Waterford 1-20
Clare 3-13 aet

Cathal Curran's late point handed Waterford a dramatic extra-time victory over holders Clare in last night's Munster MHC opener at Cusack Park.

The visitors led 1-8 to 1-6 at half-time with Shane O'Donnell netting early for the home side and Darragh Flynn replying with a similar score in the 14th minute. In the second half, O'Donnell and Bobby Duggan struck two more goals for the Banner, but the visitors battled back to force extra-time. The score at the end of normal time was 3-8 to 1-14.

With Stephen Bennett - one of three brothers in the Waterford line-up - in fine scoring form, the visitors had established a 1-19 to 3-10 lead by the end of the first period. Three unanswered points in the second period looked to have earned the Banner a replay, but Curran then stepped up to shoot the winner and consign the champions to the backdoor route.

Waterford - S Barry; K Bennett, T Bourke, Shane Bennett; K Power (0-1), S McNulty (0-1), T Devine; C Sheahan; C Leamy; D Foran (0-1); M Harney (0-4), A O'Sullivan (0-1); Stephen Bennett (0-7); D Flynn (1-2), C Curran (0-2). Subs: J Roche for Bennett, A Gleeson (0-1) for O'Sullivan, MJ Kearney for Curran, T Tobin for Sheahan, C Curran for Flynn, J Welch for Leamy, W Hallisey for Bennett.

Clare - E Quilligan, S O'Brien, B Carey, G Ryan, A McGuane, C Cleary, E Quirke, D Conroy, A Morey (0-2), B Corry, S Liddy, S Taylor (0-1), S O'Donnell (2-0), C Deasy (0-2), B Duggan (1-8). Subs - N Deasy for Liddy, S Gleeson for Deasy, S Ward for Corry, A O'Gorman for Cleary, M McGuane for Quirke, C Cleary for Gleeson.

Ref - F Horgan (Tipperary). Tweet

Most Read Stories