Hard work earned reward, says Waterford’s Derek Lyons

Waterford manager Derek Lyons felt that his side’s victory owed as much to hard work and doing the basics as it did to the many moments of skill and quality.

“A one-point win would have done us tonight,” he said, “Cork are hurting at the moment and we knew that they were looking to the U21s.

“Obviously, there was a lot of talk about our team and all of the seniors involved with us but we spoke to the lads about that beforehand and played it down completely. It was all about the performance on the field, not about what you did last week or the week before.

“We brought that honesty and commitment and I think in the second half we opened up a bit and got the run on Cork.

“The workrate was key because, when Cork started to get a bit of momentum, it was broken down with a block here or a hook there.

“That’s a great quality and our lads had it in abundance, I think it hurt Cork even more than the quality of our team.”

While Waterford trailed by 0-5 to 0-2 early in the game, they never allowed themselves to panic. Lyons admitted that they had expected an early onslaught from their hosts.

“We felt that Cork had to come at us at the start,” he said.

“People are having to give Waterford a bit more respect lately and, maybe because of that, they probably set up with a formation that played into our hands a little bit.

“I felt that if we were within a point or two of Cork after the first 15 minutes then it was a good position to be in.”

Lyons also confirmed that Cormac Curran and Séamus Keating, who missed this game due to injury, should be back in contention to play against Clare in the semi-final.

His counterpart, Cork manager Damien Irwin, felt that unforced errors had been costly for the home side.

“We met a very good team tonight,” he said, “we tried to take them on as best we could but they just had a little bit too much.

“The effort of our lads was really good, but what we’d have been disappointed with was our execution. As much as Waterford being good, we had some unforced errors.

“We had opportunities but we spilled the ball and didn’t take the right option, that’s the thing we’d take from it.”

One source of consolation for Cork to take is that they fielded a very young side and Irwin hoped that the lessons learned can be put to good use in the future.

“Two of the starters are 21, everybody else is 18, 19, or 20,” he said.

“If the players learn from tonight that they must work really hard off the ball and then, when you have the ball, to use it better, that would be a positive.

“It’s harsh, inter-county hurling is a tough environment, but that’s the lesson to take from it.”