‘People were asking were we ever going to beat Kilkenny?’

Austin Gleeson knew nothing was ever going to come easy against Kilkenny even when they led by eight points on the hour mark.

Gleeson’s fifth point in the 59th minute restored that supposedly commanding advantage for Waterford before their opponents delivered a rousing return to force additional time.

He said: “It was the same as last year, they came back at us and probably deserved a draw by the end of it. We came out in the first half of extra-time and hoped we wouldn’t leave it there. Thankfully, we got the win.