal foiled.

Clare started the second half brightly as Tony Kelly with a brace of score and one from Peter Duggan tied up the scoring.

Patrick Curran and Mikey Kearney edged the home side back in front but Peter Duggan and John Conlon quickly tied matters up once more a 1-15 apiece.

Three points in a row from Patrick Curran helped Waterford to a 1-21 to 1-17 lead with nine minutes to play.

Clare refused to give up and got to within two points of the hosts and could have got much closer or even gone in front but for the brilliance of Austin Gleeson who did well to deny Peter Duggan.

Patrick Curran brought a great afternoon’s work to a close late on in this game when he pointed three minutes into stoppage time.

Clare had one more effort from a Peter Duggan close in free late in the game, but he could not get the required power in his shot to beat the line of players on the Waterford goal line. 

WATERFORD: Ian O’Regan; Shane Fives, Barry Coughlan, Ian Kenny; Tadhg De Búrca; Conor Gleeson, Austin Gleeson, Kieran Bennett; Mark O’Brien, Kevin Moran; Michael Walsh, Stephen Bennett, DJ Foran; Michael Kearney, Patrick Curran. Subs: Thomas Ryan for Michael Walsh (50), Tom Devine for DJ Foran (50), Conor Prunty for Mark O’Brien (54), Maurice Shanahan for Kevin Moran (60), Philip Mahony for Stephen Bennett (70).

Scorers: Patrick Curran 1-13 (9fs), Michael Kearney 0-4, Stephen Bennett 0-2, Kieran Bennett, Conor Gleeson, Austin Gleeson, Kevin Moran 0-1 each.

CLARE: Donal Tuohy; Jack Browne, Conor Cleary, Patrick O’Connor; Séadna Morey, David McInerney, David Fitzgerald; Cathal Malone, Tony Kelly; Peter Duggan, John Conlon, David Reidy; Shane O’Donnell, Ian Galvin, Conor McGrath. Subs: Michael O’Malley for Séadna Morey (52), Jamie Shanahan for Patrick O’Connor (60), Cathal McInerney for Cathal Malone (67), Ryan Taylor for Ian Galvin (69), Eoin Quirke for Jack Browne (70).

Scorers: Peter Duggan 0-5 (4fs), Conor McGrath 1-1, Tony Kelly 0-4, David Reidy 0-3, Ian Galvin, John Conlon 0-2 each, Séadna Morey, Cathal Malone, Shane O’Donnell 0-1 each.

REFEREE: Johnny Murphy (Limerick)