Andrew Ormond, Tipperary, and Darragh Lyons, Waterford, in Munster SHC action. Photo by Tyler Miller/Sportsfile
Munster SHC Round Four
Tipperary 1-30 Waterford 1-21
By Stephen Barry at FBD Semple Stadium
Oisín O’Donoghue’s first championship goal fired Tipperary into the All-Ireland Series with a nine-point win over Waterford.
The Cashel King Cormacs star was man of the match as the Premier won the oneills.com Munster U20 title on Wednesday. He was introduced in the 68th minute here with his side up by three and proceeded to find the net with his first touch. It was the first goal the Déise had conceded in championship this year.
Stephen Bennett had two desperation shots on goal saved before Tipp signed off with a four-point flourish in the six minutes of stoppage time, including efforts from O’Donoghue and fellow substitute Seán Kenneally.
Before today, Tipp hadn’t beaten Waterford in the championship since 2019. They hadn’t won back-to-back championship matches since 2019. And they hadn’t won a championship match at home since 2019. All those items were crossed off the bucket list in front of 28,758 fans at Semple Stadium.
Waterford’s hopes of progressing from the Munster round-robin for the first time will come down to a final-round trip to Cork.
Having served his suspension, Darragh McCarthy was a late addition to the Tipp starting team in place of Noel McGrath. The Toomevara teenager teed up O’Donoghue’s goal and slotted 11 frees.
Willie Connors also replaced the injured Alan Tynan in midfield, while Waterford drafted in Michael Kiely and Gavin Fives for Patrick Curran and Patrick Fitzgerald.
After a 10-minute delay due to crowd congestion, it took the visitors just 12 seconds to rattle the net. Jamie Barron floated in a ball, which Bennett was allowed to catch uncontested. The Ballysaggart man bounced home to surpass Paul Flynn as the Déise’s all-time championship top scorer. He finished with 1-9 to his name.
Kiely, Barron, and Kevin Mahony’s quickfire points made it 1-3 to 0-1. But Bennett missed three early frees to let Tipp off the hook.
The hosts settled with four consecutive points, including a Jason Forde sideline cut.
Barron and Bennett scored before another Tipp three in a row brought them level. John McGrath blocked down Darragh Lyons for one and Ronan Maher caught a puck-out to tee up Andrew Ormond’s leveller. Ormond would also be fouled for five scoreable frees across the afternoon.
Tipp threaded together another three points, including two from Jake Morris, to edge into their first lead; 0-11 to 1-6. By that juncture, Waterford had struck nine wides to Tipp’s two.
They would pay for that wastefulness as Eoghan Connolly’s Hawk-Eye point and Morris stretched the lead to three.
Forde’s second sideline-cut success made it a two-score game before another penalty controversy at the other end. Kevin Mahony appeared to be inside the box when Stack signalled advantage against Conor Stakelum. The ref awarded a free instead, which Bennett tapped over for a 0-16 to 1-10 half-time deficit.
Tipp resumed with four of the first five points into the breeze, including three frees.
Waterford came thundering back with six unanswered points in the next seven minutes to level. Paddy Leavey and Barron got them rolling, while Bennett tagged on four more, mixed between three frees and one from play.
As they did in Ennis last Saturday, Tipp dug deep in adversity. Their resilience paid off with a direct reply of six successive points. Four came from McCarthy frees, Noel McGrath scored on his introduction, and Forde tagged on another. John McGrath also whipped a goal chance wide. Tipp’s greater efficiency featured just two second-half wides.
Waterford came back with three on the spin. That included a Darragh Lyons sideline, which the Dungarvan man fresh-aired before producing a perfect cut.
But O’Donoghue’s green flag finished them off.
Scorers for Tipperary: Darragh McCarthy 0-11 (11fs), Oisín O’Donoghue 1-1, Jake Morris 0-4, Eoghan Connolly (2fs), Andrew Ormond, Jason Forde (2s/l) 0-3 each, John McGrath 0-2, Sam O’Farrell, Noel McGrath, Seán Kenneally 0-1 each.
Scorers for Waterford: Stephen Bennett 1-9 (7fs), Jamie Barron 0-4, Michael Kiely 0-2, Paddy Leavey, Darragh Lyons (s/l), Kevin Mahony, Dessie Hutchinson, Patrick Fitzgerald, Seán Walsh 0-1 each.
Tipperary: Rhys Shelly; Robert Doyle, Michael Breen, Eoghan Connolly; Bryan O’Mara, Craig Morgan, Ronan Maher; Sam O’Farrell, Willie Connors; Conor Stakelum, Andrew Ormond, Jake Morris; Darragh McCarthy, John McGrath, Jason Forde.
Subs: Darragh Stakelum for Connors (47-52, temp), Noel McGrath for C Stakelum (51), D Stakelum for O’Farrell (52), Seán Kenneally for J McGrath (57), Oisín O’Donoghue for Forde (68), Séamus Kennedy for Morgan (70).
Waterford: Billy Nolan; Iarlaith Daly, Conor Prunty, Ian Kenny; Paddy Leavey, Tadhg de Búrca, Mark Fitzgerald; Gavin Fives, Darragh Lyons; Michael Kiely, Jamie Barron, Jack Prendergast; Kevin Mahony, Stephen Bennett, Dessie Hutchinson.
Subs: Patrick Fitzgerald for Mahony (46), Shane Bennett for Fives (55), Patrick Curran for Kiely (61), Seán Walsh for Hutchinson (65), Tom Barron for Daly (70+2).
Referee: Seán Stack (Dublin).
