Tipperary reel Waterford in to confirm Déise relegation back to 1B
Waterford’s Mikey Kiely and Patrick Curran at the end of the game. Pic: Inpho
In cases such as this, it is necessary to begin with the vanquished. The victors can sit tight in the waiting area. We’ll call their ticket number eventually.
A third straight defeat has delivered Waterford straight back to Division 1B. There is no final-round scenario that can keep them up. The sole county to best Limerick is on the way back to the second tier.
Make sense of that, if you can?
Well, actually, it is rather easy to make sense of Waterford’s relegation. Too many no-shows and too many performances where they showed up but still left empty-handed. Yesterday fell into the latter category.
Having hurled with the gale in the opening half, the hosts reached the interval eight in front. It should have been more. It would prove insufficient.
A gift of a 22nd-minute John McGrath goal undid so much of their coordinated opening. When playing with elements of such strength, most unacceptable is gifting the opposition a green flag from a short puckout gone wrong.
Losing Peter Hogan to injury shortly after also didn’t help, even if his replacement Calum Lyons ended as one of the stronger home performers.
Waterford managed six second-half points. Only one of those was from play. Gale or no gale, that sort of return won’t win you much.
That’s the last we’ll see of them until their Munster opener, away to Clare, on April 19.
Iarlaith Daly, who went off injured at Pearse Stadium, did not feature here. Neither did Stephen Bennett nor Kevin Mahony.
There was no opportunity to ask Peter Queally about these absentees, as well as longer-time absentee Conor Prunty, because Queally wasn’t speaking to the media.
The irony in such an approach was that as Liam Cahill was being interviewed, a member of the Waterford management remarked “to make sure to ask him about the ref” as he walked past the media scrum. We’d gladly have asked the Waterford management for their thoughts on Thomas Gleeson’s display, had they been so willing.
Mind you, Queally applauding the awarding of a Waterford free midway through the second half left you in no doubt as to what he made of Gleeson’s puzzling inconsistency.
Positive notes for his camp were Shane Bennett’s four first-half points from right half-back. Beside Paddy Leavey and Tadhg de Búrca, this is a line of real substance.
A clear issue further up, as was the case in Salthill, is not enough front-eight players imposing themselves, either from play or on the scoresheet.
When the gale and Robert Doyle conspired to hold Dessie Hutchinson scoreless in the second period, there was nobody else capable of leading the way, as John McGrath and Jake Morris were at the far end.
OK, time to call Tipp’s ticket. They’ve waited long enough. No third consecutive defeat. No prospect of relegation heading into a now meaningless final outing against Kilkenny.
This was a timely victory, but it would be overselling their effort to label it a reaction to the Cork and Limerick defeats.
While Ronan Maher, in his first appearance of 2026, shaded his duel with Seán Walsh, the hosts still had two goal chances late on to mine an outcome that didn’t end with relegation. Bryan O’Mara halted the danger for the more clear-cut of those openings.
John McGrath, making his first start of 2026, notched 1-4. His first touch and game intelligence were in no way diminished by the manky weather.
First-time starter Stefan Tobin notched four from play. Blue and gold forwards continue to sprout from every corner.
“Stefan is a great young fella. He's really loving the challenge of trying to step up to inter-county senior hurling,” said Cahill.
“Today wasn't going to define his inter-county career, it's only the start for him. But it's nice to be able to put players like Stefan and Kevin McCarthy (withdrawn after 25 minutes) into these kinds of environments.
“People tend to forget that our panel has evolved so much. OK, we were fortunate enough to win the All-Ireland last year, but we have 19 new players in our squad over the course of 2025 and into 2026. That's a huge turnaround in numbers and then staying at the top level.”
A sufficiently-blooded contest was 58 minutes old when Tipperary assumed pole position for the first time.
Morris played through sub Gearóid O’Connor for a Tipp goal and a 2-18 to 1-20 lead. It was Morris’ second green flag assist of the day.
His 0-2 total makes a mockery of his overall contribution. During the creation of their winning gap late on, he was fouled for a converted free and assisted an Andrew Ormond point.
Trailing by double digits entering first-half stoppages, a pair from Ormond and Tobin would prove a crucial swing, even if the scoreboard reflected only minimal disruption to Waterford's advantage.
“It was a fairly serious game for both sides, albeit not the end of the world if you got beaten, but for us, retaining our Division 1A status is very important,” Cahill continued.
The Tipp boss paid a fine tribute to the late Benny Kiely, father of Mikey.
“I worked with Mikey during my time here and was the one that brought him into the Waterford senior squad. I only met [Benny] once or twice but I know that he'd be very, very proud and always was proud of Mikey.”
J McGrath (1-4); J Forde (0-6, 0-5 frees); S Tobin (0-4); G O’Connor (1-0); E Connolly (0-1 free, ‘65), D McCarthy (0-2 frees), A Ormond, J Morris (0-2 each); C Stakelum, O O’Donoghue (0-1 each).
R Halloran (0-8, 0-6 frees, 0-1 ‘65); D Hutchinson (0-5); S Walsh (1-1); S Bennett (0-4); M Fitzgerald, S Mackey, D Lyons, J Prendergast, P Hogan (0-1 each).
R Shelly; R Doyle, R Maher, M Breen; C Morgan, B O’Mara, E Connolly; C Stakelum, O O’Donoghue; J Caesar, K McCarthy, J Morris; J McGrath, J Forde, S Tobin.
A Ormond for McCarthy (25); G O’Connor for Caesar (HT); D Stakelum for Morgan (48); D McCarthy for Forde (65); S Kenneally for Tobin (72).
B Nolan; A O’Neill, M Fitzgerald, I Kenny; S Bennett, P Leavey, T de Búrca; S Mackey, D Lyons; P Hogan, J Barron, R Halloran; D Hutchinson, S Walsh, J Prendergast.
C Lyons for Hogan (28, inj); M Kiely for Mackey (56); J Fagan for Lyons (58); B Lynch for Bennett (60).
T Gleeson (Dublin).
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
