Open and shut case for Kelly

Munster SHC Semi-final/Tipperary 3-14 Waterford 1-12: The sun beat down on yesterday's Guinness Munster hurling semi-final at…

Munster SHC Semi-final/Tipperary 3-14 Waterford 1-12: The sun beat down on yesterday's Guinness Munster hurling semi-final at Páirc Uí Chaoimh to give one of those radiant afternoons by the Lee even if the hurling was more prosaic and the crowd an unimpressive 27,680. But there was still enough illumination on the field to provide an interesting test for Tipperary, as under-strength Waterford rebounded from a dire first-half performance to take the match to within a score of their tightening grasp with just 15 minutes left on the clock.

Unfortunately for them the effort left them running on empty and Tipperary reasserted control to pull away for a win, by the same eight-point margin they had taken in at half-time.

The story for Waterford was one of coping with the loss of vital players. The appearances of Ken McGrath for the whole 70 minutes and John Mullane for the final quarter were indicative of the players' game instincts but also of the urgent need in which their team found itself. Neither were able to give the match their best shot just a matter of days after having various bits of metal removed from their hands. McGrath did pick up notably in the second half after being switched to centrefield and helped himself to three points in the looser confines.

Tipp are one big story these days and his name is Eoin Kelly. Three weeks after his 0-14 consigned Limerick's fine hopes and fancy ambitions to the bin, the Mullinahone shootist went one better with 2-9, 2-3 from play, in another display that beamed his quality unmistakeably through the heat and dust, brighter than the summer sun.

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Not only do his scores bulk up the team total, to put it diplomatically, but Kelly strikes when Tipp really need him to do so. Consequently in the first half he was the implement of destruction when the ball was running well but after the break and in the face of Waterford's gutsy comeback, it was Kelly who put a stop to an unbroken sequence of opposition scores and also who closed out the match with three of the last four points.

The main damage was done in the first half during which Tipperary's ability to turn chances into scores contrasted drastically with Waterford's half-hearted attempts at keeping in touch.

It's always been one of Waterford's great assets in recent years that even when under the hammer, they are capable of twisting off scores to keep in touch. Yesterday in the first half their shot selection was poor and the finishing even worse. The chances that the team can at its best sweep over the bar from distance came to nothing.

Mount Sion's Eoin Kelly's suspension had a big impact as did the effective unavailability of Mullane but they could never carry such disabilities and survive a hamstring injury to Séamus Prendergast and a bad day for captain Paul Flynn, whose seven wides included five dead-ball opportunities that would normally be within his range. He wasn't alone and at times the restless switches on the line added to the sense of the frantic.

Tipperary's win over Limerick was based on Kelly's shooting and the gradual assertiveness of the half backs. This was replicated even if partly by virtue of Prendergast's injury and the inability of Waterford to turn to account Dan Shanahan's superiority on the wing under high ball.

Waterford for their part weren't able erect a decent platform. Ken McGrath struggled on Redser O'Grady whereas John O'Brien was also successful in filching dropping ball and using it well - also Diarmaid Fitzgerald, who took up where he left off against Limerick by getting an acquisitive paw into the air.

It was Fitzgerald whose catch and break in the 10th minute set up Kelly for his first goal, an uncomplicated finish when one-on-one with goalkeeper Clinton Hennessy. A second nearly arrived 11 minutes later but the angle was too favourable for the goalkeeper.

The second duly arrived in the 28th minute. Again it was space created out of nothing. Kelly, marked, wheeled around and ran across from the left sideline. The gap just appeared to open. As he bore down on the goal, he played the ball off the ground and with a deft finish off his right boot threw everyone in the ground who had been waiting for a swish of his hurl.

The notion that maybe debutant Denis Coffey would have the speed to play Kelly from the front had run its course and Eoin Murphy switched and didn't do badly although the Tipperary challenge visibly dipped in the second half.

Having led by eight at the break, 2-6 to 0-4, the winners became careless and a little lazy. Instead of contesting the ball with the fury of the first half, Tipperary's half forwards seemed to stand back and let Waterford get stuck in.

Michael Webster, who had done his bit to expose Waterford under the high ball, and O'Grady took points on the restart before Justin McCarthy's side reeled off five points without reply. McCarthy had indulged in a spot of feng-shui at the break and the move of Ken McGrath to centrefield worked well as did the introduction of James Murray to the half backs.

The margin was nearly down to a single score in the 47th minute when Brendan Cummins produced another of those moments of goalkeeping chutzpah, saving acrobatically - and necessarily - from replacement Shane O'Sullivan and then managing to recover and keep out Shanahan's follow-up.

Kelly supplied Tipp's first score in a quarter of an hour to arrest the opposition momentum but within three minutes the match had erupted into sensation before calming back into quiescence.

In the 55th minute Shanahan, now playing full forward, came wide on the right for a ball and proceeded to give Philip Maher's knee the sort of once-over that a fitness test never quite manages by making a burst down the wing and in on goal before beating Cummins. Maher went down and was replaced after treatment.

Three minutes later the next score killed the Waterford revival just as it was at its height.

Fitzgerald gathered the ball and played a marvellous pass into substitute Lar Corbett who was coming off the left corner at pace and met the ball perfectly, swerving through the cover and scoring the third goal.

Tipp ran down the clock in good form, outscoring their opponents 0-5 to 0-2 in the closing 15 minutes to hand Waterford the county's biggest championship beating in eight years.

TIPPERARY: 1. B Cummins; 2. D Fanning, 3. P Maher, 4. P Curran; 5. E Corcoran, 6. C O'Mahoney, 7. H Moloney; 8. C Morrissey, 9. S McGrath; 10. J Carroll (0-1), 11. G O'Grady (capt; 0-1), 12. J O'Brien (0-2); 15. E Kelly (2-9, four frees, two 65s), 13. D Fitzgerald, 14. M Webster (0-1). Subs: 22. K Dunne for Morrissey (half-time), 19. L Corbett (1-0) for Carroll (51 mins), 25. S McDermott for Maher (57 mins), 24. P Kelly for O'Grady (63 mins), 23. D Egan for McGrath (72 mins).

WATERFORD: 1. C Hennessy; 3. T Feeney, 7. E Murphy, 2. D Coffey; 4. T Browne, 6. K McGrath (0-3), 5. B Phelan; 13. E McGrath (0-1), 9. D Bennett (0-1, free); 10. D Shanahan (1-0), 14. S Prendergast, 11. J Kennedy (0-1); 12. G O'Connor, 8. M Walsh, 15. P Flynn (0-5, four frees). Subs: 17. J Murray for O'Connor (half-time), 19. S O'Sullivan for Prendergast (half-time), 27. J Mullane (0-1) for Bennett (48 mins), 20. P O'Brien for Kennedy (61 mins).

Referee: J Sexton (Limerick).