NHL DIVISION ONE: Dublin 0-15 Waterford 1-11ANTHONY DALY and Davy Fitzgerald, the leading men in this northside matinee feature, made light of the subplot which is their own competitiveness but the grin which illuminated Daly's face at the full-time whistle stood for more than just two league points.
Dublin beat Waterford by the most slender of margins at Parnell Park but besides adding some plumage to Daly’s cap at home the result seemed to offer confirmation that Dublin have traction. This was the sort of game Dublin would have lost in just about any season in living memory.
Faced with a big and genuinely tough team who opened up a lead which they looked capable of extending effortlessly, Dublin stood up physically and refused to panic. The scores duly came.
The result leaves Dublin on six points after four games, level at the top of Division 1A with Kilkenny and Tipperary. And the good news kept dropping like cherry blossom. Ronan Fallon returned to action yesterday after his Australian hiatus and gave a masterclass to his fellow defenders in how to effect clearances in heavy traffic.
And afterwards Daly revealed he had received a most pleasant telephone call on Friday afternoon informing him brothers Ross and Rory O’Carroll had decided to concentrate on intercounty hurling.
Dublin are a long way from the finished article but things keep falling into place and they have options when it comes to the horses for courses department. When Waterford added big Dan Shanahan to their towering forwards yesterday Dublin were able to spring Mikey Carton from their bench. Big Dan was quelled.
Daly made a few changes yesterday before the start to his published team. They reflected the need to beef things up for the Waterford challenge and also came a result of a game played behind closed doors on Thursday where Fallon’s display in particular just demanded his inclusion.
Between that and the tactic deployed by either team the middle third of the pitch was swamped with bodies and the attrition rate was high. You could watch Dublin’s younger players literally learning on the spot about the old truth that in intercounty play you just don’t have time to stand and set yourself. Time after time they dug out possession and threw the ball up, inviting the block.
Waterford were bruisingly efficient in all the defensive arts and Daly will quietly thank his old team-mate for providing such a splendid tutorial at this time of the year. For Waterford it wasn’t all bad news. “Davy will be thinking, this is a little kick in the ass for them at the right time,” surmised Daly afterwards. It was the sort of game Waterford could either have won handily or could have lost by a greater margin.
When they had the game briefly by the scruff of the neck they showboated a little and allowed Dublin wriggle free. When Dublin were in the ascendant they found Adrian Power, last year’s under-21 goalkeeper in majestic form between the stick for the visitors. Several of his saves were just extraordinary.
Waterford led by four points at the break, with Dublin having opened the scoring with a fine point (the first of a pair) from Shane Durkin. The muscular presence of Gary Hurney brought a reply for Waterford and Dublin had taken the lead again through David O’Callaghan when disaster struck. A failure to clear out on their left flank saw Jamie Nagle drive a fine diagonal ball into Stephen Molumphy who again just had too much physical power to be denied an early goal.
Power than pulled off a remarkable double save from shots from first O’Callaghan and then Alan McCrabbe. McCrabbe also saw a penalty saved before half-time (after a foul on O’Callaghan).
As Waterford drove the advantage home the free-taking of Eoin Kelly became more of an influence and a string of scores before half time seemed to have set Waterford on the road to comfort. After the break the frees began falling to Dublin and to Alan McCrabbe however and a string of Dublin points came from placed balls before excellent scores from play by Shane Durkin and sub Kevin Flynn gave Dublin a lead to cling to.
In the aftermath Davy Fitzgerald was generous in his assessment of Dublin’s play and self-critical about the manner in which he had prepared his own team.
“We watched the rugby game and went to the fight. Maybe it was wrong. I was looking for a bit of team bonding. It was wrong probably to be doing other stuff and enjoying it.” Yards away his old captain Daly was looking ahead.
"We go to Thurles to play Tipp next Sunday. There'll be some kick off them after today, That isn't going to be easy."
DUBLIN:G Maguire; R Trainor, T Brady, N Corcoran; S Hiney, R Fallon, P Kelly; S Durkin (0-2), J McCaffrey (0-1); S Lambert, L Ryan, A McCrabbe 0-9 (four 65s, three frees); J Boland (0-1), D O'Callaghan (0-1), L Rushe. Subs:M Carton for Kelly (ht) M O'Brien for Trainor (ht), K Flynn (0-1) for Lambert (51 mins), D Curtin for Ryan (64).
WATERFORD:A Power; J Maher, A Kearney, E Murphy; R Foley, M Walsh, J Murray; S O'Sullivan, J Nagle; G Hurney (0-2), K McGrath (0-1), S Prendergast; J Kennedy, E Kelly 0-8 (six frees, one 65), S Molumphy (1-0) . Subs:D Shanahan for Kennedy (25 mins), S Walsh for Prendergast, T Ryan for McGrath (both 64 mins).
Referee:D Murphy (Wexford).
