Cork v Waterford: Rebels impress in Munster SHC opener
Cork's Tommy O'Connell sending the ball forward on his first start. Picture: Inpho/Ken Sutton
GIVEN that Cork had their ‘bye week’ in the opening round of the Munster SHC, there must have been some uncertainty as to how they would fare when they did finally see action.
The Allianz Hurling League campaign had been encouraging but it had ended five weeks previously with semi-final defeat to Kilkenny in what was their worst performance. Another factor was that Waterford gave Limerick a tough challenge in Thurles as the championship began.
Any such concerns were extinguished at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday as Pat Ryan’s first championship match as manager ended with a nine-point cushion in Cork’s favour.
While Stephen Bennett had the opening score with a Waterford free inside the opening seconds, they wouldn’t add to that tally until the 22nd minute, by which stage Cork had necklaced seven points together.
In front of a crowd of 29,104, they led by 0-15 to 0-6 at half-time and, bar a brief Waterford resurgence at the outset of the second half, the Rebels never gave any sign that their supremacy would be eroded. They finished with ten different scorers and will face into next Saturday evening’s visit of Tipperary with confidence.
Cork were full value for their superiority on the scoreboard in the first half. The workrate was strong in all sectors and the defensive match-ups were well-calibrated while the fact that Waterford’s Neil Montgomery dropped deep allowed Ciarán Joyce to mop up loose ball. Luke Meade, named at corner-forward for Cork, played as a conventional midfielder alongside Brian Roche while Darragh Fitzgibbon had somewhat of a free role and revelled in it, with three points in the opening eight minutes.
Even when Bennett ended Waterford’s drought, Cork continued to push on. Fitzgibbon and Meade combined for Robert Downey – named at full-back but effectively operating as a wing-back as he tracked Colin Dunford – to score the first of two big first-half points and Meade made it 0-10 to 0-2 after Joyce had done well to find him despite being fouled.
When Conor Lehane was fouled, Patrick Horgan put Cork nine in front and they almost added a goal on 26. The lively Tommy O’Connell and Meade got to ball to Horgan, who unselfishly played in Roche – while Billy Nolan saved well from the Bride Rovers man, he ensured that a point resulted.
Goal chances were rare at the other end. On the half-hour mark, Dessie Hutchinson – who had just scored Waterford’s only point from play in the first half – almost had sight of goal but Cork captain Niall O’Leary did well to avert the danger.
The Déise did have three late pointed frees from Bennett before Séamus Harnedy became Cork’s eighth scorer as injury time dawned. The added time was characterised by a few niggly incidents, but the half ended with 30 players still active.
Half-time saw Waterford make three substitutions and they added as many points in quick succession, two Bennett frees and a score from Jamie Barron – Bennett might have had a goal too as a low shot almost caught out goalkeeper Patrick Collins. Cork didn’t panic though and replied with five on the trot.
Fitzgibbon and Horgan pointed before Barrett ensured that all of the starting front eight made it onto the scoreboard, though Cork needed Collins to save from sub Peter Horgan to ensure that response wasn’t rendered redundant. Horgan made it 0-19 to 0-10 with his fifth point, a free after he himself had been fouled, and then a brilliant puckout win by Downey led to Harnedy grabbing his second.
An 11-point lead with 27 minutes left was never likely to be overhauled and perhaps that can partly explain why some wastefulness began to creep into the Cork play. Even so, they never allowed Waterford to eat substantially into the lead, with Damien Cahalane on hand to make a great block from Patrick Fitzgerald after Bennett played a short free to him.
Cork ensured a steady flow of scores, with sub Robbie O’Flynn marking his first appearance since February with a point while Horgan slung over a beauty from the left for his sixth and a 0-24 to 0-13 lead.
Waterford did reduce that gap ever so slightly before the end but, while there is room for improvement, Cork can take a lot of positives.
P Horgan 0-8 (0-6 f), D Fitzgibbon 0-4, D Dalton (0-2 f), S Harnedy 0-3 each, C Lehane, R Downey, R O’Flynn 0-2 each, B Roche, L Meade, S Barrett 0-1 each.
S Bennett 0-9 (0-7 f, 0-1 65), C Lyons, Pádraig Fitzgerald 0-2 each, J Barron, N Montgomery, D Hutchinson, A Gleeson, Patrick Fitzgerald 0-1 each.
P Collins; N O’Leary, R Downey, D Cahalane; T O’Connell, C Joyce, G Millerick; B Roche, D Fitzgibbon; D Dalton, C Lehane, S Barrett; L Meade, P Horgan, S Harnedy.
R O’Flynn for Dalton (50), P Power for Harnedy (56), S Kingston for Lehane (59), C Cahalane for Meade (64), C O’Brien for Millerick (70).
B Nolan; M Fitzgerald, C Prunty, J Fagan; T Barron, C Lyons, C Gleeson; D Lyons, J Barron; S Bennett, N Montgomery, J Prendergast; M Kiely, C Dunford, D Hutchinson.
A Gleeson for Kiely, Patrick Fitzgerald for T Barron, P Hogan for Dunford (all half-time), C Ryan for Gleeson (43), Pádraig Fitzgerald for Montgomery (65).
J Owens (Wexford).
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