McGrath Cup semi-finals / Limerick 1-9 Waterford 2-5: An Eoin Keating point five minutes into injury time secured victory for Limerick at Ardmore yesterday.
It was rough justice on the home side who had fought back from a five-point half-time deficit to lead by a point with six minutes of normal time remaining, despite having had two players dismissed for yellow cards during the second period.
Limerick were dominant early on and led 1-5 to 0-2 at the end of the opening quarter, despite Waterford's Gary Hurney opening the scoring inside two minutes of the start.
Limerick's goal came from Stephen Kelly in the seventh minute, and amazingly in the second quarter Limerick failed to add to their tally and this period produced only one score, a Niall Curran point from a free.
Shane Walsh scored 1-1 for the Deise side in the third quarter to leave only one point between the sides with Limerick again failing to register in that period.
Points from Kelly and top scorer Muiris Gavin stretched the winners' lead to three by the 48th minute, but within 60 seconds Waterford were on parity when Andy Hubbard got a goal following a magnificent piece of fielding by Shane Walsh.
Both sides would have settled for a draw and extra time, but referee Donie Cahill let play continue and Keating broke Waterford's hearts when he sent over the match-winning score.
LIMERICK: S O'Donnell; D Burke, D Sheehy, T Stack; P Browne, J McCarthy, D Reidy; J Stokes, T Carroll (0-1); S Kelly (1-1), M Gavin (0-5), C Mullane; J Murphy, M Horan (0-1), E Keating (0-1). Sub: P Ahearn for Burke.
WATERFORD: P Houlihan; J Hurney, K O'Keeffe, T Dunphy; N Hennessy, E Rockett, P Fitzgerald; A Hubbard (1-0), W Kavanagh; C Watt, G Hurney (0-2), L O'Lonain; N Curran (0-1), S Walsh (1-2), S Barron. Subs: J Coffey for Barron; T Costelloe for John Hurney; John Hearne for Dunphy.
Referee: D Cahill (Tipperary)
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