Fitzgerald: "I want Waterford to play with an attitude"

PLAY WITH ATTITUDE: Davy Fitzgerald wants his Waterford side to play with an attitude. Pic: ©INPHO/Ken Sutton

Co-Op Superstores Munster Hurling League 

Waterford 1-22 

Tipperary 1-20 

Frost on the ground and All Stars in the stand but fans still flocked to Fraher Field yesterday to see two experimental teams fight out a lively Munster League encounter in the January sunshine.

Such was the crowd at the turnstiles come 2 o'clock, the match was delayed by five minutes. 1,500 tickets were pre-sold but the attendance looked far bigger. The home supporters got some New Year cheer as injury time points from Padraig Fitzgerald, Reuben Halloran and Seanie Callaghan saw Waterford squeeze past fourteen man Tipperary and qualify for the final.

Managers Davy Fitzgerald and Liam Cahill looked on the bright side in their post-match interviews. After an early championship exit and a winter of soul searching, Fitzgerald wants to see character from his Waterford players and he got that late on. "I'm pleased at the end but I'm not pleased with that fifteen to eighteen minute patch that we had. In a way, to get that is no harm. If that was last year, we lose that game without a shadow of a doubt. No matter what team I had out. What I'm delighted about is in the last four or five minutes, we got back, didn't lose the heads and got the scores we needed."

With All Stars Jamie Barron, Tadhg De Burca, Stephen Bennett, as well as the Ballygunner contingent, wrapped up in the stand, Padraig Fitzgerald (0-10) and Jack Prendergast (1-3) stepped up for the Déise. Conor Prunty also caught the eye as an attack minded wing back. Winning the final of this competition on January 21 isn't a priority for Fitzgerald however. "I couldn't really care about it. The winning wasn't the thing for me today. I want Waterford to play with an attitude and that's what we're trying. It was so good to see that support today, even at the very end. It actually means a lot to us when we get the crowd behind us. You'll get frustrated when we make a few mistakes but we do some nice stuff as well. The most important thing is that we get the blocks and tackles. We want Waterford to have an identity where they're a really hard working team. I think you see a hard working team today. That's what we want. We have the skill but that's not going to win you All Irelands. You need that bit of grit, you need that bit of smartness and you need the skilful lads as well. We need a mix of everything. Don't get frustrated is all I say. We'll try and integrate it all together over the next number of weeks."

Tipperary lost centre back Robert Byrne to a straight red card on 24 minutes for a wild pull across Jack Prendergast. Despite that setback, the visitors rallied from nine points down in the second half. Sean Ryan struck 1-12 for the Premier (1-3 from play). The Premier made eight substitutions and one of those fresh bodies Cathal Quinn nudged them ahead entering four minutes of injury time. The home team hit back with those late, late efforts from Fitzgerald, Halloran and Callaghan.

Tipp boss Liam Cahill was still happy with the spirit his side displayed. "Delighted with the grit and the determination to hang in the match. We looked to be under the cosh big time before half time and into the second half, nine points down at one stage. A lot of good young players there today; players with their first real taste of senior inter county hurling. They'll come on from that. Waterford came fully committed and it was a good, hard, honest game. Had it remained fifteen on fifteen, you don't know what way it could have gone."

2023 finished on a disappointing note with an All Ireland quarter final exit to Galway. A season Cahill and company have learned from. "We have to bring consistency to our game. We have looked at that. We believe that we can make the necessary adjustments around our physical and mental preparation to make sure that we're in a better place to kick on. The real objective now is to get out of Munster, please god by the process of winning a Munster final. That's always the goal, silverware is always number one. The main objective is to get out of Munster in the right manner, not waiting and depending on anybody to help you out."

Scorers for Waterford: P Fitzgerald 0-10 (6fs), J Prendergast 1-3, T Barron, P Curran 0-2 each, S Callaghan, R Halloran, PJ Fanning, C Bonnar, M Kiely 0-1 each.

Scorers for Tipperary: S Ryan 1-12 (9fs), A Tynan 0-2, C O'Dwyer, J Fogarty, A Ormond, M O'Shea, S Kenneally, C Quinn 0-1 each.

WATERFORD: S O'Brien; M Power, M Fitzgerald, B Looby; C Prunty, T Barron, PJ Fanning; P Curran, S Fitzgerald; K Bennett, J Prendergast, S Walsh; C Bonnar, P Fitzgerald, M Kiely.

Subs: S Callaghan for Bonnar (53), W Hahessy for Looby (60), R Halloran for Walsh (61).

TIPPERARY: B Hogan; D Slattery, M Breen, C Morgan; C Whelan, R Byrne, C Bowe; J Campion, A Tynan; C O'Dwyer, J Fogarty, S Hayes; A Ormond, M O'Shea, S Ryan.

Subs: B O'Mara for Whelan (HT), B Heffernan for Campion (HT), D Stakelum for Hayes (HT), B McGrath for O'Shea (HT), C Quinn for Morgan (39), S Kenneally for Ormond (49), M Kehoe for Fogarty (54), B Seymour for O'Dwyer (61).

Referee: S Stokes (Cork)