The 28-year-old announced his retirement from the squad on Monday night, ending a ten-year run with the county senior side.

Summer certainly hasn’t started temperature-wise but from a refereeing perspective it did yesterday. The games in Cavan and Kilkenny swung the Championship into life.

On Saturday, the Cork supporters club, Cairde Chorcaí, had a Q&A for premium patrons, mostly Cork supporters, prior to the senior game.

We are a week into Munster Championship Lent. The 40 days and 40 nights before the start of the Munster SHC on May 12 commenced last Tuesday.

The seamless manner in which Waterford’s new hurling management has clicked with the players augers well for a third league final appearance in five years, according to former Déise defender Brian Flannery.

There’s only one possible starting point in any Waterford hurling conversation this week: Last Sunday’s trick sideline cut, when Waterford were trying to reel in Galway’s lead in their rescheduled Allianz Hurling League clash.

Waterford 1-20 Cork 1-23: So foolish we were to think Waterford would go gently into the night.

So, not all Munster Championship games come with a ticket to the pantheon after all. Yesterday in Thurles the 14,737 in attendance for Cork-Waterford saw a procession of fumbles and fluffed pick-ups, wayward passes and intercepted clearances.

Waterford went a point up ten minutes into the second half. It had been tit for tat in the second period, but from that point on Galway had the scoring power to creep ahead and the experience to see out the game.

Donal O’Grady gives his tactical breakdown of an intriguing All-Ireland final.

When defeated in a big game you cannot wait to get a crack at the same opposition, seeking revenge. There’s a matter of pride and unity of purpose involved. This is a powerful stimulus which provides a strong incentive for a committed response.

Some of Waterford’s players were still in the shower as Brian Cody waited to enter the dressing room and pass on Kilkenny’s congratulations.

A decent first-half showing in which they built up a seven-point interval advantage secured Waterford a second successive All-Ireland semi-final meeting with Kilkenny.

John Mullane and I have had this ‘friendly’ €20 bet over the last few months on the outcome of the Clare-Waterford championship match in June, but we decided live on RTÉ Radio 1 yesterday to bring it forward by five weeks. Now it has turned into a rolling bet, the money still sweating in the pot until next Sunday. We hope.

Tomorrow in Semple Stadium the programme will have Waterford club names you know well: Mount Sion. Ballygunner. Lismore.

Jake Dillon is patient when you mention “the system”.

Edmund Sexton had an exceptional weekend. On Saturday at Ballinagree he won the feature score of the Donagh Murphy-Kingston Fund and on Sunday he won the Dutch Moors European championship trials at Castletownkenneigh.

Galway prosper without Joe show and four other talking points...

When Dublin won the league title in 2011, the final ended in pretty much the same manner as it did for Waterford yesterday; a big score, the game in the bag down the home straight, the option of emptying the bench was on the table. 

Conor McGuigan beat All-Ireland champion Aidan Murphy by almost a bowl in the final of the Joe McVeigh Cup on Sunday, the feature event of the Ból-Fada festival on the Markethill Road near Keady, Co. Armagh. 

Waterford booked their place in the league semi-finals as they weathered a Galway revival in the second half to emerge as eight-point victors.

Waterford 0-22 Wexford 0-16

Nicholas Carey gave a record breaking performance at Clashmore where he beat Willie O’Donovan by almost three bowls of odds in the Munster Intermediate championship.

Gavin Twohig closed with 10 brilliant bowls to beat David Hubbard in the last shot of the Rosscarbery final. 

Waterford 3-21 Laois 0-12: A patient approach worked best for Waterford as Derek McGrath and Seamus Plunkett turned Fraher Field into a chessboard on Saturday night.

Allianz Hurling League Division 1B: Limerick 2-16 Waterford 0-22: The biggest thing here was that there was no biggest loser. Or any loser at all.

Tony Considine looks at the questions that needanswering in the Allianz Hurling League.

Brian O’Halloran netted Waterford’s only goal, as they began 2015 on a winning note, while there were wins also for Cork and Tipperary over the weekend.

Brian O’Halloran will lead the Munster team in the third All-Ireland series in Westport in two weeks following his bowl of odds win over Michael Ward in the Junior C final at Kildee. 

Armagh bowlers had a double in the Mick Barry Cup when Thomas Mackle beat Christy Mullins and Bryan O’Reilly beat Trevor O’Meara at Ballincurrig on Sunday.

Following last weekend’s All-Ireland series in Armagh the 13 premier titles of 2014 have been decided with Ulster ending the series on seven wins to Munster’s six.

Cork 1-21 Waterford 1-21

The four-week ban on Waterford hurling training handed down by the county board was blown out of proportion according to Déise selector Willie Maher.

Waterford selector Dan Shanahan has described Philip Mahony’s season ending injury as "a massive shock".