McGrath Cup Semi-Final

McGrath Cup Semi-Final

Clare 1-10 Waterford 0-10

Waterford’s bid for a place in the McGrath Cup final against Kerry came a cropper against a resurgent Clare team in Ardmore last Sunday. In a game that was moved from Brickey Rangers’ Bushy Park, Clare proved too strong for a somewhat experimental Waterford team which included several fringe players.

Clare manager, Micheál McDermott has revamped his squad over the winter and has controversially used the GAA’s parental rule to bring in players that are based in other counties. It was one of those players, David O’Connor who plays for St Brigids in Dublin who came off the bench to score the game’s all important goal in the 43^rd minute.

Having started so badly against Tipperary in the quarter-final, Waterford got off to a better start in this game and Portlaw’s Michael Donnelly put Waterford in front with two early frees which helped to settle the home side’s nerves.

Waterford’s superiority was short-lived, with newcomer Niall Browne looking impressive Clare quickly got back into the game with the Kildare native kicking their opening score.

Despite playing second fiddle around the middle of the field, where Browne was having a huge influence on the game, Waterford did manage to keep their noses in front for the majority of the half, but just about as Alan Clohessy was in fine form for the Banner men.

The hero of the Tipperary game, Kevin Power continued his rich vein of form with another good point and Patrick Hurney forced to step up to the plate due to the absence of his brother Gary, also had his scoring boots on, allowing John Owens men to lead 0-6 to 0-5 at the interval.

Both managers decided to alter things at the break, with the introduction of O’Connor proving to be the game’s key move. It must be noted that the introduction of Mick Ahern at midfield for Waterford did dramatically improve the fortunes of Waterford in this sector.

Clare were soon back on level terms when Clohessy scored his third point of the game and a few minutes later, we had the game’s crucial score. An excellent team movement involving Clohessy and Rory Donnelly resulted in O’Connor firing past Tom Wall.

From then on, Waterford were chasing the game and although substitute, Sean Fleming impressed with two points, Clare, with David Tubridy on the mark kept their noses in front to secure a place in Saturday’s final against Kerry.

This is not a game that will live long in the memory and will be remembered with some disappointment by John Owens. With Kerry, Cork and Limerick all on the other side of the draw, he will have seen this as a major opportunity to reach a major final and test his side against one of the best teams in the country.

However, there were some positives for Owens to take from the game, most notably the performances of Tomás O’Gorman, Shane Briggs, Mick Ahern, Patrick Hurney and Sean Fleming.

Waterford: T Wall; J Hurney, T O'Gorman, K Connery; E Walsh, S Briggs, J Phelan; B Phelan, T Prendergast; M Donnelly (0-3), K Power (0-1), B Wall; JJ Hutchinson, P Hurney (0-3), P Whyte (0-1). Subs: S Fleming (0-2) for Hutchinson; M Ahern for Power; M O'Gorman for Prendergast Scorers: P Hurney 0-3, M Donnelly 0-3, S Fleming 0-2, K Power 0-1, P Whyte 0-1

Clare: Joe Hayes; L Healy, B Duggan, M McMahon; Graham Kelly, Gordon Kelly, John Hayes; C Ryan, C O'Connor; D Daly, D Tubridy, N Browne; R Donnelly, T Ryan, A Clohessy. Subs: G Fannin for Graham Kelly; D O'Connor for C Ryan; D O'Brien for T Ryan; D O'Neill for Browne Scorers: D O’Connor 1-0, D Tubridy 0-3, A Clohessy 0-3, C O’Connor 0-1, N Browne 0-1, R Donnelly 0-1, G Fannin 0-1

Referee: D O'Mahoney (Tipperary)