Three reasons Cork beat Waterford
Cork's Brian Roche tries to evade Jamie Barron of Waterford during the Munster SHC game at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Picture: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
From the off, it was clear that the Cork players were keyed in regarding the necessity of putting in the hard yards. Their opening score, from Patrick Horgan, came after a Conor Lehane turnover for instance, while Waterford ball-carriers were crowded out well.
One half-chance of a Waterford goal was snuffed out by a combination of Ciarán Joyce and Ger Millerick. Brian Roche’s first championship start was marked by a boundless level of energy and Robert Downey was still going strong at the end. From those foundations, the victory was constructed.
Cork had 10 different scorers – Downey, the starting front eight and sub Robbie O’Flynn with two – while Shane Kingston, Pádraig Power, debutant Cormac O’Brien and Conor Cahalane were also introduced.
Séamus Harnedy and Declan Dalton were called ashore after scoring three points each but neither showed a sign of dissent, happy to have done their job and leaving the job to the next man.
Given that Eoin Downey was suspended after his league semi-final red card while Mark Coleman and Alan Connolly are long-term casualties, the fact that their absences weren’t felt bore testament to the fact that the squad-building during the Allianz Hurling League was a worthy endeavour.
Whether it was the effort put in in falling just short against Limerick or the fact that Cork didn’t let them play, Waterford were far below what they had shown a week previously, as lamented by their manager Davy Fitzgerald.
“It’s easy to assess the performance,” he said, “it was absolutely terrible.
“Lack of energy, lack of drive – it was just very disappointing.”
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