Fitz admits Deise focus missing after Saturday night fever
DUBLIN 0-15 WATERFORD 1-11 NHL Div 1
Monday March 23 2009
THE rest of the country may have been celebrating wildly yesterday, but Davy Fitzgerald was not exactly toasting the exploits of the Ireland rugby team and boxer Bernard Dunne.
Fitzgerald, whose side had shocked Kilkenny in the previous round, revealed that he brought his players to Dublin on Saturday and that the Deise party watched the Ireland-Wales game on television, and went along to the Dunne world title fight.
"I certainly wouldn't make the same arrangements again," he said. "I think the rugby and boxing was a factor in the lads not being focused as well as they should have been for today's game."
Fitzgerald was well aware that Dublin's victory margin would have been greater but for the brilliance of new goalkeeper Adrian Power, who was standing in for regular custodian Clinton Hennessy.
In the first half, he brought off a fantastic double-save from Liam Ryan and from Alan McCrabbe, and he pulled off two super stops in the second period. He also kept out a penalty from McCrabbe in the first half.
Understandably, Dublin boss Anthony Daly was delighted with the result, and said:
"It was a good win, and I was very pleased that the lads never dropped their concentration throughout the match."
Dublin laid the foundations for their success when they trailed by only four points -- 0-6 to 1-7 -- at half-time after having played against a strong breeze.
The second half saw Dublin gradually whittle down Water-ford's lead, and the home side levelled on 57 minutes at 0-11 to 1-8, when Shane Durkin flighted over his second point of the afternoon.
Three minutes later, Dublin took the lead following a glorious four-man move which began with goalkeeper Gary Maguire and ended with sub Kevin Flynn splitting the posts.
Almost immediately, Eoin Kelly, who shot eight points in total, levelled from a free. But two minutes into added time, McCrabbe, who bagged nine points, put the Dubs two points up after a clever lay-off from Liam Rushe, before Kelly closed the scoring from a placed ball.
SCORERS -- Dublin: A McCrabbe 0-9 (04f, 0-3 '65'), S Durkin 0-2, J Boland, J McCaffrey, D O'Callaghan, K Flynn 0-1 each. Waterford : E Kelly 0-8 (0-6f, 0-1 '65'), S Molumphy 1-0, G Hurney
0-2, K McGrath 0-1.
DUBLIN -- G Maguire; R Treanor, T Brady, N Corcoran; S Hiney, R Fallon, P Kelly; J Boland, J McCaffrey; S Durkin, L Ryan, A McCrabbe ; S Lambert, D O'Callaghan, L Rushe. Subs: M Carton for Kelly (h-t), M O'Brien for Treanor (h-t), K Flynn for Lambert (53), D Curtin for Ryan (64).
WATERFORD -- A Power; J Maher, A Kearney, E Murphy; R Foley, M Walsh, J Murray; S O'Sullivan, J Nagle; G Hurney, K McGrath, S Prendergast; J Kennedy, E Kelly, S Molumphy. Subs: D Shanahan for Kennedy (25), T Ryan for McGrath (53), S Walsh for Prendergast (65).
Ref -- D Murphy (Wexford).
- Paddy Hickey
