Cork 2-25; Waterford 1-22
Like Galway and Donegal in football, Cork hurlers had their collective nose bloodied the previous week against Limerick and while their six-point victory over Waterford at Pairc Ui Chaoimh didn't quite restore their previous reputation, it did give them a shot at redemption against John Kiely’s men in the upcoming Munster Final in the Gaelic Grounds.
Manager Pat Ryan said as much after the game when he acknowledged that a lot of things didn’t go right against the Deise but that the appetite for work had returned - and he claimed he could build from that to get back into the All Ireland frame.
The Cork manager's mission of getting out of the province is now accomplished following their slender enough win in front of 42,181.
They’ve had a bumpy season as Clare came back against them from 12 points down to draw, while Tipp had hammered them by 16 points. Sandwiched in between was a less than impressive win over Tipp who played a lot of that game with 14 players.
Sunday’s loss spelt the end of the road for Peter Queally and his crew who can at least claim to have had a better season than last despite not qualifying for any further rounds. That will be the lot of Tipperary, who are third in the table and will go into the Liam MacCarthy qualifiers with the two Munster finalists.
Similarly in Leinster despite Wexford beating Kilkenny in a dead rubber, it is the Cats and Galway, who proved too strong for Dublin, that progress to the Leinster Final. The season isn’t over for Dublin though who as the third team will advance like Tipp for the latter part of the All Ireland series.
Cork: P Collins; S O’Donoghue, E Downey, G Millerick; M Coleman (0-1), C Joyce, C O'Brien (0-1); T O’Mahony, D Fitzgibbon (0-2, 0-1f); B Roche, S Barrett (0-3, capt), S Harnedy (0-3); P Horgan (1-8, 0-8f), A Connolly (0-3), B Hayes (1-1) Subs: D Healy for B Roche (47), L Meade for T O’Mahony (60), S Kingston (0-1) for A Connolly (62), D Cahalane for G Millerick (63, temp), CLehane for P Horgan (73), T O’Connell for C O’Brien (75).
Waterford: B Nolan (0-1f); I Kenny, C Prunty, I Daly; K Bennett (0-1), M Fitzgerald (0-1), T de Burca; P Leavey, D Lyons; J Prendergast (0-2), J Barron (0-1), M Kiely (0-2); P Fitzgerald (0-3), S Walsh (0-3), S Bennett Subs: D Hutchinson (0-1) for P Leavey (41), K Mahony for P Fitzgerald (51), S Bennett (1-7, 0-6f) for Lyons (52, injured), A Gleeson for Walsh (60).
Ref: J Murphy (Limerick).
