No shock and awe at Semple Stadium as classy Tipperary set up a semi-final date
A SHOCK never looked likely at Semple Stadium as Tipperary eventually wore down Waterford’s defensive approach to set up a semi-final showdown with Cork next Saturday. Waterford did not manage to open their account until the 28th minute and by then Tipp, despite a lot of sloppiness in front of goal, had opened up a six-point lead. Both sides were guilty of wayward shooting in the opening half, Tipperary hitting seven wides and Waterford just one less. But Tipp, having opted not to risk Conor Sweeney or Steven O’Brien from the start, did enough to open up a deserved 0-7 to 0-3 interval lead despite often facing 14 Waterford players as they moved forward from halfway. Liam Kearns’ men showed patience and eventually started picking off points with an opening score from Michael Quinlivan being followed by a couple of frees from Liam McGrath. Kevin O’Halloran, Jack Kennedy and Jimmy Feehan also landed points despite the crowded nature of that half of the pitch. Gavin Crotty, guilty of three of Waterford’s early wides, finally got them off the mark in the 28th minute. And they got hope when Tommy Prendergast pushed forward to land two excellent points from the right as Waterford finally showed some ambition in attack, with JJ Hutchinson often the only player inside the 45 metre mark prior to that. McGrath got his third free for Tipperary to lead by four at the break as they tried to deal with the stubborn challenge. Any notions of a Waterford comeback were dispelled with Quinlivan fisting a point inside a minute of the restart. McGrath followed with an excellent effort from play and struck two more frees to lead by 0-11 to 0-3 after 44 minutes. There was no way back for Waterford from there, with Tipperary improving their
accuracy and showing more penetration going forward. Quinlivan struck another point and O’Halloran got his second as Tipperary pulled away. Points from Liam Boland and Josh Keane pushed the lead out to 0-15 to 0-3 after 50 minutes and a landslide victory looked on the cards. Waterford, in fairness, never gave up and a second point from Crotty stopped the oneway traffic. James Lonergan and Philip Austin extended the lead but Waterford battled to the end. Jason Curry landed a sideline from the left for an excellent point and he also got a free, with Conor Murray and Hutchinson also finding the range for a battling Waterford side. Tipperary goalkeeper Evan Comerford denied Dylan Guiry the goal that Waterford needed to stage any sort of reasonable comeback. Tipperary pulled away with McGrath continuing to find the range in a haul of nine points as they advanced to the semi-finals.