Liam Cahill explains how Waterford reversed 'horrendous' breaking ball stat in victory over Limerick

This NHL 1A game went to Waterford after a hard-fought 70 minutes, gaining some small measure of revenge for the All-Ireland defeat

Tempers flare between Limerick's Kyle Hayes and Conor Prunty of Waterford. Picture: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

WATERFORD 1-22 LIMERICK 0-21

At or about the 38th minute at Walsh Park, Robbie Hanley met Jamie Barron head-on near the stand side of the field, a collision that was audible all around the stand.

It sketched this Allianz Hurling League game in miniature: two teams keen to leave with the win, and neither in the mood to back down. Waterford ended with the points and a welcome boost ahead of the mid-league break; Limerick faced the road back with a couple of red cards and a second successive defeat to mull over.

The All-Ireland champions had the wind and the initiative early on but suffered a major blow when Seamus Flanagan was red-carded ten minutes before the break.

Up until then, they had dominated, leading 0-6 to 0-2 by the first water break, with their energetic forwards making life hard for Waterford. When Declan Hannon stretched their lead to five points on 26 minutes, however, Flanagan got a straight red before the ball was pucked back out.

Waterford struggled to make the extra man work for them, though, and Limerick maintained that five-point cushion to half-time: 0-13 to 0-8.

Waterford resumed with the wind and points from Stephen Bennett (two frees) and Iarlaith Daly started reeling Limerick in, but the visitors kept in front until the second water break.

On the resumption, Jack Fagan rose highest in the goalmouth and goaled to put Waterford ahead. That was the shot of adrenaline they needed, and with Jamie Barron coming to the fore late on and sub Patrick Curran hitting three points, they held out.

A late, late brawl under the stand added nothing to the occasion, as the expression goes, though Limerick’s Kyle Hayes collected a red card after it.

“We prepared very well this week,” said Limerick boss John Kiely afterwards.

“The first sending off did put us under a lot of pressure - Waterford are a side that would make good use of an extra man in a situation like that but I thought we coped admirably.

“Ultimately, though, you find in the last quarter that being a man down does put you under pressure.” 

Waterford's Iarlaith Daly and Cian Lynch of Limerick. Picture: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

In the Waterford corner, Liam Cahill was candid about the benefits of the win.

“It's important, let's be honest about it.

“Whatever about the result, it was important that we came down here into our own field in Walsh Park and gave a really good account of ourselves.

“I think today, after a slowish start, a lot of silly errors, we settled down to play well. Having said that, you can't but acknowledge the advantage of having the extra man after the sending off of the Limerick player.

“All in all, great to get the win but we're not getting carried away with ourselves either.”

It was characteristic of Cahill to sketch out the tactical readjustment needed by Waterford to improve in the second half: “I felt we needed to push up on the Limerick puck-out and entice them to go long.

“Our breaking ball stat at half-time was horrendous, we only won two breaking balls in the middle of the park in the whole 35 minutes of the first half versus Limerick's 12 or 13 - so that was the reason that there was a five-point cushion in favour of Limerick at half-time.

“With the extra man, we felt if they went long that we should have an extra body there to get on that ball, and I just felt that we won more breaks in the middle and created little overlaps and took our scores when they came about.” 

Cahill will also be aware that Limerick shut the space down around Dessie Hutchinson and also created a couple of... half-goal chances? Goal-adjacent chances?

It was a feature of the game that both sides came close to creating clear-cut goal chances but either took one pass too many or one pass too few. Kiely pinpointed one of theirs, for instance: “Peter Casey almost slipped a hand pass to Conor Boylan. If it had gone to hand - it was a great interception - Conor could have been in on goal.

“We created goal chances today. We didn’t take them, but we created them.” 

The Limerick manager had positives to take out of the game - his side kept pressing and were in the hunt deep in injury time, while newcomer Mark Quinlan put in a good shift at wing-back - but two consecutive defeats will need to be rinsed out of the system when the league resumes.

Both managers indicated the countdown has begun in earnest for the championship. If so, Sunday was a good appetiser, as evidenced by the meeting of Jamie Barron and Robbie Hanley.

The 60-second report

IT MATTERED: The straight red card for Seamus Flanagan gave Waterford a significant advantage which came up trumps late on as Limerick tired. In the closing minutes Waterford found the space - and the scores - that would have been harder to locate if their opponents had had fifteen players.

CAN’T IGNORE: The Waterford goal. A good Stephen Bennett cross was fielded well by Jack Fagan, who improvised a terrific goal. It proved the difference, ultimately, between the sides.

SIDELINE SMARTS: Waterford pushed up on the Limerick puck-outs after the half-time break, but credit goes to Liam Cahill for a couple of astute changes, particularly the introduction of Patrick Curran, who ended the game with 0-3.

MAIN MAN: Stephen Bennett was Waterford’s key man, not just for his free-taking, which was up to his usual standard, but his involvement in general play out the field - carrying the ball deep into Limerick territory at times - was also crucial. He supplied the cross-field ball for Jack Fagan’s goal as well.

PHYSIO ROOM: John Kiely sketched out some of the Limerick’s injury concerns: “David Reidy hurt his ankle on Friday night, not serious but he’ll probably be out for two weeks.

“Graeme Mulcahy was with us today and will resume full training this week. He had an ankle injury the last couple of weeks but it’s recovering well.

“Gearóid Hegarty picked up a small knock last weekend.” 

MAN IN BLACK: Paud O’Dwyer of Carlow handled the game well.

WHAT’S NEXT: Both sides have next week off as the hurling league takes a break.

Scorers for Waterford: Stephen Bennett (0-8, 3 65s, 4 frees); J. Fagan (1-0); C. Lyons, P. Curran (0-3); J. Prendergast, Kieran Bennett (0-2 each); A. Gleeson, J. Barron, Shane Bennett (free), I. Daly (0-1 each).

Scorers for Limerick: A. Gillane (0-11, 2 65s, 7 frees); T. Morrissey (1 free, 1 65)(0-3); S. Flanagan (0-2); P. Casey, D. Hannon, D. O’Donovan, K. Hayes, C. Lynch (0-1 each). 

WATERFORD: B. Nolan; I. Daly, C. Prunty (c), C. Gleeson; S. Keating, A. Gleeson, C. Lyons; J. Barron, J. Dillon; J. Fagan, J. Prendergast, K. Bennett; D. Hutchinson, Stephen Bennett, Shane Bennett.

Subs: K. Moran for Keating (29); M. Kiely for Stephen Bennett (blood, 31-3); M. Kiely for Shane Bennett and DJ Foran for K. Bennett (52); P. Curran for Hutchinson (53); B. Power for Fagan (63); P. Hogan for Dillon (70).

LIMERICK: N. Quaid; S. Finn, D. Morrissey, R. English; M. Quinlan, D. Hannon (captain), K. Hayes; C. Lynch, D. O’Donovan; T. Morrissey, R. Hanley, C. Boylan; A. Gillane, S. Flanagan, P. Casey.

Subs: W. O’Donoghue for Hanley (43); J. Considine for D. O’Donovan (53); B. Nash for Quinlan (55); C. O’Neill for Casey and P. Ryan for Gillane (66). A. Costello for D. Morrissey (71).

Referee: P. O’Dwyer (Carlow).