After a pulsating second half nothing could seperate Waterford and Dublin in their Allianz Hurling League opener
Waterford 2-19
Dublin 3-16
Fraher Field, Dungarvan
Donal Burke stepped up and salvaged a point for Dublin on their first hurling away trip of the year in a very interesting contest. Wateford finished out the game with 13 men on the field after losing Jack Fagan and Srephen Bennett to red cards. Added time scores from Austin Gleeson, Jack Prendergast and Michael Kiely put Davy Fitzgerald’s side ahead. But when Shane McNulty fouled Paul Crummey in the 77th minute, Burke did what he does best and recovered a draw for Dublin.
Waterford sprung out of the traps leading by 1-05 to no score in the opening quarter. Stephen Bennett converted a penalty after Michael Kiely was fouled by Paddy Doyle who was shown a black card for the incident. By the 12th the Deise were 8 points clear, and Dublin didn’t impact the scroreboard until the 17th minute when Burke sent over his first. And things could have been worse for Dublin at the other end but Jamie Barron’s goal effort was saved by Sean Brennan. But the Dub’s did get some luck in the 23rd. Cian O’Sullivan and Alex Considine traded passes before O’Sullivan got the better of Shaun O’Brien to find the net. That left the score at 1-06 to 1-03 with Dublin closing the gap.
Conor Donohue made it a 2 score game, but Bennett converted 3 more frees to push Waterford’s lead out again. Two minutes before half time, O’Sullivan found the net a second time slipping past Conor Gleeson. And with Tom Barron and Burke trading blows it left things level at the break.
An Intense Second Session reaped the same return
Penalties were Wateford’s friends this afternoon, and when Daire Gray brought down Kiely 11 minutes after the restart and that gave Bennett the opportunity to add to his tally giving his side a 3 point advantage once again. Considine and Cian Boland gave Dublin a leg up with scores. Jack Fagan pulled down Boland after a brilliant catch, and was shown a black followed by a red card. And Donal Burke made no mistake sending Shaun O’Brien the wrong way to give Dublin the advantage.
With only 9 minutes remaining in normal time, Stephen Bennett was given his marching orders after striking out at Paddy Doyle in front of the Dublin dugout. Despite that Wateford’s form never dipped. Gleeson coverted 3 frees and Jamie Barron and Jack Prendergast hit huge scores to give the home side a 0-02 advantage. Eoghan O’Donnell and Burke tied up the game. Five minutes into added time Kiely gave Waterford a one score advantage, before Burke had the last word for Dublin leaving the game in a deserving draw.
Scorers for Waterford:
Stephen Bennett 2-07 (2-00 pen, 7f)
Austin Gleeson 0-04 (3f)
Jamie Barron 0-02
Tom Barron 0-02
Michael Kiely 0-02
Jack Fagan 0-01
Jack Prendergast 0-01
Scorers for Dublin:
Dónal Burke 1-7 (1-00 pen, 5f)
Cian O’Sullivan 2-00
Cian Boland 0-03
Alex Considine 0-02
Conor Donohue 0-01
Conor Burke 0-01
Joe Flanagan 0-01
Eoghan O’Donnell 0-01
Waterford:
1. Shaun O’Brien
17. Conor Gleeson
3. Conor Prunty
4. Shane McNulty
5. Jack Fagan
7. Calum Lyons
8. Darragh Lyons
6. Micheal Harney
9. Paddy Leavey
11. Reuben Halloran
10. Jamie Barron
15. Michael Kiely
13. Kevin Mahony
12. Tom Barron
14. Stephen Bennett
Waterford Substitutes:
18. Carthach Daly for Darragh Lyons (17)
21. Austin Gleeson for Halloran (49)
22. Dessie Hutchinson for Mahony (49)
20. Jack Prendergast for Leavey (56)
23. Patrick Curran for Tom Barron (75)
Dublin:
1. Seán Brennan
2. John Bellew
3. Eoghan O’Donnell
4. Paddy Doyle
5. Conor Donohoe
6. Conor Burke
7. Daire Gray
8. Fergal Whitely
9. Chris O’Leary
11. Joe Flanagan
13. Davy Keogh
12. Cian Boland
10. Dónal Burke
14. Cian O’Sullivan
15. Alex Considine
Dublin Substitutes:
26. Ronan Hayes for O’Sullivan (HT)
25. Paul Crummey for Hayes (41)
17. James Madden for Keogh (45)
20. Cillian Costello for Flanagan (55)
24. Andrew Jamieson-Murphy for Considine (Blood, 59)
18. Ronan Smith for Whitely (73)