Decies deliver and a prayer for the Faithful

Waterford 1-26 Offaly 1-15

Mission partly accomplished by Offaly also.

Waterford came in search of the win that would guarantee their place in the draw for the All-Ireland quarter-finals (they have Dublin at home in the next round, a foregone conclusion) and achieved that aim. Offaly came in search of redemption, after the humiliation by Kilkenny in last week's Leinster semi-final, and left Dr Cullen Park with a decent measure of restored self-respect.

In fact, it could even have been better for the Faithful County.

At half-time, it looked like Waterford were about to do a Kilkenny on the Midlanders, with an 11 point gap (0-6 to 0-17) between the sides.

Six of those Waterford points had come in the final seven minutes of that half, four from the rapid-fire stick of the flying John Mullane and with the strong breeze in their faces for the second half, it didn't look good for Offaly. To their credit however, and to the relief of manager John McIntyre, they took the fight to Waterford.

"At half-time, I told the lads that Offaly hurling is probably in the biggest hole it's been in since the mid-60's. After coming off that hammering by Kilkenny last week, to be 11 points down again at half-time against Waterford? The lads were scarred from last Sunday. It's easy talk, but you could see it had affected our confidence and self-belief. We committed a heap of unforced errors (in the first half). I just appealed to them, just go out and restore some pride. It's too easy to talk about it next Tuesday in Tullamore. In fairness, I couldn't fault their battling qualities in the second half. We brought it back to seven, then Stephen Browne hit the post. It's been a tough week, but maybe there's a little bit of light, after this second-half performance."

The incident referred to by McIntyre, Browne's flashing shot across goal, occurred in the 60th minute, at which point the score stood at 0-23 to 1-13 in favour of Waterford with subs Aidan Hanrahan and Cathal Parlon combining for the Offaly goal.

Had Browne's shot gone in, who knows what might have happened? Strangely, while Offaly rang the changes throughout the game, and even though scoring difference will count at the end of this qualifying series, the Waterford sideline never moved.

All five Offaly subs made an impression, the returning Brian Whelahan had a solid 70 minutes, and some really classy touches, while the shift of Rory Hanniffy to centre-back had a major bearing in the stiffening of the Offaly defence, where full-back Ger Oakley improved out of all recognition.

Meanwhile, the Waterford midfield of Ken McGrath and Eoin Kelly had drifted out of the game, and both would surely have benefited from a move. McGrath especially looked sharp and it would have been interesting to have seen him in a more central role.

One player who stood out for the full 70 minutes however, despite marking an in-form Brendan Murphy, was wing-back Tony Browne. The more Offaly came forward, the more Browne shone. The former Hurler of the Year had been anticipating that backlash, however.

"They came back into it alright, but it was always going to be like that. I suppose Offaly took a lot of stick up there during the week. They have a lot of pride to fight for, so this game was never going to be as easy as people thought. They knew they had a lot of problems to sort out, that's what you try to do during the week, but any county team worth its salt would have come into today's game with fierce determination and commitment.

"We got off to a great start, we thought it would be quite the opposite, we thought Offaly would come out with all guns blazing, we were prepared for that. I suppose when we went a good few points ahead we took the foot off the pedal, took it easy when we should have drove it home. But we can't complain, eleven points in it at the end; there's no doubt about it, after last week's performance by Offaly, we're flattered by that scoreline.

"We mightn't have hurled great in patches, but we're delighted with such a good win."

Scorers: Waterford: P. Flynn 1-8 (1-6 frees); J. Mullane 0-8; K. McGrath 0-5 (0-2 frees 0-1 65); M. Walsh 0-3; E. McGrath, S. Prendergast, 0-1 each. Offaly: B. Carroll 0-5 (0-1 free); A. Hanrahan 1-0; D. Murray 0-3 (frees); B. Murphy 0-2; G. Hanniffy 0-2; M. Cordial 0-2 (0-1 sideline); D. Hayden 0-1.

WATERFORD: S. Brenner; T. Feeney, F. Hartley, E. Murphy; T. Browne, J. Murray, B. Phelan; E. Kelly, K. McGrath; D. Shanahan, M. Walsh, E. McGrath; J. Mullane, S. Prendergast, P. Flynn. Subs: None used.

OFFALY: B. Mullins; K. Brady, G. Oakley, D. Franks; P. Molloy, Brian Whelehan, R. Hanniffy; M. Cordial, Barry Whelehan; D. Hayden, G. Hanniffy, B. Murphy; B. Carroll, J. Brady, D. Murray. Subs: A. Hanrahan (J. Brady 26); C. Cassidy (Molloy 33); M. O'Hara (Barry Whelehan 35); C. Parlon (Hayden 35); S. Browne (Murray 56).

Referee: D. Richardson (Limerick).