Watergrasshill reap fruit in Cork's garden of Eden
Watergrasshill captain Seán Desmond takes a moment for himself after he scored the winning goal in the fifth minute of injury-time in the AIB GAA Hurling All-Ireland Intermediate Club Championship final match between Tynagh/Abbey-Duniry of Galway and Watergrasshill of Cork at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ă“ MĂdheach/Sportsfile
“You can spend your whole life traveling around the world searching for the Garden of Eden, or you can create it in your backyard.”Â
Cork clubs might remember the first line of the email in which the championship structure reform proposals were outlined to them six years ago.
Newly-appointed county secretary Kevin O’Donovan, while careful not to dictate which of the three options delegates should pick, was at the same time encouraging them to embrace change.
In a couple of annual reports, he spoke of the changes beginning to bear fruit. The bottom line established that. Under the old backdoor format, Cork’s championship gate receipts in 2019 dropped from €1.028 million the previous year to €785,153. Last year, they were €1.384m having been €1.462m and €1.584m in 2023 and ’22 respectively.
That was one metric; another was how Cork’s representatives would fare outside the county when their record spoke of strife and struggle. Cork sides, it was claimed and established, had grown soft, perhaps overprotected by their match officials and untested by a bloated championship system.
The provincial successes of the Sarsfields-Watergrasshill-Russell Rovers triumvirate last month was Cork’s second ever grand slam and first since 2005. “A clean sweep of Munster hurling titles recently was a testament to the cut-throat formats now in place in our own championships,” declared O’Donovan with some justification in his annual report.
The question in Croke Park was would it translate further to the All-Ireland stage. Boasting seven senior county champions, Watergrasshill were always expected to be Cork’s best chance of claiming national silverware. Sure enough, it was one of the Imokilly men, Adam Murphy, who stood out as the exemplar and another, Seán Desmond, as the match-winner.
Their beginning was edgy but to twist a three-point deficit into a four-point lead by the 15th minute was impressive. For Murphy’s ninth-minute goal, the uncertainty among the Tynagh Abbey-Duniry full-back and goalkeeper certainly helped, the latter’s poor puck-out setting Watergrasshill’s attack in motion.
Murphy had been a dominant figure in the first half. Two of the last three scores came from his hurley in open play after he had landed the goal and a couple of placed balls.
He threatened to continue that trend in the second half but there was a cessation filled by Shane Moloney who simply took over proceedings. Six points, four from play and a delicious sideline, tilted the game the westerners’ way.
Murphy’s three wides, one from a placed ball and another from a 65, could have cost Watergrasshill but Desmond then grabbed the baton. Given his scoring prowess for club and division this year, Desmond had been far too quiet to that point and surrendered a handy point to try and square a low percentage goal chance early on in the half. However, his deft flick of Anthony Cronin’s diagonal delivery to deceive David Jordan and put himself into space for the winning goal was exquisite and worthy of sealing national glory.
Even if their tracking of Moloney was dubious, Watergrasshill had shown the guts to hang on in. Ian O’Callaghan and Daire O’Leary didn’t look like men who were going to be beaten. Even when O’Leary was adjudged to have overcarried for a free that put Tynagh Abbey-Duniry a point up in the 59th minute, he didn’t wear a face of concern.
That coolness wasn’t present in the early stages of the junior final where there were nerves aplenty. Six points was the total score for the first 16 minutes and by the break Russell Rovers had struck three wides, a post and dropped three short.
Not scoring from play until the 24th minute said everything about their frigidity but captain Ciarán Sheehan’s point was at least the first of three on the bounce from his side and cancelled out Shane Donnelly’s goal that had put St Lachtain’s five ahead in the 22nd minute.
Down three points at the break, Rovers needed a third quarter bounce but it never came. Darren Brennan denied Luke Duggan Murray shortly after the resumption and for 10 long minutes between the 35th and 45th minutes Rovers never troubled the scoreboard.
In that period, St Lachtain’s stretched their advantage from two to seven points as they pummelled Rovers on primary ball in the middle third. They weren’t flattered by the seven-point difference never mind the five-point margin at the end.
Of course, this was Kilkenny’s 25th best team against Cork’s 49th. That disparity in grading was a topic at last month’s annual convention relating to an identical imbalance between Cork and Kerry’s representatives. And yet Kilmurry belied their supposed handicap ranked 24 clubs below Firies in their Munster final.
Seeing off Cashel King Cormacs and Kilrossanty in their respective provincial showdowns Watergrasshill and Russell Rovers beat clubs ranked eight and 16 positions higher in Tipperary and Waterford. In Tynagh Abbey-Duniry, Watergrasshill beat a team of equal standing in their county.
It’s all about proportionality and in their behemoth of a championship programme Cork have found a relatively happy medium. Watergrasshill are the living proof. Next Sunday, Sarsfields could provide more. In the garden of Eden, from little All-Irelands grow…
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