‘The lads showed great character to come back’
“We were very slow out of the blocks again, same as two years ago, and we didn’t want a repeat of that,” he said. Didn’t want a repeat of the start was what he meant, because Limerick went on to win that game.
They didn’t quite win this one, but came so close, and their inspirational wing-back and spiritual leader was just as proud of the effort.
“The lads showed great character to come back, we knew at half-time we were in with a chance, even though we were playing into the wind. But we gave Waterford all the advantages, we were just lucky that there were a couple of changes made. Andrew O’Shaughnessy got a great goal, and we came into it after that.”
Two of those changes involved bringing in Patrick Kelly and Eoin Kelly at half-time, another couple of the youngsters who have done Limerick hurling proud in the last three years with their hat-trick of U-21 All-Ireland titles, joining eight of their erstwhile team-mates already on the field.
Another change, however, involved a fella not so young, but still enormously gifted, veteran corner-back Stephen McDonagh. The Bruree farmer has been part of many a championship game with Limerick for over a decade now, and the bench was a new experience.
“Different view, but it’s a team game, no championship game is won now without 20 players, and I still enjoyed it. Waterford and Limerick play a similar brand of hurling, very open with no fooling around or niggly stuff. Two years ago in Cork, it was the same kind of game, though we came back to win that one.
“A draw was a fair result today I think, for both teams. I know it would have been nice to win it, but it would have been desperate to lose it as well.”
No niggle? What about the yellow card immediately after his introduction? John Mullane had been causing terror in the Limerick defence every time he came near the ball and everyone in the ground knew that the first thing the hardy McDonagh was going to do was ‘introduce’ himself to the bould John.
Trouble was that ref Pat Aherne (the one getting all the stick today) knew it too and kept an eye out. Sure enough, on that first hard bump, he came a-calling. Didn’t that put pressure on Stephen for the balance of the game? A wry grin.
“Ah sure, I’m just gone a bit slow now and I had to slow John down some bit!”
Slow? Stephen McDonagh? No, not on or off the pitch.
The coolest bit of play on the day was surely the goal by teenager
Andrew O’Shaughnessy. Limerick were still seven points in arrears, ball in traffic, bad angle, keeper bearing down, only yards away, space tighter than any telephone booth, but one twinkle-toed side-step later, short sharp swing of the stick and the ball was in the net.
“We had to get something at that stage, they were all over us. It was 2001 all over again. We needed every score, and if it had been only a point opportunity I’d have taken that, but the opening was there, I said ‘I might as well try for it’. Lucky enough, it went in”, he said. Lucky? The only luck is Limerick’s: that they have such blooming stars.
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