All-Ireland SHC quarter-finals: Waterford 4-28 Tipperary 2-27; Cork 2-26 Dublin 0-24
WATERFORD will meet Limerick in this Saturday’s All-Ireland SHC semi-final after the Déise came out on the right side of a thrilling encounter with Tipperary at the weekend.
Waterford came up short against the Treaty in last year’s All-Ireland final but they will now have the chance to turn the tables on the Liam MacCarthy Cup holders thanks to some fine finishing at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
Having defeated Galway the week before, Waterford were full of confidence going into the game against Tipp and, by the end, fully deserved the victory. No less than 13 players chipped in with scores for Liam Cahill’s team, with 3-25 of their total coming from play.
Waterford were a point in front at the interval – 2-14 to 2-13 – and when Stephen Bennett converted a 46th minute penalty it gave them a significant cushion. Ten minutes later, Jamie Barron had pointed and Waterford were eight clear, but they had to withstand a Tipperary rally, the Premier county outscoring them 0-8 to 0-2 between then and the 69th minute.
The Déise entered injury-time clinging to a two-point lead, but it was then that substitute Neil Montgomery came into his own, raising a white flag before escaping from the pack to bury the sliotar into the net and secure Waterford’s safe passage.
In Saturday’s other quarter-final, Cork battled their way past Dublin in Semple Stadium to set up a last-four clash with Kilkenny.
The Rebels held a comfortable 2-13 to 0-11 lead at half-time thanks to the accuracy of captain Patrick Horgan and majors from Tim O’Mahony and Shane Kingston, the latter coming in first-half stoppage time.
Approaching the second water-break, Danny Sutcliffe and Donal Burke hit points to bring Dublin back to within seven of Cork, 2-20 to 0-19, with Conor Burke getting his second when the action restarted.
Although Horgan and sub Shane Barrett looked to have quelled the revival, Dublin kept coming and Riain McBride, sub Jake Malone, Donal Burke and Sutcliffe were all on target as they got to within four of Cork.
It was as close as they would come, however, with Horgan’s 11th point of the night settling the Rebels and they confirmed their place in the semi-final when Niall O’Leary, sub Alan Connolly and Horgan all added late points.
The victory means Cork will take on Kilkenny in Croke Park on Sunday at 3.30pm while the day before, Limerick and Waterford will throw-in at Headquarters at 5pm.
