Waterford 2-24
Tipperary 2-20
Tomás McCarthy reports from Walsh Park
SECOND-HALF STRIKES FROM Michael Kiely and Dessie Hutchinson saw Waterford squeeze past Tipperary in front of 10,982 fans this afternoon.
Late white flags by Shane McNulty, Patrick Curran and Dessie Hutchinson secured a four-point win.
The introduction of All Stars Austin Gleeson and Jamie Barron lifted the home crowd as Liam Cahill’s men recovered from a six-point deficit. Both super subs struck two points each in the second half. Gleeson got a glorious sideline cut when the game was in the balance with three minutes left.
Tipp full forward Mark Kehoe netted twice and centre forward Noel McGrath knocked over six points as the Premier closed within a point down the home straight. Three wides in a row proved costly for Colm Bonnar’s side.
Carthach Daly made his championship debut for Waterford. All Stars Austin Gleeson and Jamie Barron were held in reserve. James Quigley, Craig Morgan, Dillon Quirke and Conor Bowe got their first starts for Tipp.
There was heavy rain all morning but it cleared in time for throw in.
Patrick Curran pointed after 13 seconds for the hosts. Two Stephen Bennett frees and a Jack Prendergast solo effort made it four nil after six minutes.
Tipp were guilty of three early wides. In the seventh minute, Jason Forde picked out Mark Kehoe and he finished low under Shaun O’Brien. Points from Barry Heffernan, Jake Morris, Forde (free) and Michael Breen followed that green flag. 1-4 to 0-4 after 12 minutes.
A Bennett free from his own 65 was Waterford’s first point in ten minutes.
Three Noel McGrath singles made it a six point game as Waterford made sloppy mistakes in possession (1-11 to 0-8). On 26 minutes, McGrath set up a goal chance for Jason Forde but Shaun O’Brien denied him with a fabulous diving save to his left. Michael Breen blasted over a point off the rebound.
At the other end, Michael Kiely was denied by Brian Hogan and Stephen Bennett had a penalty appeal waved away. As half time neared, Austin Gleeson and Jamie Barron were called down from the stand.
Patrick Curran and Shane McNulty narrowed the margin to four by the break (1-12 to 0-11). In the last play of the half, Noel McGrath struck the sidenet for Tipp.
Gleeson and Barron were introduced for the second period as Waterford hit Tipp like a tornado. Gleeson won a free immediately and Bennett banged it over from his own 65. The Mount Sion man then sent over a point in front of the stand. On 38 minutes, Bennett, Prendergast and Curran combined before Michael Kiely volleyed to the net. Another super sub Barron got his name on the scoresheet. 1-3 in three magic minutes.
Tipp goalkeeper Brian Hogan interrupted that purple patch with a free on 43 minutes. A minute later, he was picking the sliotar out of his net again. Michael Kiely collected a long ball and supplied Dessie Hutchinson who stung the top corner (2-16 to 1-14).
Hutchinson’s second white flag gave Waterford a six point advantage entering the final quarter. Shaun O’Brien denied Jake Morris before Mark Kehoe hit his second goal under the Déise keeper on 58 minutes (2-19 to 2-17). A Noel McGrath free left just one between them with six minutes to go. Michael Breen, Mark Kehoe and Jake Morris were all off target as the away side searched for a leveller.
Gleeson’s sideline along with points from Shane McNulty, Patrick Curran and Dessie Hutchinson saw Liam Cahill raise his fist to the air at full time.
Scorers for Waterford: Stephen Bennett 0-10 (10fs), Dessie Hutchinson 1-3, Patrick Curran 0-4, Michael Kiely 1-0, Shane McNulty, Austin Gleeson (1 sideline cut), Jamie Barron 0-2 each, Jack Prendergast 0-1.
Scorers for Tipperary: Mark Kehoe 2-0, Noel McGrath 0-6 (2fs), Jason Forde 0-4 (4fs), Dan McCormack, Jake Morris, Michael Breen 0-2 each, Brian Hogan (free), Barry Heffernan, Conor Bowe, Conor Stakelum 0-1 each.
Waterford
- 1. Shaun O’Brien
- 2. Conor Gleeson
- 3. Conor Prunty
- 4. Shane McNulty
- 5. Jack Fagan
- 6. Tadhg De Burca
- 9. Calum Lyons
- 8. Darragh Lyons
- 7. Carthach Daly
- 10. Neil Montgomery
- 11. Jack Prendergast
- 12. Patrick Curran
- 15. Michael Kiely
- 14. Stephen Bennett
- 13. Dessie Hutchinson
Subs
- 26. Austin Gleeson for Montgomery (HT)
- 25. Jamie Barron for Daly (HT)
- 19. Shane Bennett for Kiely (61)
- 17. Iarlaith Daly for Fagan (63)
- 24. Peter Hogan for Lyons (67)
Tipperary
- 1. Brian Hogan
- 2. Cathal Barrett
- 3. James Quigley
- 4. Craig Morgan
- 5. Dillon Quirke
- 6. Ronan Maher
- 7. Seamus Kennedy
- 8. Alan Flynn
- 9. Barry Heffernan
- 10. Conor Bowe
- 11. Noel McGrath
- 12. Michael Breen
- 13. Jason Forde
- 14. Mark Kehoe
- 15. Jake Morris
Subs
- 18. Robert Byrne for Kennedy (Blood 35-37)
- 22. Patrick Maher for Bowe (HT)
- 23. Dan McCormack for Flynn (45)
- 26. Conor Stakelum for Heffernan (52)
- 17. Ger Browne for Forde (61)
- 25. John McGrath for Breen (66)
Referee: Johnny Murphy (Limerick)
As a Munster supporter, I’m really excited about Evan O’Connell. He comes across as really mature for his age. Another year of U20s will be massive for him. I’ve been really impressed by Danny Sheahan too
@mWhSNsK2: And Edogbo! What serious potential
@Andrew Slazenger: it’s as good a Munster contingent as there’s been since around 2019 imo. The only player from another province I would love at Munster would be Hugh Gavin, he looks an unreal prospect
@mWhSNsK2: I think it’s his last year but it won’t be long till he gets senior gametime for munster. I think he’d about 25 carries tonight plus a flawless lineout
@munsterman: you’re right actually, born in 2004. He should see URC game time next season you would imagine
That English pack are superb. Another great season for the Irish u20s though. 3 years unbeaten in the 6ns is some achievement. At a restricted age-grade comp, France and England should win every single year due to numbers, the fact we’re competitive is a savage achievement
@munsterman: agreed, they have some monsters
@munsterman: Completely. If you look at the teen playing numbers on Wikipedia, England miles and miles ahead
@Owen ODonoghue: kpoku looks a fantastic talent for them going forward. Lancaster the cute hoor has him over at racing though. A poor sign of the English club game to let him go
@munsterman: Absolutely. England and France will dominate the world Cup in the summer also.
@Ray Ridge: as they should tbf. I’ve no idea what the sh teams are like. Danny sheehan aside I dunno if Ireland have the front rows this year. Gleeson will make a massive difference too. Something to look forward to anyway, its always a great comp
@munsterman: Not sure even South Africa cam compete with the power and size of the English and French. France still have lots of players playing in top 14 that will be added to their squad for the world Cup. All things being equal it’s England or France, but then again, invariably, it will be the team of officials that will decide who wins.
relying on france…not a historically rewarding activity…
@Patrick Kennedy: the French more than held their own in fairness to them. When you’re up against 16 it’s virtually impossible though
@Patrick Kennedy: meh. Worked in 2015. Just.
So unbelievably proud of them! What a performance against a seriously tenacious and brilliant Scotland, that would not go away. The courage and execution to go for that extra try at the end was fantastic to see. Come on France!
@Andrew Slazenger: It’s an awful pity that The 42 can’t get the names in the scoreline correct. We didn’t play England.
England were brilliant tonight and all tournament, congrats. Classic France, completely erratic. Ref leaned heavily in Eng favour some poor calls in the last 30 mins
Great Irish team, coach and captain. England just about deserved winners. Evan O’Connell future Irish captain.
Shame they’re relying on France who are currently being ref’d off the pitch despite their best efforts.
@teuO6nLS: i agree its crazy
@Jonny Miller: literally different laws being applied depending on what jersey the players are wearing
@teuO6nLS: Just crazy… like the SA Q final all over again
England deserved it. They were the best team in the tournament this year.
@Ray Ridge: I think you’re right. Ireland were good but had poor props and halfbacks this year. England very strong
@munsterman: the wc should be fantastic. Ireland need their best player gleeson back so badly to try and counteract the size of these lads
@munsterman: oh look it’s roy hudd and emu…I hope you at least wore a rubber glove
@Patrick Kennedy: ha ha, whingey connacht fan, who’d have thunk it
@munsterman: are u? weird name to choose so
@Patrick Kennedy: Roy Hudd?
@munsterman: Agreed re: the scrum half, but I thought Jack Murphy had a very good tournament. One dodgy half against Italy, but overall I thought he was excellent.
@Mark Murphy: he’s as good a kicker as you’ll see,he’s exceptional from both the ground and hand. He’s no threat at all in attack, he just ships it on to the next man. It makes it very easy for a defending side to drift on. He was in no way helped by the poor quality of pass from the 9s mind you
@munsterman: I hear you… Don’t think he’ll ever be a top running out half, but to say he simply ships it on a doing him a bit of a dis-service IMO. It was clearly a tactic of Ireland to hit the wings as much as possible, with Gavin being utilized to throw the big wide pass more often than not. The wingers found themselves in acres of space time and again. The defenses didn’t seem able to drift across on time. I don’t know if the stats will back it up, but it seemed that the Irish wingers were so involved all tournament and that just couldn’t be the case if the out half was not deliberate in his passing. Anyway… Agree to differ :-)
They couldn’t do much more than they done really,good tournament and lost out by the slimmest of margins.well done lads
What a super group. Great spirit, coaching, skill set and maturity. The leadership shown by Evan O’Connell throughout the competition was outstanding. Certainly has great potential. Also, not sure how it came across on the telly, but I thought Jack Murphy’s kicking from hand was just exquisite tonight. Scotland made life very hard for Ireland with some huge hits and a very solid scrum, but it’s testament to the coaching and togetherness of this group that they stayed on script and put up another really big score. Very disappointed for them that they didn’t get the championship, but have to hand it to England, they were the best team in the competition this year IMO.
Can I ask how we are going to develop all this talent? Honestly feel the 4 provinces are insufficient to support the players coming through and that we might actually run the risk of losing potential international players by virtue of the fact Irish system cannot cater for all of them. What can the irfu do to address this? Also congrats to England, worthy winners.
@John mccabe: good point but one of the main problems is the bunching of quite a few of them in Leinster – perhaps need some sort of ‘draft’ system in place so they can be shared across the provinces.
Out of their hands on the night. France very poor tonight.
@42 England v Ireland was one week ago and not two . Detail eh?
But fair play to England. I think they won on every stat this year.
Well done garsúns…
Proud of ye all