Tipperary only finish off Waterford in stoppage time

GAA: MUNSTER UNDER 21 HURLING: Tipperary 4-12 Waterford1-16: REFEREE DIARMUID Kirwan found himself on the right side of Tipperary fans at Semple Stadium last night.

Kirwan enraged Tipperary with his performance in the 2009 senior final against Kilkenny, but his decision to send off Waterford substitute Owen Whelan played a big part in the win last night.

Whelan, a half-time sub, was booked within a minute of coming on before he received a harsh second yellow in the 40th minute.

The dismissal left Waterford with an uphill battle, but they gave Tipp some nervous moments before the reigning champions advanced to a provincial semi-final meeting with Cork on July 20th.

Waterford trailed by 10 points in the first half and by eight with 13 minutes of normal time remaining, but had the gap down to just two deep in stoppage time as Brian O’Sullivan, who scored 1-4, netted with 61 minutes played.

In a frantic finish, visiting fans were soon appealing in vain for a foul on Maurice Shanahan 25 metres out, but Kirwan waved away their claims.

And Tipp finally killed the game off in the fifth minute of stoppage time when John O’Neill, who hit 2-2, scored his second goal of the game in front of 4,392 spectators on a glorious evening for hurling.

Tipp, featuring seven of the team that started against Galway in last September’s final, got off to the best possible start when captain Noel McGrath buried a fourth-minute penalty.

The game started in fiery fashion as off-the-ball scuffles broke out around the pitch before throw-in.

And in an attempt to restore order, Kirwan booked Waterford centre back Darragh Fives and Tipp’s Seán Curran in the second minute.

With Fives walking an early tightrope, the full-back hauled down Brian O’Meara two minutes later to concede a penalty, which McGrath drilled home.

Their second goal, from Seán Curran in the 13th minute, was tapped home from close range following good work by John O’Neill, and it wasn’t long before Tipp reeled off five unanswered points to establish their biggest lead of the game, 2-7 to 0-3.

At half-time, the winners led by 2-9 to 0-7. Waterford registered seven wides in the opening half.

TIPPERARY:P Ryan; C Haugh, K O'Gorman, S Maher; B Stapleton (0-1), J Barry, P Heffernan; N McGrath (1-1, 1-0 pen), J Gallagher; S Curran (1-0), P Murphy (0-1), A Ryan (0-3); J O'Neill (2-2), B O'Meara (0-1), J O'Dwyer (0-2, 1f). Subs: S O'Brien for Barry (inj, ht), A McCormack for Ryan (39), M Sheedy (0-1) for Curran (56).

WATERFORD: S O'Keeffe; J Barron, D Fives, N Connors; P Prendergast, Philip Mahony, S Daniels; S Roche, A Brophy; E Murphy, Pauric Mahony (0-6f), M O'Neill; B O'Sullivan (1-4), M Shanahan (0-4), J Dillon (0-1). Subs: O Whelan for O'Neill (ht), O Connors (0-1) for Brophy (47), E Madigan for Murphy (inj, 56).

Referee:D Kirwan (Cork).

Next Up . . .

In the Munster under-21 semi-finals, Cork will travel to Thurles to play Tipperary on July 20th (7.30pm), while, the following day, Clare meet Limerick in Ennis (7.30pm).