TIPPERARY...3-16 WATERFORD...1-22: Fine day, good crowd, blinding match. There were times yesterday in Semple Stadium when you could close your eyes and imagine yourself in the middle of summer.
Waterford may have their minds on the summer but they have learned the hard way that the biggest thing you have to worry about is the present. The county isn't so awash in silverware that a league is to be sniffed at. They went at this game with a passion and that they clung onto Tipperary and eventually wrung a draw out of them is credit to their desire as much as their skill.
They'll enjoy their final tilt at Galway because they deserve it. They have pretty much worked harder and longer than anyone through this league.
For a while yesterday it looked as if it would all be for naught. Tipp were sprightly and, in that Tipperary way, supremely confident.
That Waterford came to town with hunger in their bellies made the the prospect of demolishing them all the more delightful to Tipp. They set about it the right way, responding to Waterford's early Eoin Kelly point with a string of scores that looked as easy as they were stylish.
By the 13th minute Tipp had five points to Waterford's two and the living was easy. Then the first of a few warning signs about the Decies defence.
Tipp cut it right down the centre in a sudden burst and John Carroll was barrelling through at the end of the move to bury the ball in the net.
Waterford got knocked down. They got up again. That would be the pattern of the game. Eoin Kelly prompted their revival with a point and then tagged on another couple before Benny Dunne soloed through their defence and helped himself to a nonchalant point.
By now Waterford were desperately looking for a way into the game. A huge raft of pre-game positional switches were working only moderately well and the Tipp full-back line was battling gamely, ensuring that John Mullane never got into one of those sustained bursts of frantic activity from which Waterford like to benefit.
At midfield, where Michael Walsh began in a switch with Dave Bennet, they were beginning to break even, but scoring just seemed to come easier to Tipperary.
On the cusp of half-time they let us see their desperation. Tipp had pulled ahead further and now led by five points when Paul Flynn bent over a 21-yard free a little to the right. He drove it at the Tipp defenders, one of whom blocked it out. Flynn scooped the rebound and drove it at them again. Out for a 45.
For the second half they burst from the tunnel as if being hunted down by slavering dogs. And then they got suckered. Tom Feeney had been deputed to mark Eoin Kelly all afternoon. Kelly was playing at full forward and Feeney's habit of standing two or three yards in front of him looked worrisome.
Tommy Dunne had evidently noticed the opportunity. The first ball he got in the half he lobbed it over Feeney's head to Kelly, who was three yards clear with only Brenner to beat. You know the rest.
And still Waterford kept coming. Eight points down now and gasping for some momentum, they flung themselves at Tipp, driving the ball earlier and earlier into the forward lines and causing no little panic in there.
Walsh and Mullane had a couple of points and then Flynn finally drove a free to the roof of the Tipp net as Waterford posted 1-3 without reply.
All to play for and Tipp, rattled, began conceding frees. From the 16th minute of the second half Waterford scored from nine placed balls, eight of them Paul Flynn efforts.
The rap on Waterford when the game was over (and they had conceded a third goal) was that they needed a full-back line. Tipp's model is getting back to what it once was but the best full-back line in the game would be useless with frees sailing over the head all day long.
Tipperary looked elegant in patches and even if such a word doesn't necessarily apply to John Carroll, his battling at centre-forward was a key tool in Tipp's survival during this period. His clash with Tony Browne was one of the highlights of the game.
In the end, with Waterford trailing, yet again by a point, it was fitting that it was Paul Flynn who was fouled for the crucial free. Thirty yards out to the right and with every Waterford breath caught in the throat he arrowed it.
Waterford march on. Both sides have lessons to learn from the video.
WATERFORD: S Brenner; T Feeney, D Prendergast, B Phelan; J Murray, K McGrath, T Browne; A Moloney, D Bennet (0-3, 2f); E Kelly (0-2) S Prendergast (0-1), M Walsh (0-1); J Mullane (0-3), D Shanahan (0-1), P Flynn (1-11, all frees). Subs: J Kennedy for Moloney (47 mins), P O'Brien for Shanahan (64 mins).
TIPPERARY: B Cummins; M Maher, P Maher, P Curran; E Corcoran, D Fanning, D Fitzgerald; E Enright, P Kelly (0-1, free); T Scroope (0-1), J Carroll (1-3) B Dunne (0-2); P O'Brien (0-1), T Dunne, E Kelly (1-6 , 4f). Subs: C Morrissey (0-1) for Enright (24 mins), S Butler (1-0) for O'Brien (46 mins), N Moloney (0-1) for P Kelly (57 mins), M O'Leary for Scroope (61 mins).
Referee: T McIntyre (Antrim).
