Tipperary 4-14 Waterford 2-16:Tipperary successfully defended their Munster hurling title at Semple Stadium, Thurles, this afternoon with a five point win over Waterford.
A hectic first half saw five goals, one each for Waterford’s John Mullane and Eoin Kelly, countered bi scores from Seamus Callanan, Lar Corbett Tipp’s own Eoin Kelly.
All of which meant a 3-10 to 2-04 halftime lead for Tipp.
Corbett scored the only goal of the second half shortly after the break, leaving the Deise with some work to do.
The battled hard, with Mullane and Kelly pointing five and seven respectively, but despite notching the last six scores of the game the gulf was too big.
“The 10 or 12 minutes before halftime absolutely killed us,” said Waterford manager Davy Fitzgerald afterwards.
“I think of the four goals they got three of them could have been prevented, that’s being honest, but I’m not going to cast blame in this.
“The easiest thing we could have done was fold up the tent and gone home, but I think we showed character … but we have to have a look at the way we conceded those goals.”
His Tipp counterpart Liam Sheedy was relieved, not only with the win but with the fact that a hamstring injury that forced Eoin Kelly from the pitch was not too much of a concern.