Tipp survive as Province of Death delivers again

PROVINCE OF DEATH: Waterford's Dessie Hutchinson is tackled by Tipperary's Cathal Barrett. Pic Credit: Ken Sutton, Inpho.

Munster SHC: Waterford 3-21 Tipperary 1-27 

Survivor series. Viper’s nest. Or “province of death” as Liam Cahill coined it on Saturday evening. Call it what you will, what everyone can agree on is the Munster championship delivers.

Entertainment of Grade A quality this was even if the hurling at times wasn’t. That was more than acceptable.

For a Tipperary side reeling from a trouncing and a Waterford team unfamiliar with expectation, the margin for error had to be widened.

No two other teams have finished in the bottom two more than this pair but their defiance not to end up there again this year was palpable.

Waterford played better, Tipperary fought better and understandably the former will feel they lost the point the latter gained.

Munster hurling is all about soul, which made the visitors’ no-show in Limerick six days previous utterly incriminating.

But here they strove, they hassled, they harried and an equal share of the bounty felt justified, if not for their toil then for the number of questionable refereeing decisions that went against them.

Jack Prendergast’s second goal shouldn’t have been allowed to stand when Bryan O’Mara had been fouled by Kevin Mahony in the build-up but James Owens hadn't seen the infringement. Barry Hogan’s view for Stephen Bennett’s early penalty strike was inexplicably impaired by the referee.

So while Waterford manager Davy Fitzgerald sensed Owens was going to give Tipp a chance to level the game at the death “even if they fell over their laces”, the equalising free won by Alan Tynan and sent over with gusto by Gearóid O’Connor felt fair.

At the final whistle, Cahill yelped with delight. Nobody could blame him. It had been a brutal week, one almost completely of his Tipperary group’s own making, but from a wreckage they have salvaged something.

“To be fair, I celebrated it as if it was a win but really what I was celebrating was the fight in my team,” he said.

“I wasn’t celebrating the one point, I wasn’t celebrating the so-called narrative of getting out of jail, I was celebrating the fight in us, in our players in Tipperary. That’s what I was celebrating today.” 

By this time next week, Cahill could be contemplating being one of four teams remaining in the championship should Cork fail to take something from Limerick.

For now, he can rightly claim his group had drawn “a line under” that abhorrent first day display. Just as he stated Tipperary took ownership of what happened in the Ennis Road, they possessed this performance with 13 different scorers from play.

Davy Fitzgerald can consider this the one that got away and if Waterford don’t qualify from the round-robin for the first time he will look back to an evening where they couldn’t finish what they started.

Leading by four points going into extra-time, they were on course. That master weaver Jamie Barron was spinning yarns again. Beside him, Darragh Lyons wasn’t just riding pillion. With three first-half wides, Dessie Hutchinson was out of tune but was still humming.

Fitzgerald took heart from how his men reclaimed the lead early in the second half but gave his dues to Tipperary too.

“Their work-rate today was off the charts, they did some different stuff today that they didn’t do last week, threw a few curveballs at us that took us a small bit to figure out and get.” 

The Tipperary reformation had been signalled hours in advance of throw-in but it worked. Restored to centre-back, Ronan Maher could dictate more.

Michael Breen had proven before how well he can handle the edge of the square, while Tynan’s industry is better utilised in midfield and Noel McGrath’s vision at centre-forward hasn’t diminished.

Tipperary supporters, conspicuous by their absence in Limerick, showed up here in the 11,966 crowd.  

They were in full voice for a team that needed that backing and responded. Bennett’s fourth-minute penalty goal suggested they were still feeling the effects of the previous weekend but they settled just as they did after Prendergast’s 28th-minute goal.

Although they trailed 0-12 to 2-8 at half-time, Tipp were ahead six minutes into the second half before they were caught napping as Bennett took receipt of a quick Hutchinson free to fizz the ball low to the net.

Tipperary never went ahead again and the game followed a tit-for-tat scoring pattern until the 66th minute when Waterford rattled off four points without reply as substitute Shane Bennett made his presence felt.

But Tipperary would not yield. After Prendergast and John McGrath swapped scores, Mark Kehoe won a ball under the stand, fed Jake Morris and the save from Shaun O’Brien fell kindly to a poaching Seán Kenneally. From distance, Conor Bowe couldn’t land the leveller but O’Connor did.

Even in the cold analysis, both management will be comforted by how much their benches contributed. 

“Without our bench today, we'd be going home empty-handed,” admitted Cahill. “The ever-warrior Bonner (Maher) came on there, John McGrath was top class, young Kenneally, Darragh Stakelum made his championship (starting) debut, he was excellent today. He never gave up.

“We have good young lads coming in Tipperary. Our U20s were phenomenal last night, and they are in a Munster final. We tend to love a good failure in Tipp. That is what disappoints me the most. We tend to love a good failure. Really, we should be privileged in the position we are in.

“We are not where we want to be. Of course, we want to be winning All-Irelands and dining at the top table every year. But we are where we are and we have a lot of really good people and good, top-class players fighting to achieve that and get back to the top table.” 

Scorers for Waterford: Stephen Bennett (2-3, 1-0 pen); D. Hutchinson (0-6, 3 frees); J. Prendergast (1-1); C. Lyons (0-3); P. Curran (0-2); N. Montgomery, K. Bennett, D. Lyons, M. Kiely, Shane Bennett, J. Fagan (0-1 each).

Scorers for Tipperary: G. O’Connor (3 frees); M. Kehoe (0-4 each); S. Kenneally (1-1); J. Forde (2 frees), J. Morris (0-3 each); R. Maher (0-1 free), N. McGrath, A. Tynan, E. Connolly (0-2 each); M. Breen, D. Stakelum, P. Maher, J. McGrath (0-1 each).

WATERFORD: S. O’Brien; I. Daly, C. Prunty, K. Bennett; C. Lyons, T. de Búrca, M. Fitzgerald; N. Montgomery, D. Lyons; D. Hutchinson, J. Prendergast, J. Barron (v-c); Stephen Bennett (v-c), M. Kiely, K. Mahony.

Subs: J. Fagan for C. Prunty (inj 7); Shane Bennett for K. Mahony (51); P. Hogan for N. Montgomery (58); P. Curran for Stephen Bennett (64).

TIPPERARY: B. Hogan; C. Barrett, M. Breen, C. Morgan; C. Bowe, R. Maher (c), B. O’Mara; A. Tynan, E. Connolly; G. O’Connor, N. McGrath, J. Forde; D. Stakelum, M. Kehoe, J. Morris.

Subs: P. Maher for J. Forde (51); W. Connors for E. Connolly (54); J. McGrath for N. McGrath (56); S. Kenneally for D. Stakelum (64); D. McCormack for B. O’Mara (68).

Referee: J. Owens (Wexford)