Inter-provincial Hurling Championship semi-final: Munster 3-21 Ulster 0-15
TERENCE McNaughton is a big fan of the GAA Interprovincial series – and so are his players.
Unfortunately, spectators have fallen out of love with the competition formerly and fondly known as the Railway Cup.
Where once thousands flocked to various venues to watch the best of the provinces in action, now you’re lucky to break three figures for a semi-final.
It was possible to hand count and attendance in Thurles yesterday when Ulster visited for their semi-final with Munster.
Minutes before throw-in, it was somewhere between 50 and 60 and when the game got underway, one onlooker estimated that just over 100 were present.
Bearing in mind that fewer than 100 bothered to make the trip to MacDonagh Park in Nenagh for Saturday’s Connacht-Leinster semi-final, and it’s clear that the inter-provincial concept is in dire straits.
Ulster did well in the first half – Antrim’s Ciarán Clarke and Armagh’s Conor Corvan prominent – but they were blown away in the second half by Munster, outgunned by 0-8 to 2-11 after the break.
At half-time, Ulster were six points behind, 0-7 to 1-10, but left for home on the wrong end of a 15-point defeat.
McNaughton, Antrim legend and Ulster manager, was visibly deflated at the final whistle, before facing into a five-and-a-half hour trip home.
He said: “If you asked the players, they feel there’s life in it but obviously the crowd doesn’t – and the fact that it’s on before Christmas, counties are only going back and some of them not even back.”
And Munster supremo Anthony Daly repeated his view that the hurling and football deciders should be taken abroad.
The Clare man explained: “It wouldn’t have been too bad but the postponement messed it up a bit on us. “We had the weekend free and agreed with all the county managers that lads would be free.
“Then when there was no match on Saturday, I came down to watch Leinster and Connacht yesterday and Clare were training in UL, the three Clare lads flat out training, the two Waterford lads [Pauric Mahony and Austin Gleeson] picked up knocks playing a challenge match against Offaly, Limerick then had a weekend away but the boys weren’t going with them, they went up and played Dublin then yesterday.
“That made our life very difficult.” And Daly admitted: “It’s obviously not capturing the imagination of the public here, in the guise it’s in.
“Look, I said it last week at the press conference, I believe there’s a great opening to play the two finals – bring the Liam MacCarthy and the Sam Maguire to Ruislip – it wouldn’t cost a fortune.”
Munster’s starting line-up – despite a number of enforced changes – had them as heavy favourites before throw-in.
And when Michael Breen scorched through for a thirdminute goal, a long afternoon looked on the cards for Ulster. But McNaughton’s men dug in and made a game of it, before a plethora of second half replacements was akin to waving the white flag of surrender.
As McNaughton explained, when you ask players to travel so far south, you really have to give them a game. The inter-provincial series permits a maximum of 11 substitutions and McNaughton made nine changes during the game – eight players coming on with Ciarán Johnston reintroduced.
He added: “Very good first half I thought, it is what it is. “We had to give everybody a run – it might be their last Railway Cup. When the boys come all that way down, you might as well give them a game.”
He added: “Some of the boys might have not have hurled since club championship back in August maybe. It’s not an ideal time for it – maybe St Paddy’s Day if they play off the club finals in one year, which they’re talking about doing.”
Munster decorated their win with a goal from leading scorer and captain Seamus Callanan in the 40th minute – an effort that eliminated any element of lingering doubt about the end result.
In the second minute of stoppage time, Waterford’s Bennett brothers combined for Munster’s third goal, Shane supplying Stephen for a routine finish. Callanan was the game’s leading scorer with 1-7, as Clarke landed six of his seven Ulster points from frees.
MATCH STATS
Munster: A Nash; B Coughlan, J Barry, N Connors; D Byrnes (0-1), C Dillon, S Fives; M Breen (1-1), J Barron; S Dowling (0-1), Shane Bennett (0-1), D McCormack (0-1); J O’Dwyer (0-2), S Callanan (Tipperary) (1-7, 0-6 frees), D Reidy (0-1). Subs: A Shanagher for Dowling (25), B Nash (0-4) for Shane Bennett (25), Tom Murnane (0-1) for Barron (h-t), Padraic Maher (0-1) for Fives (h-t), Stephen Bennett (1-0) for McCormack (h-t), Dowling for O’Dwyer (45), Shane Bennett (0-1) for Reidy (45), McCormack for Breen (51), Fives for Coughlan (55), Barron for Dillon (55).
Ulster: S Keith; S McCrory, P Burke, J McManus; N McAuley, C Woods (0-1), C Taggart; E Campbell, Ciarán Johnston; C Corvan (0-3) N McKenna (0-1), D Toner; Conor Johnston, J Dillon, C Clarke (0-7, 0-6 frees). Subs: C O’Prey (0-2, 0-1 free) for Ciarán Johnston (26), D Cullen (0-1) for Toner (33), J Corvan for Taggart (46), A Grant for C Corvan (47), P Henry for Conor Johnston (49), C O’Connell for Keith (52), C Devlin for Dillon (52), S Renaghan for Cullen (55), Ciarán Johnston for J McManus (56).
Referee: S Cleere (Kilkenny)
