Davy happy as Déise battle

HONOURS even in Semple Stadium yesterday, with 6,665 people on hand for this entertaining draw in the NHL Division One.

The Déise can thank old warhorses Dan Shanahan and Eoin Kelly for their late equaliser – Shanahan won the injury-time free which Kelly converted for the draw – and their manager Davy Fitzgerald was happy his side had fought to the very end.

“No matter when we’ve gone down, or up, we’ve kept working hard,” Fitzgerald said.

“And we showed a nice bit of character there at the end. We took and gave hits today – we still have improving to do, and I doubt Tipperary would be afraid of us, but we’ll keep working hard.”

His opposite number wasn’t quite as happy: “We were lucky enough in the finish,” said Tipp boss Liam Sheedy. “We were hanging on a bit. We were a tired team at the end.

“When we went five points up (in the second-half) I thought we’d kick on, but in fairness to Waterford they came back. I’d be disappointed with the goal which they got but overall we’d be happy enough with the point from the game.”

True enough. Tipp didn’t score for the last ten minutes, which was surprising as they’d been impressive up until that point. Paul Kelly and Lar Corbett were very sharp in the first-half – Corbett had four points from play while Kelly had won plenty of possession and scored two points himself.

Tipperary moved four clear of Waterford with a Brendan Maher point on 26 minutes but almost immediately the visitors hit back: Jamie Nagle pointed, then Dan Shanahan slipped a clever pass to Stephen Molumphy. The Waterford skipper lost his footing but recovered to shoot home from close range. Shanahan then added a point to put Waterford ahead.

The game picked up visibly in intensity at that point, with Waterford benefiting from Richie Foley’s switch back to centre-back and Tomás Ryan’s industry up front, which had the experienced Paul Curran on the back foot.

Tipp regained the lead through Noel McGrath and Gearoid Ryan (two), only for Waterford’s Eoin Kelly (two) to level matters before Corbett, again, put Tipp one ahead at the break, 1-9 to 0-13.

Tipperary could have edged further ahead on the resumption, when John O’Brien won a penalty, but Clinton Hennessy saved Noel McGrath’s shot.

The sides exchanged points until a Tipperary goal: Declan Fanning, Hammersley and Gearoid Ryan exchanged passes to put Noel McGrath through to goal coolly on 46 minutes.

A Seamus Hennessy point put Tipp five ahead, 1-17 to 1-12, but Waterford’s response was emphatic: Eoin Kelly buried a 20-metre free on 50 minutes and then pointed another free to leave the minimum between them.

Though Tipp managed two more points, from Hammersley and John O’Brien, they failed to score in the last ten minutes, and while Waterford’s equaliser might have been late, it had an air of inevitability about it.

The Waterford manager was particularly happy that Dan Shanahan’s industry had won the equalising free.

“I’m delighted for him. He’s worked very hard and though a lot of people might have written him off, the way it is on this team, if you’re good enough to play then you’ll play.

Liam Sheedy wasn’t as ebullient:

“We’d be disappointed with what we got from the last twenty minutes. We didn’t get a whole lot into our play, another score or two would have given us a bit of daylight and we maybe took the wrong option, but we’re going in the right direction.

“There’ll be loads to play for next week against Cork.”

The injuries are mounting up for Tipperary: Sheedy confirmed that both yesterday’s late withdrawal Eoin Kelly and Seamus Callanan have hamstring strains from midweek training.

“Next week might be too soon for them, but they’re definitely not long-term injuries.” Shane McGrath took a knock to the knee yesterday and Sheedy said he was waiting for the medical report.

Davy Fitzgerald confirmed the return of Tony Browne to the panel but said that Ken McGrath, who is still on honeymoon, would be unlikely to start against Offaly next week.

Scorers for Tipperary: T. Hammersley 0-6 (0-3 fs, 0-1 65); N. McGrath 1-1, L. Corbett 0-4; P. Kelly, G. Ryan, B. Maher 0-2 each; S. Hennessy, J. O’Brien 0-1 each.

Scorers for Waterford: E. Kelly 1-7 (1-7 fs); S. Molumphy 1-1; S. O’Sullivan 0-3; D. Shanahan 0-2; J. Nagle, S. Prendergast, J. Mullane 0-1 each.

Subs for Tipperary: S. Hennessy for S. McGrath, 37; M. Webster for P. Kelly 56.

Subs for Waterford: J. Mullane and M. Shanahan for Moran and Kearney HT; B. Phelan for Ryan, 54.

Referee: C. McAllister (Cork).