Waterford 0-16 Clare 2-22
In the end it was cold and bloodless. Waterford were eliminated from the championship after a tortuous second half in which they couldn’t cope with being a man down and were left exposed to Clare’s exuberance. Calum Lyons was dismissed on a second yellow card, late in the first half, and even though Waterford trailed by just a goal at the break all hope died soon afterwards.
By a quirk of the numbers Waterford’s 12 point losing margin was the same as their final round surrender in Ennis last summer, compounding the anxiety about a team stuck in a corrosive rut. This was their sixth championship defeat in a row, and Waterford have just one victory from 15 attempts in the round-robin system now, stretching back to 2018.
They might have expected a bounce from a new manager this season but nothing of the sort has materialised. A spunky performance against Limerick, and a pair of League wins against Laois and Antrim is all they have mustered. No more than that; not nearly enough.
During the League they had four players sent off and that poor disciplinary record haunted them again in Thurles on Saturday. Afterwards Davy Fitzgerald had no quibble with the two yellow cards that led to Lyons’ dismissal.
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He was ultimately sent off for tripping Ryan Taylor, as the Clare centre fielder was sprinting into space inside the Waterford half; in the modern game, with its baked-in tolerance for cynicism, every coach and team-mate will understand that foul, right or wrong.
The damage was done seven minutes earlier when Lyons involved himself in somebody else’s row and was evidently booked for being the third man in. Once he was in John Keenan’s notebook so early in the game Lyons was walking a tightrope and his balance failed him far too readily.
“Let’s not run away from anything, Clare were the better team,” said Fitzgerald. “Is there things I could have done better? 100 per cent. The first half, if you look at it closely – 23 shots to 15 – we were right there, we had the chances. When we had the man sent off it put us under pressure and we weren’t the same in the second half.”
A member of each back room team was sent off after an incident at half-time. Brian Lohan didn’t elaborate on the matter when asked about it afterwards; Fitzgerald made reference to “one of the clowns from Clare” laughing down at him.
“What happens in the heat, stays in the heat,” he said. “People can smile – there’ll be another day. I won’t take anything personal. I’m used to getting battered over the last few years, and that’s fine, work away. I f**king going no place.”
Clare’s goals topped and tailed the middle third of the game, the period in which everything was decided. Both of them were beautifully made. For the first, the outstanding Tony Kelly chased Mark Fitzgerald deep into the Clare half and dispossessed the Waterford defender with a lightning flick. Kelly played a smart pass into centrefield and from there the ball was dispatched to David Fitzgerald, who had drifted into the full forward line. Deftly, he played the ball to Ian Galvin, whose finish was low and cool.
That put them 1-7 to 0-5 in front after 21 minutes, at a time in the game when Clare were struggling to find their rhythm. They were guilty of careless turnovers in their own half and some over-thinking in possession.
Once Clare settled down in the second half, though, they moved the ball really well and their second goal was a gem. The excellent David McInerney played a long, diagonal pass to Peter Duggan who put Cathal Malone clean through on goal with an instant offload. That left them in 2-17 to 0-13 in front and in the clear.
Whatever chance Waterford had was squandered in the first half. By the break they had shot 12 wides, three times as many as Clare, and Jamie Barron wasted an early goal chance too when they desperately needed an injection of momentum and confidence.
The second half died slowly. In their tactical realignment Waterford persisted with a sweeper, a gambit that completely backfired. Chasing the game, they didn’t have the numbers in the attacking half of the field to mount a threat, and having essentially been gifted two extra men in the middle third, Clare had no difficulty outmanoeuvring Waterford’s spare man at the back. Ultimately, Clare did as they pleased.
WATERFORD: B Nolan; C Gleeson, C Prunty, I Daly; M Fitzgerald, C Lyons, J Fagan; J Barron (0-1), D Lyons; A Gleeson (0-3, two frees), J Prendergast, N Montgomery; P Hogan (0-1), S Bennett (0-7, seven frees), D Hutchinson (0-2).
Subs: Patrick Fitzgerald for Hogan (51 mins); Pádraig Fitzgerald for Gleeson (58); P Curran (0-2) for Montgomery (60); P Leavey for Daly (62).
CLARE: E Quilligan; A Hogan, C Cleary, R Hayes; D Ryan (0-2), J Conlon, D McInerney; C Malone (1-1), R Taylor (0-1), D Fitzgerald; S O’Donnell (0-2), M Rodgers, P Duggan; T Kelly (0-13, eight frees, one 65), I Galvin (1-1).
Subs: S Meehan (0-1) for Galvin (52 mins); P Flanagan for McInerney (54); S Morey for Hayes (60); R Mounsey (0-1) for Rodgers (62); A Shanagher for Ryan (64).
Referee: John Keenan (Wicklow).
Attendance: 14,320
