It was a day of two halves. Cork gloried in the morning. Waterford was ecstatic in the evening. There was no champagne: the hurling was everything.
"Never mind the All-Ireland, to beat Cork just once," said a wistful, wishful Mel Walsh, of Dungarvan, Co Waterford. She and her husband, Joe Walsh, attended the Munster senior hurling semi-final between Cork and Waterford in Semple Stadium in Thurles last Sunday. Hearts were in mouths all the way. Time stood still as we watched Paul Flynn and Joe Deane rise like ballet dancers for the ball.
"Come on ref, open your eyes," shouted one fierce Cork supporter. At the end, when the whistle blew, the underdogs, Waterford, the men in blue had beaten the men in red by one point.
Tomás Ó Ceallaigh, a skipper from Ring, Co Waterford, and his son, Éanna Ó Ceallaigh and his friend, Shane Walsh (10), punched the air, and the sun came out.
The O'Mahoney family from Blarney, seasoned hurling supporters, had a picnic, their spirits low. Mick and Michelle listened as their son, Vincent O'Mahoney (9), tried to look on the bright side. "Well, we're in the back door," he said. Waterford woman, RoseAnn Foley (yes, a relation - my sister) nearly felt sorry for them.
"We beat Cork about once in 20 years," said Waterford County Board chair, Paddy Joe Ryan. It made the win all the sweeter. Port Láirge abú.