This can’t have been easy for the Waterford stopper.
Waterford endured a torrid time against a rampant Limerick in The Gaelic Grounds on Sunday afternoon. The Déise were outclassed all over the field and their defeat couldn’t be pinned down to one particular moment.
Limerick ruled the skies and they dominated their home deck. Kyle Hayes roasted Austin Gleeson and Cian Lynch hurled Jamie Barron out of the game.
How could the Déise possibly win when their two best players were on the periphery?
In fairness to Derek McGrath and Waterford, they’ve endured a cursed year. Injuries to key players at exactly the wrong time were damaging, a poor umpire decision halted their momentum when they threatened and they wouldn’t even have a home game to play in Munster.
And Limerick kicked Waterford when they were down. Cian Lynch set the tone early on and Kyle Hayes was mopping everything and anything in the half forward line. Mike Casey was stout in defence and Waterford weren’t given a sniff.
Waterford were eight points down in the 13th minute and then, their task got even more difficult.
The second best goalkeeper in the country, behind only Eoin Murphy, produced a rare handling error from which Graeme Mulcahy would punish him to the tune of a goal.
Video Credit: RTÉ The Sunday Game.
That was a costly blow for the men of the sunny south east, which O’Keeffe’s reaction told, but in truth, they looked a tired, beaten team even before that concession.
Even the very best make mistakes and O’Keeffe can be excused his first in a very long time in the Waterford blue.
To their credit, they put the heads down and rallied in the second half. Captain Kevin Moran led the fight back and a goal from the always lively sub Tommy Ryan gave them hope.
But Limerick were just a class apart and Waterford were nowhere near them, but that wasn’t for the
A couple of minutes later, the Ballygunner netminder pulled off one of the saves of the season from Kyle Hayes.
Fast forward another minute, and he was scoring a ghosting out to his own 45, before striking an amazing long-ranger from play.
Then he was spraying pinpoint passes to teammates to set up attacks.
It would have been very easy for O’Keeffe to drop the head after things had went against them. Instead, he kept the head up, he stayed loyal to himself.
That’s a sure example for all net-minders where a positive mentality is the key to everything.
