Under control: Waterford's Danny Murphy solos away from Clare's Cathal Chaplin and Sean Chaplin. photo: Michael Kiely
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Waterford 1-1;3 Clare 0-13
Waterford’s intermediate hurlers qualified for the Munster final for the second year in a row when they saw off a spirited Clare side in Thurles last Monday. It was a goal from St Saviours’ Nicky Jacob shortly after the break which proved to be the crucial score in a hard fought encounter on the wet Thurles sod.
Waterford played with the strong breeze in the first half and were much the better team with their shooting from long-range particularly impressive. Within nine seconds of the throw-in, Waterford were on the scoreboard when Nicky Jacob split the posts from wide on the left-hand side. Clare did manage to equalise when Sean Chaplin tapped over a close range free but Waterford then enjoyed a sparkling period when they scored several impressive scores.
Jamie Kearney and Chris O’Gorman scored two apiece and John Hurney scored a beauty from inside his own half. Mark Gorman tapped over a free as Waterford threatened to completely over-run the Banner boys. With twenty-one minutes played, Waterford led by 0-8 to 0-1.
Clare did manage to give the scoreboard some semblance of respectability closer to half-time when corner-forward Padraig Hickey scored two points in quick succession to narrow the gap to five points.
See The Munster Express newspaper for full match report and photos.
