Waterford...3-16 Cork...1-21: After a match pitched between drama and fantasy, Waterford rule Munster for the second time in three years. Their supporters flooded the sun-dappled field at Semple Stadium to celebrate a triumph that fulfilled all of their most fervent wishes.

Unlike the final of two years ago with its carnival final quarter and escalating margin of victory, this was exhilaratingly tight on the nerves but all the agonies of a match that never shifted its parameters beyond the scope of a single score only intensified the ecstasy. And the hurling, played out before an attendance of 54,000, was diamond hard and classic.

Waterford came to the table in yesterday's Guinness Munster hurling final to face the champions, knowing that a win was vital to their future. Any more hard-luck stories would be fatal to their self-confidence.

But that wasn't enough to make it interesting. So the 45-year wait since last they beat Cork in a Munster final was added to the pot.

The stakes still weren't high enough. Add in the adversity of a dreadful goal conceded within four minutes and a three-point deficit at half-time despite having played with wind advantage. Then throw in the 38th-minute dismissal of John Mullane, the team's most explosive forward talent, who hit 3-1 when the counties met in last year's provincial final. Down to 14 men, against the wind and trailing by two points. Now play.

The performance this coaxed from Waterford stands as the side's finest moment since Justin McCarthy started his mission to resurrect the county's prospects at the elite level.

But first some context. Despite the assumption that the challengers would need to hit the ground running, it was Cork who started in a hurry. They opened the scoring with a killer goal. Garvan McCarthy knocked a through-ball toward the goal, but with no one threatening, goalkeeper Stephen Brenner missed its ambling trajectory and allowed it run into the net.

By the eighth minute it was 1-3 to 0-1 and that didn't flatter Cork. Everything was working to plan.

Brian Corcoran's recall to full forward was going better than expected and he scored two nice points in the first half and established a bridgehead in Waterford's nervy full-back line.

Ben O'Connor kept moving for the whole match and was scorching Eoin Murphy, especially in the early stages, although Murphy recovered to play well on Joe Deane in the second half.

Even in the half backs Waterford were in trouble. Brian Phelan, a hero of the injury-time Alamo against Tipperary, wasn't nearly as dominant, Tony Browne looked as if his injury was still bothering him and Ken McGrath was having difficulty getting into the match.

This all changed in the second half, when the winners' defence tightened up unrecognisably with Cork's half forwards disintegrating and McGrath emerging in all his majesty.

But the first half was plainly ominous. Virtually every time Cork attacked they scored. Joe Deane was unerring and finished the day with nine points from nine shots.

All that kept Waterford afloat was a pair of well-taken goals. In the 15th minute Eoin Kelly set off on a tortuous solo run around the back of the defence. There was a suspicion of steps but Kelly's shot from an impossible angle was top-class finishing.

Eleven minutes later, having fallen five points behind, Waterford struck again. Dan Shanahan reran his season's speciality, ghosting in behind the full-back line and beating Diarmuid O'Sullivan to Kelly's dropping ball and striking for his fifth goal in three championship matches, to boost his first-half total to 1-3.

The three-point margin at half-time, 2-8 to 1-14, wasn't irretrievable but a major improvement would be needed. McCarthy said he hadn't been too concerned and preferred to be in arrears rather than leading, as Waterford were at the break last year, because it would spur the team to respond.

Their minds were concentrated within a couple of minutes. Having started with an encouraging point from play just 10 seconds after the second-half throw-in, Mullane struck Brian Murphy and was red-carded. This loss of control had been coming in the first half when Mullane was the most animated dissident in the face of some 50-50 refereeing decisions. The explosion duly came, and depending on the referee's report, Mullane may play no further role in this year's championship.

The response, however, was phenomenal. Paul Flynn, having had a quiet first half, stepped up in Mullane's absence. There was a heightened focus throughout the team, from the full backs, where Eoin Murphy had a flying second half, to the forwards, who ran themselves ragged pressurising the opposing backs and kept the scores coming.

Cork used O'Sullivan as the spare man and supplied him with short puck-outs, which he belted upfield to diminishing effect. Waterford had been least comfortable when being run at in the first half and the change of tactics suited them well.

The match turned on Flynn's goal at the end of the third quarter. Up to then Waterford had been chasing the match and every time they got close Cork pegged them back with a score.

In the 52nd minute Flynn took a 30-metre free and hit it with his characteristic topspin. It dipped viciously into the net past the despairing efforts of the defenders on the line. Waterford now led 3-12 to 1-17 and were galvanised by the task of defending rather than chasing the lead.

Cork led only once again but for just a minute, when Ben O'Connor converted a 65. Kelly responded with a flamboyant point from the right wing.

Whether it was tension, both teams' wides total began to soar. Cork had only two in the first half but added eight after the break. Flynn for his part was engaged in a Jekyll-and-Hyde routine, shooting some fabulous scores, such as an over-the-shoulder strike from tight on the left wing, but also hitting five wides in the second half alone.

Inexorably, the match went to the wire. Flynn's virtuoso point pushed the margin to two and a fabulous sequence from the Prenergast brothers started with Declan intercepting the ball when replacement Kieran Murphy passed to Jerry O'Connor for what looked a certain goal. His clearance ended up with Séamus steaming in at full tilt and hitting a great point to restore the two-point margin.

Ken McGrath had been immense in the second half, gilding the decision to relocate him at centre back with a majestic display. He mopped up a pile of ball and dispatched relieving clearances to the rising tumult of Waterford's frantic support.

At the very end, after Tom Kenny had trimmed the lead to a point, McGrath rose to claim the ball one last time, caught it perfectly and raised it aloft in triumph as the referee awarded him a free out. Then began the short countdown to pandemonium.

WATERFORD: 1. S Brenner; 3. J Murray, 4. D Prendergast, 2. E Murphy; 7. T Browne, 6. K McGrath (0-1), 5. B Phelan; 8. D Bennett (0-1, a free), 10. E Kelly (1-1); 11. D Shanahan (1-3), 12. M Walsh, 15. P Flynn (1-7, 1-4 from frees); 13. J Mullane (0-2), 14. S Prendergast (0-1), 9. E McGrath. Subs: 21. P O'Brien for Bennett (50 mins), 23. S O'Sullivan for E McGrath (66 mins), 20. J Kennedy for O'Brien (71 mins).

CORK: 1. D Cusack; 2. W Sherlock, 3. D O'Sullivan, 4. B Murphy; 7. S Ó hAilpín, 6. R Curran (0-1), 5. J Gardiner; 8. T Kenny (0-3), 9. J O'Connor (0-2); 10. G McCarthy (1-0), 11. N McCarthy, 12. T McCarthy; 13. B O'Connor (0-4, one free, one 65), 14. B Corcoran (0-2), 15. J Deane (0-9, six frees). Subs: 23. J O'Callaghan for N McCarthy (58 mins), 24. K Murphy for G McCarthy (65 mins), 20. M O'Connell for Gardiner (70 mins).

Referee: S McMahon (Clare).