HURLING: History finally came calling for the hurlers of Waterford yesterday. The anguish and oppression entailed in 39 long years of waiting were laid to rest in another of the great liberations that hurling has seen in recent years.
Like Clare and Wexford before them, Waterford were dismissed with varying degrees of politeness in the lead-up to the match.
Like those previous happy occasions, yesterday's Guinness Munster hurling final featured a joyous closing phase when points flew over with wild abandon and little by little what had only been dreamed of became reality amidst a damburst of scores and emotion, rolling down from the crowd in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
It was as if the pent-up frustration of five decades had released an unstoppable energy. Tipperary, hitherto so impressive in the defence of their Munster title, simply buckled under the force and were swept away.
This wasn't just a great occasion, a time for the rest of the country to feel happy for a great hurling county, come in from the cold. It was a fabulous afternoon's hurling, well refereed by Aodán MacSuibhne. The first half was tense and entertaining as the initiative seesawed between the teams. The third quarter was thunderous and breathtaking as either side outdid the other in scoring.
Finally, the fourth quarter was magnificent, with Waterford leaving Tipp behind like a pacemaker and kicking for home - the crowd rising to the new Munster champions as they surged down the finishing strait.
Waterford hurled for 70 minutes and played at such pace that the champions never quite managed to kill their momentum. It had been assumed that Waterford's forwards would not prove as penetrating as Tipperary's but they managed 17 points from play.
It had been assumed that the form of Waterford's big three - Tony Browne, Paul Flynn and Ken McGrath - would be vital to their chances of winning. Instead it was the whole team that delivered, as a unit rather than as individuals. McGrath, though, has to be singled out even on such a day of collective triumph. His seven points from play included some spectacular scores and he gilded the big day with his luminous class.
And manager Justin McCarthy - for whom this must have laid the ghosts of those Munster finals in the 1970s in which his Clare side failed so narrowly against a great Cork side - once again proved his mastery on the sideline.
During the week there were reams of speculative changes to Waterford's starting line-up touted. They were nearly all true. James Murray went to centrefield, Brian Flannery switched corners, Brian Greene came back to mark Eoin Kelly and Peter Queally dropped to wing back and none of the forwards started as selected.
Not all of these adjustments were outstanding individual successes but the overall affect was precisely as McCarthy would have wished.
His attack was young and fast and exerted huge pressure on Tipperary from the start. Seamus Prendergast on the 40 and Ken McGrath at full forward provided the physical focus and all around, the other forwards ran riot.
John Mullane and Eoin McGrath criss-crossed corners and Mullane - criticised in the past for his erratic finishing - helped himself to four points from play.
The most influential impact was the defusing of Tipperary's half-back line, the propelling force behind the team. By the end far from delivering the usual, quality ball into the forwards they were struggling to keep up with their opponents. This was crucial as the Tipperary attack had shown itself capable of beating their markers but critically as it turned out, they shot too many wides when playing with the breeze in the first half.
Waterford's defence was shrewdly marshalled by captain Fergal Hartley and as the quality of ball coming in on top of them deteriorated, they took over and squeezed any lingering menace out of their opponents.
One of the most telling indicators along the way was the manner in which Waterford responded to Tipperary's three goals, each of which came at well-timed moments.
After the first, they hit back with two points. The second was followed by five unanswered points and if the third didn't provoke quite as impressive an immediate response, Waterford were on the verge of hitting 1-6 without reply in the final quarter.
So every time Tipp looked to have drawn a line in the sand it was washed away. A four-point lead was chipped away by 1-2, the goal a close-in free from Flynn. Eoin Kelly emulated that in injury-time at the end of the half, having had a goal disallowed 10 minutes earlier when the ball was ruled to have crossed the end line in the build-up.
A one-point deficit, 1-10 to 1-9, looked promising given the breeze into which Waterford had hurled during the first half. Benny Dunne, Tipp's adapted forward, had a prolific afternoon. Two points in the first half were followed by two well-taken goals, both set up by Eoin Kelly's final pass.
But the champions were living on borrowed time. Manager Nicky English urgently made changes but the momentum of the match was against Eddie Enright and Paul Ormonde when they came into the action.
Tony Browne, after a quiet first half, greatly raised his game after the interval. Playing his most effective, roving role, he hunted between defence and attack and in the 53rd minute scored the tie-breaker with the sides level. Racing through onto goalkeeper Stephen Brenner's long free which was touched into his path, Browne flicked to the net.
Like Topsy the three-point lead just growed and growed. And Waterford slipped through the looking glass into wonderland.
WATERFORD: 1 S Brenner; 4 B Flannery, 3 T Feeney, 7 B Greene; 5 E Murphy, 6 F Hartley, 9 P Queally; 8 T Browne, 2 J Murray; 12 E Kelly, 14 S Prendergast, 11 P Flynn; 15 J Mullane, 10 K McGrath, 13 E McGrath. Subs: 19 D Bennett for Flannery (52 mins), 22 M White for Flynn (61), 21 D Shanahan for E McGrath (69), 20 A Moloney for Prendergast (69).
TIPPERARY: 1 B Cummins; 2 T Costello, 3 P Maher, 4 D Fahey; 5 E Corcoran, 6 D Kennedy, 7 P Kelly; 8 T Dunne, 9 N Morris; 10 B Dunne, 11 C Gleeson, 12 B O'Meara; 13 E Kelly, 14 J Carroll, 15 L Corbett. Subs: 22 E Enright for Morris (44 mins), 28 P Ormonde for Kennedy (55), 26 M O'Leary for Costelloe (59), 25 P O'Brien for Gleeson (63). Booked: S Prendergast (14 mins), P Flynn (19).
Referee: A MacSuibhne (Dublin).
