Munster SHC: Waterford 0-22 Limerick 0-28
Maybe Limerick are not as good as they used to be and maybe that will make no difference in the end. They navigated a potentially treacherous visit to Walsh Park on Saturday evening in the Munster SHC with calm authority and familiar aggression. The margin at the end was a white lie.
Waterford were spunky and relentless, but they couldn’t cope with Limerick’s abrasive power and dynamism on the ball. Limerick’s defence suffocated the Waterford attack and, but for a couple of speculative efforts in the second half, Waterford never looked like getting the goals they needed to sustain their challenge.
Waterford never led in the game, and when they reduced the deficit to just two points with a fast start to the second half Limerick responded with four unanswered points. If that counted as a fright it quickly passed.
Limerick were better than they had been against Tipperary, especially against the breeze in the first half, but there will still be a snag list before the visit of Cork to the Gaelic Grounds in a fortnight.
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John Kiely quoted their shooting efficiency at 67%, and their wides tally slipped into double figures, neither of which met their targets. In everything they do, Limerick are devoted to the numbers. They failed to reach their perpetual target of 30 points and didn’t force a save from Billy Nolan, but they didn’t trip over either of these shortcomings.
In his post-match interview Kiely glowed with quiet satisfaction. He mentioned “energy” five times, describing it variously as “great,” “exceptional,” “good” and “through the roof,” twice. He mentioned “intensity” three times; that was “through the roof,” too. Energy and intensity are buzzwords in team sports, but Limerick are one of the teams for whom those words never lose their meaning.
“I think structurally, we were extremely sound,” said Kiely. “Defensively, extremely strong. Our full-back line was absolutely excellent. Our half-back line controlled the ball in the air really, really well. And I just thought our energy going forward was exceptional, so very, very happy. We worked hard. Our intensity throughout the game was really, really high. That’s something we’ve noticed in the championship this year, that the intensity levels in all teams have gone way up.”
The problem for Waterford in the second half was that they needed to commit more bodies to the middle third in an effort to gain primary possession, but that left them light on numbers close to goal. When the ball was sent in Waterford’s inside forwards were routinely outnumbered. If Limerick didn’t concede a goal they couldn’t lose. Over the years, they have been masters of that equation.
Limerick asserted their control from the beginning and were five points up inside 11 minutes. Whatever dirty diesel was in the tank against Tipperary was blown out. Limerick moved the ball with devastating simplicity and coherence. In that mood, they always have receivers in space.
With the breeze in the first half Waterford elected to go long with nearly all their puck-outs, either by design or coercion, and Limerick mopped up most of them. The space between the Limerick half-backs and full-backs was so compressed that Waterford’s forwards had very little room in which to play, even when they did get their hands on the ball.
Waterford picked off three points in a row in the middle of the half, but it didn’t change the momentum. Young Patrick Fitzgerald landed a brilliant point, and Kevin Mahony got a good score too, but Bennett missed a couple of frees when Waterford couldn’t afford to let any pennies fall through a hole in their pocket.
Limerick replaced Diarmaid Byrnes midway through the first half shortly after he became a red card risk. He was booked after 12 minutes and escaped with a warning after committing another yellow card offence a minute later. After a sideline consultation with Byrnes, Colin Coughlan was summoned from the bench.
Limerick led by 0-15 to 0-10 at half-time and after they weathered the Waterford storm early in the second half, they were still five points clear after 50 minutes.
Waterford’s best chance of a goal came immediately after half-time when Stephen Bennett played a cute ground pass to his brother Shane from a free inside the Limerick D. The pick-up, though, was just a fraction clumsy and by the time he steadied himself to shoot a phalanx of Limerick defenders came rushing at him. One of them made a block with his body.
At the other end, Limerick were picking off points at a rate that maintained their comfort levels. Shane O’Brien scored four at his ease and one of these days he will cut loose. Aaron Gillane added a couple of beauties and three of Limerick’s subs scored from play. For Waterford, it was just too much to bear.
Waterford: B Nolan (0-2, frees), I Kenny, C Prunty, I Daly, M Fitzgerald (0-2), Tadgh de Búrca, P Leavey, D Lyons, J Prendergast (0-1), J Barron (0-2), Stephen Bennett (0-9, 0-6 frees, 0-2 65), P Curran, K Mahony (0-1), D Hutchinson (0-1), Patrick Fitzgerald (0-1). Subs: M Kiely (0-1) for Curran, 26 mins; Shane Bennett (0-1) for Patrick Fitzgerald, h-t; G Fives (0-1) for Lyons, 46 mins; Pádraig Fitzgerald for Mahony, 50 mins; A Gleeson for Barron, 65 mins.
Limerick: N Quaid, S Finn, D Morrissey, M Casey, D Byrnes, K Hayes, B Nash (0-1), A English (0-3), W O’Donoghue (0-1), G Hegarty (0-1), C Lynch (0-3), T Morrissey (0-3), A Gillane (0-9, 0-6 frees), S O’Brien (0-4), D Reidy. Subs: C Coughlan (0-1) for Byrnes, 18 mins; C O’Neill (0-1) for O’Donoghue, 49 mins; A O’Connor (0-1) for T Morrissey, 60 mins; D O’Donovan for English, 67 mins; D Ó Dálaigh for O’Brien, 70 mins.
Referee: C Lyons (Cork).
Attendance: 12,101.
