Waterford and Galway met at Semple Stadium for an All-Ireland SHC round-two qualifier clash, with the Deise coming out on top after a thriller.
BY SHANE STAPLETON
Liam Cahill put down Waterford’s huge fourth-quarter wobble down to the helter-skelter nature of the hurling championship.
The Deise had been 16 points clear of Galway in their round-two qualifier clash in Thurles, but the Tribe brought it back to within three during injury time.
Conor Gleeson’s red card issued during the interval perhaps caught up with Cahill’s side, who last week needed a late burst to see of Laois.
“It’s the helter-skelter nature of championship hurling,” says the Deise boss. “It’s gone so fast and lethal now that a 16-point lead isn’t even comfortable. It makes for great viewing I imagine.
“You’d have to be proud of the way the players showed that great character when that lead is slipped back to three points with five minutes to go.
“A team of lesser quality and heart could easily have gone under, and they showed it again last week at Nowlan Park against Laois, great heart and determination and that is what I am seeing in these players every night in training since I arrived in Waterford.
“And that is why they were so irate at exiting the Munster Championship because they didn’t give a true reflection of themselves and their identity.
“For me I was probably a bit naïve and inexperience to look for answers in the immediate aftermath of the match (Clare), and I was able to tell the players that and made that mistake and they showed me today that they are behind me one-hundred percent.”
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