Waterford's year of senior intercounty Gaelic games is over following the hurler's defeat to Limerick in the All-Ireland semi-final.
1-25 to 0-17 was the full-time score from Croke Park with John Kiely's men showing all the class and skill that earned them their favorites tag for this year's Liam McCarthy.
Speaking after the game, Waterford boss Liam Cahill admired the abilities of their Munster rivals and said that in reality, his team probably needed to meet a Limerick side who weren't firing on all cylinders if they were to proceed. "Really physically commanding again, and you know a real good awareness of what they bring as a team on the field as players. They have a really good awareness of where every player needs to be and executed their usual gameplan again, of being able to just hold position and find the right man at the right time."
"So you know our boys in fairness - we battled hard. I think maybe after the first water break, we seemed to empty a little bit and give Limerick a foothold on the game at that stage. They kept the scoreboard ticking over [Limerick] and they were five or six out before we knew and then you know, you're chasing the match after that."
There was plenty of talk before throw-in of Waterfords busy schedule leading into this game. The Deise made their way through Laois, Galway, and Tipperary back-to-back-to-back with no weekend off for recovery. Pundits signaled this as a cause for concern, citing that Waterford would be leggy and not last the pace from the Treaty, while former players all pushed the point that this team would grow in stature from the momentum and confidence that winning brings.
While the team did tire as the game progressed, it looked more to be due to Limerick's dogged pressure rather than overworked Waterford legs. Cahill didn't think that the schedule played much if any effect on the end result yesterday, "We knew the route we had to go. So you know other teams; Cork will have more or less the same path to go if they're to reach an All-Ireland."
"So yeah, look, times that's in it in relation to covid and everything like that. I think we were lucky to have the championship and the way it's structured fair enough - it might have been structured a little bit better from semifinal to final; but look that was the window of opportunity that was there and the GAA could only do the best they could and you know, what can we do?"
"That's what was laid out for us so yeah, four weeks in a row is tough going, but having said that, we just have to soak it up. We knew it was going to happen"
With 15 minutes left on the clock, Cahill's men had managed to find a foothold in the game. For the first time since the opening stanza they looked to be in with a chance of catching John Kiely's men, the gap was at six points, but then Aaron Gillane found the back of the net with a shot that few could oppose. Cahill acknowledged that the green flag was one of the many nails in the coffin. "I thought we were getting a little bit of wind in our sails. But we were going to need a lucky break of a goal chance to rightly put the cat among the pigeons. When you meet a team of the caliber of Limerick, you have to be taking everything on offer. We had five or six wides early on, and everything needs to go over."
We were comprehensively beaten today but I would still think that Waterford created at least three or four goal chances in the second half alone. Now they mightn't look to the ordinary viewer at home that they were goal chances but the way we train they're goal chances. We just didn't take the ball in where it needed to be brought in to test a goalkeeper the caliber of Nicky Quaid."
