A week to draw breath

THE echoing sound you hear is an empty tin of superlatives. The perception that Waterford and Cork in the All-Ireland quarter-final yesterday couldn’t possibly match their clash in the Munster championship was right after all. Yesterday was better.

Over 72,000 people stayed to the very end: with Cork one up in injury time, Eoin McGrath danced cross-field to set up an equalising point chance, but then he threw one last dummy and steered goalwards. If you’ve never seen 72,000 people struck by the same thought at the same time, yesterday was probably your only chance to see the light-bulbs come on as the crowd realised... HE’S GOING FOR IT.

McGrath’s shot was saved by Donal Óg Cusack, Paul Flynn’s shot on the rebound was stopped, but in the resulting scrum referee Brian Gavin gave a free in, which Eoin Kelly pointed for the draw.

Cork felt afterwards that their luck had run out with Saturday night’s Lotto win in the city, but Waterford’s Dan Shanahan — nearer than 99% of those present — was emphatic: “Any time a man dives on the ball, it’s a free.”

Unsurprisingly, Cork boss Gerald McCarthy thought otherwise: “My opinion — which I’m entitled to as much as the referee — is that it wasn’t a free in. I thought it was a good save by our goalkeeper and he was descended upon. I would have thought a throw-in would have been a fair assessment of the situation.”

Asked if he felt referees were inclined to give late equalising frees, McCarthy offered a neat sidestep: “Maybe you should ask the referees that — I value my place on the sideline too much!”

Cork’s exasperation may be born out of knowing the game was theirs with time running out. Four points up with two minutes left, they had dragged themselves back from a slow start with impressive resolve.

After only nine minutes Tony Browne’s unmistakable long, sweeping swing sent the ball behind the Cork cover for Shanahan to gather. His finish was as precise as a tax demand, into the corner. Then he stitched a ball over from the sideline for a signature score and a handy cocktail: goal straight up with a point chaser.

Five points up. Waterford set fair.

As so often, Tom Kenny ignited Cork’s challenge by cruising a casual 60 yards with the ball to point, and the men in red whittled away the lead. They looked stable at the rear also, with Diarmuid O’Sullivan diverting the air traffic back outfield.

On the resumption, Waterford again started well. Paul Flynn saw the whites of Cusack’s eyes from 20 metres and billowed the net. Cork in arrears again.

McCarthy paid tribute to his men’s determination afterwards: “At the start of the second half (after the goal) our lads came back into it brilliantly. The wind seemed to pick up in Waterford’s favour in the second half and it was sheer bravery out of our lads which drove them back into the game.”

Cork’s leader up-front was Kieran ‘Fraggy’ Murphy, whose industry was rewarded on 40 minutes with a penalty, converted with venom by Neil Ronan.

At that point the game entered one of those phases you get with Cork and Waterford, the teams abandoning inhibition and structure to go bald-headed for scores. That suited Cork more than Waterford, whose shot selection from distance for much of the second half was poor and the Rebels, driven on by the inspirational Seán Óg Ó hAilpín, were rewarded when one of Murphy’s innumerable selfless runs left him through for a coolly finished goal with 10 minutes left.

Though Seamus Prendergast levelled matters from the puck-out on 64 minutes, Tom Kenny looked to have helped seal it: the Grenagh man weaved his way through to shoot and though Clinton Hennessy saved, Ronan did a fair Seanie O’Leary imitation to goal from the rebound. Sub Kevin Hartnett gave Cork a four- point lead and the announcer was calling end-of-match positions for the stewards.

“Four points up with a couple of minutes to go, but with Cork-Waterford you never know,” said McCarthy later. “We thought we’d done enough to win. Waterford came back very strong, as they always do.”

And how. When Cusack saved Paul Flynn’s late, late shot, Molumphy must have seen his entire life flash before his eyes, as if the rebounding ball, looping lazily up, up into the air, would never come down. It did, and he batted it home cleverly to set up the dramatic ending.

Whether you felt outrage or relief on that last tussle probably depends on whether you live east or west of Youghal.

It probably tells you something about the GAA that absolutely nobody in Croke Park yesterday was surprised to see a free given.

Waterford selector Nicky Cashin wasn’t downbeat after the game. “We’re still there. My only thought now is that we were four points down with two minutes left.

“We came back, though. I never thought when Cork went ahead that the match was lost, and neither did the team. That’s the kind of spirit that’s in Waterford.”

Those expecting a fire-and -brimstone opening to the afternoon were probably surprised by Clare and Limerick’s tepid, unleaded game.

Clare had some poor first-half wides and missed one goal chance that wasn’t so much a-begging as a-pleading.

If Diarmuid McMahon had buried his 11th-minute effort from the edge of the square then Clare might have settled. As it was they spent much of the half struggling with their touch, conceding three consecutive frees for picking the ball off the ground.

Limerick were quicker to get into the game, playing more diagonal ball into the corner than we’ve seen since Ronan O’Gara’s springtime outings in the stadium. They deserved their half-time lead of four points, and not long after the break Donie Ryan’s untidy goal helped them to a seven-point advantage; if Philip Brennan hadn’t made a miracle save from Brian Begley’s clever flick it would have been worse.

Clare bit back, with Diarmuid McMahon’s goal making it a three-point game, but Limerick had the trumps. Donie Ryan’s energy galvanised them and Brian Geary’s calmness mesmerised the opposition — at one stage he seemed to fake Clare players into slow motion. The experience gained in their saga with Tipp is now paying dividends for Limerick.

However, it’s a game destined to live in the shadow of its successor. Afterwards Nicky Cashin said you couldn’t enjoy a game when you’re stuck in the middle of it and, no doubt, players and management on both sides would agree that the tension means they can’t step outside the occasion and admire it.

For everyone else the question is simple: how soon can we see the replay?