WATERFORD SELECTOR DAN Shanahan has claimed that his brother Maurice was ‘heckled’ by the Clare bench before slotting over the equalising free in yesterday’s Allianz Hurling League Division 1 final.
Maurice Shanahan’s 92nd-minute effort ensured a 0-22 to 0-22 draw at Semple Stadium and set up a replay at the same venue next Sunday.
Shanahan boomed over a sensational effort from long-range to level the tie for the 12th and final time.
But 2007 Hurler of the Year Dan Shanahan revealed that his younger brother had some alleged verbals to contend with as he stood over the crucial late free.
Shanahan said after the game: “I think Maurice deserves respect. It took a lot of liathróidí to put the ball over the bar.
He got a lot of heckling now, to be honest with you. A small bit. I’m talking from the Clare bench now, lads, from the crowd and stuff like that. That’s just the way it is, I suppose. That’s sport.”
When asked to clarify if the heckling was coming from the Clare bench, close to where Maurice was standing over the free, Dan replied: “I’ll leave it up to ye to imagine that. I think a draw was a fair result.”
Shanahan also played down the touchline flare-up towards the end of the first half when he and Waterford boss Derek McGrath were involved in a bout of verbals with Clare supremo Davy Fitzgerald and coach Donal Óg Cusack.
“Ah, look, that’s handbags stuff, lads. Only handbags stuff. These things happen.
“You’ve two benches that you have, they’re going to back up with you.
“Davy’s going to back up Clare and we’re obviously going to back up our young fellas and roll on the next day.”
A tight, tactical affair opened up towards the end of the second half and particularly in extra-time.
A high challenge from Tony Kelly on Colin Dunford seemed to spark the game into life on the half-hour mark, closely followed by that touchline exchange involving the two management teams.
Shanahan added: “They thought it was going to be shadow-boxing but it opened up in the second half and maybe extra-time.
“It was a tight finish and we were happy to get the draw, I suppose. We’d a lot of wides, to be honest with you, but so had Clare.”
Waterford registered 20 wides over the 90-plus minutes, as Clare finished with 19 of their own.
The42 is on Snapchat! Tap the button below on your phone to add!
