‘It’s just huge disappointment now’

AFTER a hurling season that was unfolding like a dream script, Tipperary saw themselves unseated for the first time in 2008 at Croke Park yesterday.

Victors in the league and triumph in their provincial heartland had Liam Sheedy’s men nicely placed for a tilt at an All-Ireland final place, only for Waterford to interrupt their charge towards September. Corner-back Conor O’Brien has put in a debut season of excellent consistency and solidity, but that mattered little for the Éire Óg-Annacarty man in the aftermath of yesterday’s game.

“It’s just huge disappointment now. We came up with ambitions of winning and getting to an All-Ireland final. It just didn’t work out for us on the day. Maybe they just worked that little bit harder and we didn’t have the answers. We were saying beforehand that Waterford were after losing the last couple of years and they weren’t going to go down without a fight. They weren’t going to let us have it our way. They stood up and came at us. And fair play to them, they’ve got to an All-Ireland final. We wish them the best of luck against Kilkenny.”