A bitter pill as sending off ends Déise dreams
Midway through the first half, he dismissed Waterford midfielder Tommy Prendergast with a straight red card.
The incident which led to this decision involved Prendergast and his direct opponent Jim O’Donovan and although Prendergast did make contact with the Limerick man’s head, it appeared more accidental than intentional.
The fact that Doyle deemed it a red card offence completely altered the complexion of this contest, which up until then had been in the balance. Only a fortunate goal by Ger Collins in the fifth minute separated them.
As a result of Doyle’s decision the Limerick management team opted to play their extra man in front of their full-back line, effectively eliminating the threat the big full forward Robert Aherne had been causing in the first quarter. Subsequently, in the second half, the extra defender was correctly utilised to ‘double team’ the Waterford danger man Gary Hurney when he relocated to the edge of the square. Other factors contributed hugely to Limerick’s victory but there is no doubt that the decision to reduce Waterford to 14 men was crucial.
Ironically, Waterford produced some of their best play during the period straight after the dismissal culminating in a great individual goal by Hurney in the 19th minute to tie the game. However, as the half progressed, Limerick gradually gained control through the dominance of John Galvin in the middle third, ably assisted by his partner O’Donovan. The duo gave Limerick the platform to reel off four unanswered points from play with Stephen Lavin, and Ian Ryan, who gave a good defender in Maurice O’ Gorman a torrid afternoon, both impressing.
At the short whistle Limerick led by four points and with the benefit of the wind and the extra man, looked set for a comprehensive win. The fact that this did not happen, will be of concern to the Limerick management as they count down to a Munster final with either Kerry or Cork.
Waterford started the second half with a new midfield pairing of Robert Aherne and substitute Kevin Power in an effort to break the Limerick stranglehold in that area and the Waterford pair broke the ball continuously to great effect.
The Waterford half backs and half forwards gorged themselves on the subsequent breaks to win 12 in total to Limerick’s five, three of which were garnered in the last 10 minutes. In addition, Limerick kicked five very poor wides in a row while Waterford had two huge points from distance courtesy of Aherne and Tony Grey to stay within touching distance of their opponents. However, the introduction of two substitutes to the Limerick attack in the last quarter gave them the impetus and fresh legs to put this game away, with Conor Fitzgerald particularly impressive, registering three points and begging the question why he didn’t start in the first place?
Eoghan O’Connor, the second substitute, did himself no harm either scoring a point and adding some pace and penetration to a forward division that had largely malfunctioned in the third quarter. In fairness to Limerick’s forward play, overall they registered 1-13 from play and would be very happy with a similar return in the upcoming Munster final. One other notable feature of the game worth mentioning was the free count, 19 frees to Limerick and only six to Waterford, who were indisciplined. Limerick’s greater experience saw them progress to another Munster decider but winning this final now has to be their ultimate goal.
