KILKENNY AND WATERFORD served up a thrilling draw in Croke Park yesterday, but after 68 minutes the Deise looked set for victory.
Waterford rose to the challenge and gave a heroic display but five wides in-a-row in the closing stages ultimately cost them.
Kilkenny, as is often the case, held their nerve and forced the replay thanks to late interventions from Walter Walsh and Conor Fogarty.
Speaking to KCLR 96FM after the final whistle yesterday, Paul Murphy described the dramatic final few moments as Kilkenny pulled the game out of the fire.
“You have to keep calm heads really at that stage,” he said. “The crowd is jumping up and down, there’s people shouting and there’s Hawk Eye going on.”
As the Waterford bodies retreated closer to their own goal to protect their lead, Kilkenny went short with three late puckouts, yielding 1-1 from those key restarts.
In a frenetic finish, Walsh’s goal drew the Cats level before 14-point star Pauric Mahony edged Waterford back into a slender lead.
In the 74th minute Murphy picked out the run of Conor Fogarty, who arrowed a shot over the bar to send the game to a replay.
“They sucked out a small bit and I shouted at Murph [Eoin Murphy], ‘Anytime you want to give me the ball, give it to me,’ said the Danesfort defender.
“So he gave me the ball and there was a bit of free space in front of me. I went up, I looked up and here was Conor Fogarty after making a run.
“You just have to keep a calm head in those situations. There’s no point in lorrying the ball down where all them lads are. We did the short puckouts we got the scores and they were needed.
“Again I think it’s something we can take into the next day, thinking that we’ve to vary the puck outs as well.”
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