Spain and Power lead Waterford past Limerick and into minor semis

Waterford's Cormac Spain. Pic: Sean Byrne

Limerick 1-14 Waterford 1-18

Waterford booked their place in the minor hurling last four after a tense hour of hurling. 

Once again, it was Cormac Spain who led the charge for the men in white and blue as they held off a Limerick fightback in a contest that they never trailed in. 

Shane Power also played his role on a breezy afternoon at Semple Stadium.

The Deise were looking to rebound from the narrow Munster final loss to Cork, while the Shannonsiders were aiming to build on last week's pre-liminary quarter-final triumph over Wexford.

Waterford ran away with this game in the group phase, winning by nine points. However, in the interim, the Treaty had defeated Tipperary and more recently, Wexford, both at this venue.

This was a contest that Rosommon official Matthew Farrell let flow and perhaps his policy led to some frustration on the sideline, in what was a physical contest.

Spain, a thorn in many defences, had the radar locked in as usual on and managed to arrow over after just 30 seconds.

Playing with a reasonable wind advantage, James O’Connor’s Waterford had scores from Jamie Shanahan and then Hugo Quann to complement a first Spain free, to make it 0-4 to 0-2 after eight minutes with Cathal Dennehy and Rian Horgan providing the scores for Limerick.

To close the half, Spain got the game's first goal, capitalising on poor defending Jack Power released his Ballygunner teammate who clinically buried to the corner to open up a 1-10 to 0-8 interval lead.

Limerick needed a big reply early in the second half. 

When Conor Hough turned the ball over, Dennehy burst through to With 43 minutes played, Rian Horgan was denied by James Comerford with a top-drawer close-range save.

Waterford, through Dylan Murphy and Jamie Shanahan, kept their noses in front, but there was very little between the sides in general.

Dennehy had a great opening for a second goal, which would have levelled the contest, but after carrying to close to goal, he didn’t make adequate contact and the ball trickled wide.

The scorers were at a premium in the closing stages, with Killian Begley making an instant impact off the bench with a point.

Crucially, Waterford ended a stop-start nine minutes without a score when Shane Power arrowed over his second, to put them four ahead inside the last ten minutes.

Waters hit the post with a free from the sideline in stoppage time and from the same play, Shane Power added a point to make it a three-point game. 

The insurance point from a Spain free booked their place in the semi-final, where they will meet Kilkenny.

Scorers for Waterford: C Spain 1-7 (0-5 frees); J Shanahan 0-3; S Power 0-3; H Quann 0-1; B Penkert 0-1; G O’Shea 0-1; D Murphy 0-1; J Power 0-1 Scorers for Limerick: S Waters 0-7 (0-6 frees, 0-1 ’65); C Dennehy 1-1; R Horgan 0-3; A Kearns 0-1; S Carroll 0-1; K Begley 0-1.

Waterford: J Comerford; C Lynch, D Murphy, D Keane, B Penkert; H Quann, T Kennedy; A Walsh, P Quann; E Burke, J Power, S Power; D Murphy, C Spain, J Shanahan.

Subs: C Reville for Burke, G O’Shea for Walsh (both half-time); S Óg Costin for Murphy (62) Limerick: M Murphy; E Hennessy, E Ryan, J Dwane; S Carroll, M Hanly, D Crowe; P Murphy, D O’Keeffe; A Kearns, R Hanly, S Waters; C Hough, C Dennehy, R Horgan.

Subs: K Begley for Hough (43); G O’Brien for Kearns (51); S Og Cahill Hayes for Murphy (58); D Sheehan for O’Keeffe (60).

Referee: Matthew Farrell (Roscommon)