In the Munster Senior Hurling Championship showdown, Clare managed to scrape a victory against Waterford with a scoreline of 4-21 to 2-26. The match result seemed shrouded in mystery until the final moment when Clare secured their win, despite having the chance to secure numerous other goals during the game. Their victory was not certain until a critical decision by the umpire in the 75th minute.
For Waterford, it was an unfortunate loss. Despite their resilience and persistence throughout the match, they only managed to secure a lead once. They were trailing by eight points on the thirty-minute mark, with a five-point deficit at both half-time and the hour mark. Even in the closing minutes of the match, they were three points behind. However, they maintained their pressure on Clare up until the last throw of the game.
The final decision of the game rested on a long free sent by Clare’s centre forward, Mark Rodgers, which resulted in a dispute that bewildered all, including the umpire posted at the side of the pitch. After much consideration, he awarded Clare with a 65 – a decision that proved to be spot on.
Waterford felt hard done by, nevertheless, it was the correct verdict. Rodgers did justice to his role and helped Clare snatch the victory. It certainly wasn’t an easy win for Clare, considering the dogged determination of their opponents.
This match was not as drastic or chaotic as some of the other games this summer in the Munster championship. The confrontations were not as pivotal as they’ve been in previous games played by these sides and the intensity spiked only occasionally. Perhaps this was due to both teams strategising to slow down their puck-outs, given the hot weather that day.
For Clare to pull away ahead in the match, they only had to take advantage of a few concentrated moments. One such successful bout came between the 10th and 15th minute, where they executed a series of excellent points, turning the balanced match into a five-point lead. Again between the 20th and 26th minutes, they took the glory with two stellar goals from midfielders Darragh Lohan and David Fitzgerald, pushing the lead to eight points.
In a gripping turn of events, Waterford held their nerve trailing just 2-13 to 0-14 at half-time despite a lacklustre response. The situation started looking up after Shane Bennett and Tadhg de Búrca scored the first two points post-interval, reducing the deficit to three points.
Clare, thereafter, shot themselves in the foot. Having maintained a fair shooting accuracy in the first half, their game fell apart now. They missed the goal eight times in the first eight minutes of the half and lost another short one. A blunder by Fitzgerald, missing an easy goal off Shane O’Donnell’s pass, didn’t help their cause.
The match took an unexpected turn when Stephen Bennett capitalised on Conor Cleary’s mistake to level the scores at Waterford 1-19 to Clare’s 3-14, on the 51st minute. Tony Kelly nearly scored a certain goal but was denied by the post and the Waterford goalie Shaun O’Brien, making Clare extend their lead by five.
Yet Waterford stood firm. Substitutes Patrick and Pádraig Fitzgerald instantly made their presence felt netting the ball with their first touch. Calum Lyons, too, scored from afar. Three minutes left and the scores were even again.
As if the twists and turns weren’t enough, the game went from being underwhelming to a scorcher. Monster scores by Peter Duggan and two by substitute Ian Galvin added to the thrill. Waterford needed an act of god to save the day and got exactly that when Patrick O’Sullivan lured Diarmuid Ryan to commit a penalty offence.
The penalty was successfully converted by Shane Bennett to level the scores once more. In a nail biting end, Clare managed to find the 65 they needed to just scrape through.
The following text entails details of a hurling match with the names and corresponding scores:
Playing for Clare: Eibhear Quilligan; Adam Hogan, Conor Cleary (0-1), Rory Hayes; Diarmuid Ryan (0-1), John Conlon, Cian Galvin; David Fitzgerald (1-4), Darragh Lohan (1-0); Cathal Malone (0-1), Mark Rodgers (1-3, 0-1 65), Peter Duggan (0-1); Aidan McCarthy (0-5, 0-4f), Shane O’Donnell (0-2), David Reidy (0-1). On the substitute bench were Tony Kelly (1-0) replacing Reidy at 49 minutes; Seadna Morey replacing Lohan (57); Conor Leen replacing Hayes (59); and Ian Galvin (0-2) came in for McCarthy at 65 minutes.
Representing Waterford were Shaun O’Brien; Kieran Bennett (0-1), Mark Fitzgerald, Iarlaith Daly; Ian Kenny (0-1), Tadhg de Búrca (0-2, 0-1f), Calum Lyons (0-1); Darragh Lyons, Jamie Barron (0-1); Jack Prendergast (0-2), Patrick Curran, Michael Kiely; Dessie Hutchinson (0-6, 0-5f), Stephen Bennett (1-2), Kevin Mahony (0-4). Subs listed were Jack Fagan (0-1) who came in for D Lyons at the 16-minute mark; Shane Bennett (1-2, 1-0 pen) replacing Curran at 32 minutes; Conor Ryan replaced K Bennett at 57 minutes; Patrick Fitzgerald (0-1) replaced Kiely at 59 minutes; Pádraig Fitzgerald (0-2) for Stephen Bennett at 65 minutes, and finally, Peter Hogan replaced Barron at 67 minutes. The referee for this match was Liam Gordon, hailing from Galway.