Risk-taker Richie reaps the rewards

ALL this year, all through this hurling season, we’ve been talking about the brilliance of Waterford, the swashbuckling exuberance with which they have stormed through this season and swept all before them.

NHL winners for the first time since 1963, felling Tipp, Cork and Kilkenny on successive Sundays; Munster champions after disposing of Cork and Limerick and winners over the Rebels again after two outstanding games over the last two weekends.

And all that time Limerick were coming up on the blind side, their progress almost unnoticed, certainly unmeasured. Oh, what a superb job of preparation has Richie Bennis and his management team done this year. What a recovery from their defeat to this same opposition in the Munster final.