1. Vital success for Waterford
After last Sunday’s senior pasting at the hands of Tipperary, Waterford needed something to lift their hurling spirits. Austin Gleeson, Patrick Curran and Shane Bennett started on that chastening afternoon at the Gaelic Grounds while Tom Devine and Conor Gleeson came on as subs. Picking themselves up for another championship hurling bout tonight was not easy.
The game did not exactly start brilliantly from a Waterford perspective but they steadied before the interval and ripped Clare apart in the second-half. This Waterford U21 vintage were All-Ireland minor champions in 2013 and falling at the first U21 hurdle in 2016 would have rocked them. But they claimed a victory that helps the healing process ahead of some big late July challenges.
2. That second-half turnaround
Backed by the wind, Clare settled to the tempo of this game quickest. They conceded the opening score of the game to a free before reeling off 1-4 without reply and the accuracy of their shooting put them in front by 1-9 to 0-6 in the 24th minute.
Waterford shifted the direction of this game in remarkable fashion. After that David Conroy point in the 24th minute, Waterford outscored Clare by 3-17 to 0-2 and by 3-13 to 0-2 in the second-half alone. The class of these Waterford players was undoubted and they demonstrated it to devastating effect as the match concluded in a one-sided fashion.
3. Clare can’t cause another Munster U21 upset
Clare have enjoyed some fantastic U21 hurling nights in recent years. They clinched Munster crowns in 2012, 2013 and 2014 before reaching last year’s decider. Those seasons have been characterised by the dominance Clare have exerted over Waterford at this level with a 19-point win in 2012, a four-point success in 2013 and an unexpected two-point victory last year in Ennis.
That victory last July in Cusack Park was a bolt from the blue against a star-studded Waterford team, just a few days after a bunch of the Deise players had lined out in the Munster senior final. The Banner travelled to the south-east tonight seeking another upset but despite playing brightly in the opening third of the match, Clare couldn’t sustain that level of performance to shred the form book again.
4. Stephen Bennett catches fire
An unused substitute last Sunday in Limerick and severely hampered by injuries this season, Stephen Bennett utilised tonight as a platform to offer a reminder of his talents. He didn’t get the most regular supply of possession in the opening period but wreaked havoc after the break.
Bennett clinically despatched two goals within the first seven minutes of the second-half as Waterford soared out of sight. He nearly completed his hat-trick late on yet was denied late by a fine save from Clare goalkeeper Daniel Vaughan. Still Bennett carried off the man-of-the-match award and looked in excellent form.
5. Waterford’s U21 prospects look bright
Waterford don’t have the fondest memories of Munster U21 hurling with only three titles to their name, the most recent experience of provincial glory back in 1994. Since then they have only contested two finals – 2007 and 2009 – and have only won one game since the 2009 decider, last year’s quarter-final dismantling of Cork.
There was no disputing their victory tonight, a powerful performance yielding the spoils and resulting in their prospects looking bright for the rest of the summer. They have a highly-rated side and will be eyeing silverware now against the victors of tomorrow’s semi-final between Tipperary and Limerick.
A Tipperary triumph will set up a first Munster U21 final against Waterford since the inaugural year of the championship in 1964, while Waterford and Limerick have never featured in a Munster U21 hurling decider.
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It’ll be good for Ireland if it does. Means more Irish players will be playing in the premier league.
He says, as he wipes his arse with a £100 note!
No it can’t.
It absolutely can – not right now – but if the money men keep backing
It, in perhaps 5-10
Years time. Lets be honest most of the top players in the prem right now (other than those from these isles) are there for money and to keep playing at a standard that will allow them to play internationally….. they dont have any more of a connection to West Ham/stoke than they do to shanghai – nor
Should they. They’re is no reason why more and more of them won’t go to china – as the wages get higher and higher. As they do the quality in the prem will slowly drop – more lads who now are only at championship level will have to be brought up to prem.
If the money stays in it for 5+ more years, the league could be very interesting – and begin to rival the prem for the Asian spend.
This assumes there aren’t rules in china about how many Chinese players have to play – if there are (and in a way to help Chinese football develop there should be), then the league will take a lot longer to get to top standard.
@Augustus hoop: as with everything, the money will go where the market is. And the market potential in China is exponentially bigger than England.
“These isles” because they have no interest in money lol
More because people from these isles seem less likely to be willing to go places that don’t speak English (some notable exceptions – Robbie, Sheridan, Roy o’donovan and o’dea)
@Augustus hoop: There are rules limiting non Chinese players. You can only have four foreigners plus one AFC player in your squad and each team can have only 3+1 foreigners on the pitch at any time. China currently sit bottom of their 6 team WC qualification group after 5 games and have already lost to Syria and Uzbekistan. So the native quality is severely lacking. The Chinese Super League are decades and decades off competing with even South American leagues in terms of overall quality.
It’s also never mentioned that it’s a one team league; Guangzhou have won the last 6 titles and despite Beijing running them close in 2014 and Shanghai pushing them in 2015, it was business as usual last year and they cruised to the title. Guangzhou also won two AFC champions leagues in the same period while no other Chinese team has even made the semi’ finals in the modern era. It remains to be seen if any other Chinese team can successfully balance their local and international recruitment.
Interesting – cheers.
But could he do it on a rainy night in Guangzhou?
This Chinese league is the same as the MLS in the 70′s. Making big claim and buying a handful of good player. It will eventually blow over.