First, the context. Waterford qualified for the All-Ireland semi-final by beating Cork in a replay. Earlier in the summer, they’d beaten Limerick in the Munster final by nine points. The Shannonsiders beat Clare to make the semi-final rematch.
KEN MCGRATH: “We were going from game to game, when we beat Cork the weekend before the semi-final, it was our first win over Cork in Croke Park, so that was huge for us. We trained on the Tuesday night before the Limerick game, a beautiful summer’s night in Dungarvan, and looking back now, I think we might have overtrained.
“I had blisters on my feet from the previous weekend so I didn’t train on the Tuesday, and I think that stood to me against Limerick, I was fresher than a lot of the lads.
OLLIE MORAN: “We’d had the three games with Tipperary before even playing the Munster final, which came around so quickly that we maybe weren’t quite ready for it.
“In that game Waterford had the edge, certainly, and they capitalised on our slight touch of mental fatigue, particularly towards the end of the game when they got goals.
“But we’d have felt we didn’t do ourselves justice, particularly after the high of beating Tipperary.”
KEN MCGRATH: “I don’t know if it was tired legs so much as a mental thing in the All-Ireland semi-final. Fellas were on a high after the Cork game and in a sense, I don’t think we came back down in order to get back up to play Limerick. Does that make sense?
“Limerick were obviously mad to have a cut off us after the Munster final. We were an experienced team at that stage ourselves, we should have been ready for that. And we knew that a couple of late goals from Dan had put a false spin on the Munster final. The final margin was nine points, but it wasn’t a nine-point game by any means. No way.”
OLLIE MORAN: “When Waterford beat Cork, we were almost frothing at the mouth to get at them. Training went very well and even the warm-up in Parnell Park on the day of the game was terrific — really focused, the ball flying, and there was an overriding sense of ‘we’re ready here’.
“The confidence was high. We felt we had a lot more in us.” (Limerick began the game with two goals in the first 10 minutes, from Andrew O’Shaughnessy and Donie Ryan.).
KEN MCGRATH: “Those two early goals were a blow, obviously. We’d been through the mill over the years, and we weren’t going to lose our heads because of two early goals, but they tacked on a few points and the margin got bigger and bigger. We weren’t doing as well in general play as we needed, we weren’t keeping the scoreboard ticking over, and they were flying, in fairness. They had 2-4 on the board after 10 minutes, which is good going.”
OLLIE MORAN: “Shaughs’ goal summed it up. Mike O’Brien won a great ball out on the wing from Tony Browne, great pass into Shaughs, he rounded Aidan Kearney and buried it. A phenomenal goal and it really boosted us. They weren’t at the pitch of the game in the first 20 minutes at all.”
KEN MCGRATH: “I was on Ollie from the start, and he got two points early in the game which probably settled him — I should have gotten a block in on one of them, I was right underneath him. He was brilliant that year for Limerick, in fairness, outstanding in the three games they played against Tipperary — and in the All-Ireland later on that year against Kilkenny.
“I did well against him in the Munster final and he obviously had something to prove in the semi-final. We always had a good battle, whether it was Waterford-Limerick or Ahane-Mount Sion. He was a player I had huge respect for.”
OLLIE MORAN: “In the Munster final we probably spent the day pulling out of each other, negating each other — which is always better for a back than a forward.
“Ken knew Waterford had the forwards to do damage up front so he could afford to neutralise me, and I felt afterwards that negating him wasn’t as productive for us. Because of that I wanted to play the semi-final on my terms, and to express myself more than in the Munster final.
“In Croke Park, I changed tack. For instance, I went everywhere bar where Ken was, and it meant he had to mark me rather than bomb forward, particularly when we were on top early on. We only went in at half-time four points up, despite dominating the first half, but they’d hit a lot of wides as well, and that encouraged us. So did the fact that we were able to stop Dan (Shanahan) scoring goals, he was in such good form that year.”
The score at the break was Limerick 2-9 Waterford 1-8.
KEN MCGRATH: “At half-time we were only four down, which was pretty good going, but it took a huge effort to cut their lead, and we were definitely fighting an uphill battle.
“You know in a game when you have a good stretch, you’re on top and it feels effortless — we didn’t get that period in the game, really. To be fair to Limerick they were getting their scores easier than us, whereas we didn’t pick up too many easy scores — everything we got was hard-earned.”
OLLIE MORAN: “We put in a huge effort in the first half but we saw Waterford’s body language as they came off at the break, and it wasn’t good.
“The support we got was a help, too — the Limerick crowd really responded to us coming off the field for halftime and that was like a shot of adrenaline.” (Waterford reeled Limerick in over the course of the first 25 minutes of the second half. Moran had to leave the pitch to get a nose injury treated at one stage.).
KEN MCGRATH: “What happened was Tony (Browne) caught him by accident when they were going for a ball.
OLLIE MORAN: “I went up for a ball, and myself and Ken would have both been proud of our aerial ability, and a hurley followed through and caught me across the nose. I was marking Ken so I blamed him. He was guilty until proven innocent.”
KEN MCGRATH: “It was Tony, not me.”
OLLIE MORAN: “My nose was pumping and I was down on the ground, spitting blood and cursing Ken. I got it fixed up and came back on and he tried to fix it then again.
KEN MCGRATH: “Ollie got some attention for his nose and when he came back he gave me a jostle, he probably thought I did it. So I gave his nose a twist.”
OLLIE MORAN: “Ah, we had great craic about it later. When he and Dawn got married I sent him a card with a picture of the incident in it: ‘Enjoy the day but I still haven’t forgotten it’.
KEN MCGRATH: “There was one in it when Tony (Browne) got a great point from long range with about 10 minutes left. We were in the hunt but Brian Begley won a penalty. I still don’t think it was a penalty — I was tackling him with Declan Prendergast — but it was a turning point.
“Andrew O’Shaughnessy buried it in the corner. Late on Begley caught a ball on the end line and I was sprinting back to cover but he stepped inside me on the right-hand side and got a goal. The game was up, then. That last goal killed it.”
OLLIE MORAN: “It was nip and tuck going into the last quarter. We were starting to flag big-time, really. The fact that Brian Begley won a penalty and Shaughs scored it was a huge boost to us. We still needed those goals at the end to get over the line.
“Taking the Limerick hat off, that’d be the regret from a hurling point of view, that that was Waterford’s peak and they didn’t get to an All-Ireland final. We benefited but for them, as a team that year they were well balanced, in great form and that was the season for them. They were the ultimate flair team, really.”
The game ended 5-11 to 2-15 in Limerick’s favour.
KEN McGRATH: “People mightn’t realise the difference that just one year makes. In 2007 we were coming back after losing an All-Ireland semi-final by a point the year before, we had a good team trip to New York, we won the league, had a great training camp, won the Munster title, no injuries ...
“That was the year we were at our peak. The following year, even though we made the All-Ireland final, we weren’t at that level: I’d had a couple of operations, one or two other lads had niggly injuries. So 2007 was the year, but fair dues to Limerick, they were the better team on the day.”
OLLIE MORAN: “Our record in Munster wasn’t outstanding then but people forget we’d been very competitive in the league final the year before against Kilkenny, for instance.
“In one sense we knew we had quality — players who’d won All-Ireland U21 medals and so on — but Richie (Bennis, manager) was the catalyst. He was intelligent, a good man-manager and brought good people in with him. And fellas like myself thought ‘we have to make things happen for ourselves’.
“In the final Kilkenny did to us what we did to Waterford, they got goals early and we had play catch-up. But history showed us how phenomenal that Kilkenny team was.
“Any of the Limerick lads would tell you that coming out onto the field that day was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, particularly with the welcome the Limerick support gave us. It was a dream come true.”
Scorers for Limerick: A O’Shaughnessy (2-7, 6f, 1-0 pen), D Ryan (2-0), B Begley (1-0), O Moran (0-2), M O’Brien, J O’Brien (0-1 each).
Scorers for Waterford: D Shanahan, P Flynn (4 frees) (0-4 each), S Molumphy, E McGrath (1-0 each), E Kelly (0-3, 1f), S Prendergast, J Kennedy, K McGrath (free), T Browne (0-1 each).
LIMERICK: B Murray; D Reale, S Lucey, S Hickey; P Lawlor, B Geary, M Foley; S O’Grady, M O’Brien; M Fitzgerald, O Moran, S O’Connor; A O’Shaughnessy, B Begley, D Ryan.
Subs: N Moran for Fitzgerald (40), M O’Riordan for Foley (55), J O’Brien for O’Connor (59), K Tobin for Ryan (67), P Tobin for M O’Brien (68).
WATERFORD: C Hennessy; E Murphy, D Prendergast, A Kearney; T Browne, K Mc Grath, B Phelan; M Walsh, J Kennedy; D Shanahan, E Kelly, S Molumphy; J Mullane, S Prendergast, P Flynn.
Subs: E McGrath for Kennedy (25), S O’Sullivan for Mullane (46), S Walsh for Flynn (51).
Referee: S Roche (Tipperary)
[b]- You can purchase the Irish Examiner's 20-page All-Ireland Hurling Final preview supplement with your Friday edition of the Irish Examiner in stores or from our epaper site.[/b]
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