All to play for in Munster dog fight
Waterford manager Davy Fitzgerald as the final whistle goes after their pulsating draw with Tipperary in the Munster SHC at a jammed Walsh Park on Saturday evening. Next up for the Déise are Clare in Ennis. Photo: Inpho/Ken Sutton.
With over seventy minutes played in Walsh Park on Saturday last Waterford, leading by four points, had one foot in the knockout stages of the All Ireland Championship. Wins in their remaining games would do nothing for Tipperary and Cork and all that remained to be decided in the championship was the pairing for the Munster Final. Minutes later the whole scene had changed with Tipperary’s late surge keeping the door open for themselves and Cork and leaving Waterford needing something from their remaining away games to Clare and Limerick to stay in the championship if results elsewhere do not go their way.
It was drama all the way in Walsh Park on Saturday last. The atmosphere in the ground matched if not surpassed that of the Cork game. The Waterford supporters turned out in force and the Tipperary followers were not found wanting despite the pessimism in some home quarters following the crushing defeat by Limerick.
That the Tipperary goal was a clear ‘square ball’ did not matter for at the end of the day few could argue that Tipperary’s performance did not earn them something from this game. By the same token Waterford will feel they left the game slip from their grasp and they did. In the end things had a way of balancing out as Tipperary could rightly claim that Stephen Bennett’s penalty should have been retaken given the manner in which referee Owens, unintentionally, almost blindsided goalkeeper Barry Hogan as Bennett was about to strike.
Overall it has to be said that Owens contributed to making the game a thriller by his economical use of the whistle that resulted in just half the number of frees awarded by him in the Clare/Cork game the week before and a similar reduction in the number of yellow cards issued. There was a real contrast in the manner in which he officiated both games.
As matters now stand, without getting something from their remaining games against Clare and Limerick, to stay in the championship Waterford need Cork to lose to Limerick next weekend, Tipperary to lose at home to Cork and Clare and in the event of Tipperary winning at least one of their remaining games Waterford must not suffer a heavy defeat to either Limerick or Clare. Then again if Waterford can spring a surprise and beat Clare or Limerick the other results will not matter.
What a dramatic few weeks we are in for.
Once again the new Walsh Park gained praise all round for the manner in which the venue catered for another full house of almost 12,000 and the brilliant condition of the pitch which is up there with any in the country. The atmosphere generated in the venue is equal to anything in a full massive stadium such as Thurles or Cork and the players lap it up. It was a similar situation in Cusack Park on Sunday last for the Clare/Kerry Munster football final where over 13,000 filled the ground and the atmosphere was electric by all accounts. Had either of those weekend games been played in Cork or Limerick the stadiums would have been more than half empty and it would never have been the same for the players.
That defending champions Limerick take nothing for granted could be seen with the arrival of manager John Kiely and benefactor JP McManus to run the rule over their future opponents Waterford. The packed Mount Sion Centre was brought to a standstill with the arrival of the big McManus helicopter on the main pitch, directly from Punchestown. It was not McManus’ first visit to Walsh Park as he had been there in 1981 as secretary of his South Liberties club facing Mount Sion in the Munster Club Final.
The playing of these Munster Championship games in Walsh Park has been shown to mean a lot to businesses in the area and the city in general. Already people are looking forward to next year’s visits of both Clare and Limerick and though there is further work in hand to complete the development of the venue it will hopefully be available for National League games next season. Meanwhile, all eyes on the next few weeks and the games against Clare and Limerick.
