Waterford Crystal Cup Quarter-Final

Waterford Crystal Cup Quarter-Final

Waterford 1-12 C.I.T 0-11

Waterford recovered from a shocking first half display to eventually shake off the challenge of the student s of C.I.T to book a semi-final spot against Clare this weekend. On a freezing cold day in Walsh Park, it was a five-star performance from Abbeyside star, Richie Foley which was the catalyst for Waterford’s victory.

It was a strange looking Waterford side which took to the field with Mount Sion’s Christopher Ryan, Tourin’s Darragh Fives and Dungarvan’s Gavin Crotty making their competitive debuts for Davy Fitzgerald’s side. Perhaps the unfamiliarity was a contributing factor to the sluggish start that they made.

Although an early free from Richie Foley cancelled out an excellent opening score from CIT’s Cork panellist Lorcan McLoughlin, the students were by far the better team for the majority of the opening period.

CIT made good progress down the right hand side of their attack where Tony Murphy and Clare native Patrick O’Connor looked dangerous. These two players linked up well on several occasions in the first half, resulting in three points for CIT.

Up at the other end, Waterford were making little or no impression with CIT’s John O’Callaghan and Ross Cashman looking very impressive at full and centre-back respectively.

With Ryan Clifford proving a most reliable free-taker CIT eventually managed to open up a five point lead with 23 minutes on the clock as the scoreboard read 0-6 to 0-1 in the rebel college’s favour.

Waterford did rally somewhat as half-time approached, as a Maurice Shanahan free and a scrappy Seamus Prendergast point narrowed the CIT lead to four points.

However, playing with a stiff breeze, the students attacked again and a Ryan Clifford free and another excellent effort from Murphy gave the visitors a 0-9 to 0-3 lead at the break.

Davy Fitzgerald probably issued a few stern words to his charges at half-time and brought Roanmore’s Frank McGrath on for Christopher Ryan. With the words of their manager echoing in their ears, Waterford injected some urgency to their play for the second half and two points in as many minutes from Gavin Crotty and Foley had the deficit down to four points.

Although Tony Murphy did manage a point for CIT, the pendulum continued to swing in the Decies favour as Richie Foley fired over a free.

Davy Fitzgerald brought on Ballygunner teenager, Pauric Mahony for his debut and he made an instant impression, being brought down for a 21 yard free in the 43^rd minute. Richie Foley stepped up and buried the resultant free in the back of the net narrow the CIT lead to a point.

The students temporarily threatened to weather the storm when Clifford scored another free but further Waterford points from Foley and Brian O’Halloran soon had the home side back on level terms.

With both the initiative and the wind in their favour, Waterford were never going to lose the game from that position and four more frees from the unerring Foley dragged Waterford into this weekend’s semi-final.

Waterford’s aspirations of further progress in this competition did receive a blow with 16 minutes to go, when Maurice Shanahan picked up a straight red card for a wild pull.

Although neither the performance or the game will live long in the memory, this game did give Davy Fitzgerald a chance to blood some of the younger members of his extended panel as along with those already mentioned, Dunhill’s Eamonn Murphy also made an appearance on Sunday. There would only be a handful of players who would be completely happy with their performances but amongst those would be Liam Lawlor, Darragh Fives, Michael Walsh, Richie Foley and Seamus Prendergast.

There was a small degree of Waterford interest in the CIT team as Dungarvan’s Shane Kearney played very well at right-corner back. Although Stephen Daniels was listed on the CIT panel, he did not line out, which may have had something to do with John Mullane’s stag in Newcastle.

Waterford: C Hennessy: J Maher, L Lawlor, C Ryan; D Fives, M Walsh, J Nagle; S Molumphy, B O’Halloran; S Prendergast, R Foley, M Shanahan; G Crotty, S Walsh, S Casey; Subs: F McGrath for C Ryan, P Mahony for G Crotty, E Murphy for S Casey Scorers: R Foley 1-8 (1-7f), M Shanahan 0-1f, S Prendergast 0-1, G Crotty 0-1, B O’Halloran 0-1

C.I.T. T Quaid; S Kearney, J O’Callaghan, J Herlihy; S McDonald, R Cashman, C Leahy; L McLoughlin, S White; P O’Connor, C Casey, M Bowles; T Murphy, M O’Sullivan, R Clifford; Subs: S O’Brien for M Bowles, N Kelly for L  McLoughlin, S Corcoran for C Casey Scorers: R Clifford 0-5f, P O’Connor 0-3, T Murphy 0-2, L McLoughlin 0-1

Referee: T Ryan (Tipperary)