Cork 2-15 Waterford 2-15
Goal Waterford!!!!
A stupid free is given away by Cork from around 20 yards. Eoin Kelly goes for goal. It’s blocked. Then 37-year-old right half back Tony Browne hits the rebound off the ground and into the net. Amazing finish to the game. I shouldn’t have ever written them off. Into the fourth minute of injury time now.
“Were the umpires just trying to even things up there?” asks Tim from Limerick. I wish that was the case Tim, but my suspicion is that they are just incompetent. Cussen is fouled at the half-way line, and O’Connor pops the free over. That is probably it then for Waterford.
A ball is played into Dan the Man Shanahan. The sliotar comes off him and goes wide. Amazingly the umpire gives a 65. Honestly!! Eoin Kelly pops it over.
Sideline ball by Shane O’Sullivan is cut short to John Mullane. He plays it into the square and Cusack has to make a save. It is played into Dan Shanahan again, only for Cusack to make a great catch and clearance. Terrific goalkeeping. The ball goes to Paudie O’Sullivan, who came on for Patrick Horan. He plays it across to Niall McCarthy, who puts the ball over from in or around the half-way line. Great play by O’Sullivan. There’s a goal between the two sides again.
Substitute Maurice Shanahan hits the ball wide which allows us to draw our breath. After an awful first period, this is a contender for best second half of the season.
Goal Waterford!!!
What a game this is. A great shot by Kelly flies into the roof of the net and now there is only one into it. Triple substitution for Waterford, and the Mac is definitely returning now.
Eoin Kelly scores his seventh point to reduce the margin to four.
Goal Cork!!!!
O’Connor makes up for his free-taking with a terrific goal, showing great composure, and confidently placing the sliotar comfortably past Hennessy. Two goals in a few minutes by Cork. Game over?
Goal Cork!!!!
The monster that is Aisake O hAilpin runs through the Waterford defense like a army tank, and slams the ball into the back of the net.
Substitute Micheal Cussen levels it up for the Rebel County, and becomes the second Cork forward to score from play. Brilliant second half. Waterford have disappeared in the last few minutes.
Mullane scores a great point. Cusack hits a quick puck-out that is gathered and hit long into Aisake, who is fouled yet again. Ben O’Connor pops the free over. We are still waiting for a second Cork forward to score from play, and O’Connor only has one.
John Gardiner fires a free-puck over from distance. This second half is so much better than the first, that it’s like watching a different match. Kevin Moran fires one wide for Waterford.
John Gardiner puts the ball over with his second long range point of the match. This reduces the margin to two points. JOE.ie‘s Sean Og O hAlilpin looks like he’ll have to go off with a hamstring injury.
Aisake is fouled and Cork get a free. Aisake shouts at the ref about persistent fouling. Ben O’Connor surprises everyone by putting the free over.
Kevin Moran scores with a cracking shot. Eoin McGrath then goes down injured from what appears to be a knee in the head by Gardiner.
Eoin Kelly pops an easy free over. It’s his fourth free of the game. He then scores from 40 yards to become the second Waterford forward to score from play. Only one team has showed up so far in this second half.
The second half begins and the indefatigable John Mullane scores within the first 14 seconds. That’s more like it.
Poor match so far. John Mullane is the only Waterford forward to score from play. Ten forwards on the pitch are yet to score. None of the Cork full-forward line have scored. Cork have been especially poor. Ben O’Connor’s free-taking has been atrocious, and the long balls into Aisake haven’t worked.
Waterford have been the better team, and will probably be disappointed not to be further ahead. They’ve dragged a few shots badly wide. Eoin Kelly’s frees have been better than O’Connor’s but still aren’t up to his usual standards. John Mullane and Shane O’Sullivan are both having terrific games though.
Half time
Ben O’Connor’s appalling free-taking continues, as his free-puck drops short and is batted away by Clinton Hennessy, who has been excellently. John Gardiner then scores for Cork with an impressive long-range effort.
It turns out the McGrath substitution was a blood substitution, as Foley comes back on. Meanwhile Eoin Kelly puts some distance between the two teams with his third point of the game.
Return of the Mac. Substitution for Waterford, three time All-star Ken McGrath comes on for Richie Foley, who is struggling with that finger. Eoin Kelly goes for goal from distance but it goes straight at Donal Og Cusack.
JOE.ie’s very own Sean Og O hAilpin pops up with a point. To read his column click here. Eoin Kelly then scores his second point for Waterford to put them ahead again.
Eoin Kelly puts a free horribly wide from about 40 yards. Very low scoring so far. Nine points in 26 minutes! It doesn’t look like we’ll be getting a 3-16 to 1-21 classic like in 2004.
Ben O’Connor hits another wide. Bad start for him. “How hard is to be an Umpire?” ask Jack from Dungarvan, “All they have to do is watch the ball go over the bar or into the net and they get it wrong so often.” I feel your pain Jack.
Eoin Kelly puts over an easy free from straight in front of the posts to put Waterford in front yet again. Ben O’Connor fires another free wide, this time the umpires don’t give it. Lets hope it isn’t a draw or that Cork don’t win by a point.
Aisake is fouled. Ben O’Connor drives the resulting free wide, but the umpires incredibly wave the white flag. The standard of umpiring in both football and hurling is shocking.
Cork go route-one to Aisake, but Hennessy gathers it comfortably and clears it.
Shane O’Sullivan pops over a great side-line ball. Four of the five points so far have come from midfield. John Mullane then scores an absolute beauty, He’s playing like a man possessed.
Mullane makes no mistake this time. Hennessy’s short puck-out goes to the 37-year old Tony Browne who passes to Mullane who pops it over. Frenetic start here in Semple Stadium.
John Mullane fires one wide from good position. I almost didn’t recognise him with the helmet on.
Newtownshandrum’s Cathal Naughton scores a second point in 30 seconds. Ronan Curran is down for Waterford with an injury.
John Gardiner plays a ball into Aisake O hAilpin. The ball is cleared. It eventually goes to Ballygunner’s Shane O’Sullivan who pops it over from 50 yards. Cathal Naughton responds for Cork.
Cork win the toss. They’ll be playing from right to left. The ball is thrown in.
Ger Loughnane in the RTE studio doesn’t expect we’ll have as exciting a Munster final as these two teams have played in the past. He expects it will be “a more tactical game.”
It is hard to know where both these teams are. After starting with a surprise eight point win over reigning Munster champions and All-Ireland finalists Tipperary, Cork had an unconvincing win over an severely under-strength Limerick side. Waterford, meanwhile, defeated a young Clare team who were beaten heavily by Dublin in the qualifiers.
Davy Fitzgerald has confirmed that injury concern Eoin Kelly will definitely start today.
What an astonishing finish to the Leinster Football final, a disgraceful decision costing Louth their first Leinster title in over 50 years, while Louth fans disgustingly attacked the referee afterwards. Lets hope for the same excitement minus the controversy in the hurling.
Teams:
Cork: Donal Og Cusack; Shane O’Neill, Eoin Cadogan, Brian Murphy; John Gardiner, Ronan Curran, Sean Og O hAilpin; Tom Kenny, Cathal Naughton; Ben O’Connor, Jerry O’Connor, Niall McCarthy; Kieran Murphy, Aisake O hAilpin, Patrick Horgan
Waterford: (Probable): Clinton Hennessy, Eoin Murphy, Liam Lawlor, Noel Connors, Tony Browne, Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh, Jamie Nagle, Shane O’Sullivan, Richie Foley, Kevin Moran, Michael Shanahan, Eoin Kelly, John Mullane, Eoin McGrath, Stephen Molumphy
Richie Foley (finger injury) and Eoin Kelly are Davy Fitzgeralds’s only doubts.
