Perfect start for Cork as Ryan's Rebels brush Waterford aside

Pat Ryan's charges were comfortable winners over Davy Fitzgerald's Waterford.

POSITIVE START: Patrick Horgan of Cork in action against Jack Fagan and Conor Prunty of Waterford. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Cork 0-27 Waterford 0-18 

Cork were the last county to open their championship account. On Sunday afternoon in front of a crowd of 29,104, they strutted up to hurling’s front desk and flashed such an array of notes that heads were turned far beyond Leeside.

In securing their first championship win on home turf in four years, Cork torpedoed Waterford’s chances of finishing in Munster’s top three.

In beginning Pat Ryan’s championship reign with a nine-point hammering, Cork filled their boots with confidence ahead of Tipp’s visit next Saturday.

There was only one terrace open for this game. Expect the lock to be cut off the City End next weekend such will be the demand to see can Cork back up this statement opening round win.

Backed by a strongish breeze here, Pat Ryan’s charges exploded into the game and the summer conversation. 0-12 to 0-2 was their lead after 26 minutes, the gap nine at the break (0-15 to 0-6).

The half-time chat over chips and curry focused on two issues. For those deflated souls in white, it was the comically bad decision-making of their team. For those boisterous in red, it was the space their team was finding and flourishing in.

We wondered beforehand how Darragh Fitzgibbon would fare in this his first competitive outing of the year. 

Was it a gamble to start a man with no competitive minutes in his legs in 2023? Would there be the slightest element of rust?

Fitzgibbon heard the questions and served a series of early returns that left Waterford spinning. The Charleville man’s movement across the 45-metre line in the opening 10 minutes saw him picked up by three different Waterford players (Conor Gleeson, Calum Lyons, and Darragh Lyons).

There was clearly an element of zonal defending to Waterford’s approach. They’d have been far better served by identifying one player and lacing him onto the boots of Fitzgibbon. In the absence of such constant shadowing, Fitzgibbon went where he pleased early doors.

The results gave Cork an immediate head start and had Waterford reeling on the backfoot.

By the eighth minute, the returning Fitzgibbon had three points from play, one wide, and one short.

BIG IMPACT: Darragh Fitzgibbon of Cork attempts to keep the ball in play under pressure from Darragh Lyons of Waterford. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

By the eighth minute, Cork, on the whole, were 0-4 to 0-1 down the road.

After a Stephen Bennett free on 74 seconds, the hosts hit eight without reply.

Jack Prendergast - probably the sole Waterford player to come out of an awful first half with any bit of credit - won a free off Tommy O’Connell that enabled Bennett to temporarily stop the flow of red blood. 

Emphasis on the temporary, mind.

Cork kept coming. A four-point burst through half-back Robert Downey, Luke Meade, Horgan (free), and Brian Roche shoved their lead out to 0-12 to 0-2 on 26 minutes.

The hosts were finding so much unattended green grass in the opposition half it made a mockery of the fact that the Déise had a plus one back there. Oh how the latter longed for their usual plus one, Tadhg de Búrca, to bring a bit of structure to the chaos Cork were creating.

And while the finishers will get the firmest of the many back slaps going around - everyone bar Shane Barrett from the number seven position up had scored from play by the half-time breather - the deliveries they were being fed from further back were of bullseye accuracy.

If Waterford’s defending was lacking in robustness, their use of possession up the other end was lacking in basic common sense.

There were a couple of examples. Late in the first half, Calum Lyons sallied unmarked into enemy territory. But instead of taking his point, at a time when his team trailed 0-13 to 0-4, he hit a diagonal ball right into the corner for Hutchinson. Dessie played it back down along the sideline to Prendergast who then tapped a pass to nobody, immediately putting his hands over his helmet in disgust at his error.

Their first score from play didn’t arrive until the 28th minute. Ger Mellerick wouldn’t allow Stephen Bennett a moment’s peace. Ditto that for Niall O’Leary chaperoning Dessie.

They found a touch more freedom in the second period. They couldn’t, however, find goals. That was the only currency that was going to rescue them. Their championship now looks beyond rescue.

A combination of Patrick Collins and Damien Cahalane denied Stephen Bennett, Hutchinson, and sub Peter Hogan. They never got closer than six in a second period that carried a waft of inevitability stronger than the burger vans that lined Centre Park Road on the walk into the game.

Their Munster record continues to make for awful, awful reading. They’ve now lost their last five provincial outings.

As for Cork, what a start. 

Ten different scorers, including two from half-back Robert Downey. His Glen clubmate Patrick Horgan top-scored with eight (six frees), including an over the shoulder peach on the South Stand sideline.

Championship debutant Brian Roche captured the collective workrate.

There were statements being issued all over the pitch by those in red. Their summer is up and galloping.

Scorers for Cork: P Horgan (0-8, 0-6 frees); D Fitzgibbon (0-4); D Dalton (0-2 frees), S Harnedy (0-3 each); R Downey, C Lehane, R O’Flynn (0-2 each); B Roche, L Meade, S Barrett (0-1 each).

Scorers for Waterford: S Bennett (0-9, 0-7 frees, 0-1 ‘65); C Lyons, Padraig Fitzgerald (0-2 each); J Barron, N Montgomery, D Hutchinson, A Gleeson, P Fitzgerald (0-1 each).

Cork: P Collins; N O’Leary, D Cahalane, G Mellerick; T O’Connell, C Joyce, R Downey; B Roche, L Meade; D Dalton, D Fitzgibbon, S Barrett; C Lehane, P Horgan, S Harnedy.

Subs: R O’Flynn for Dalton (50); P Power for Harnedy (56); S Kingston for Lehane (59); C Cahalane for Meade (64); C O’Brien for Mellerick.

Waterford: B Nolan; M Fitzgerald, C Prunty, C Gleeson; D Lyons, C Lyons, T Barron; J Barron, N Montgomery; C Dunford, J Fagan, J Prendergast; S Bennett, M Kiely, D Hutchinson.

Subs: A Gleeson for Kiely; Patrick Fitzgerald for Dunford, P Hogan for T Barron (all HT); C Ryan for C Gleeson (43); Padraig Fitzgerald for Montgomery (66).

Referee: J Owens (Wexford).