Gaelic Games: On a blistering afternoon in Cork Waterford did more than win a Munster semi-final in dramatic fashion. They also swatted a number of question marks about their ability to win big matches back-to-back, win tight matches and confront adversity.

Paul O'Brien's exquisitely taken goal in the 69th minute put the necessary gap between his side and Tipperary, who had been taken to the verge of success by a remarkable display of scoring from Eoin Kelly.

It confirmed Waterford's place in Munster's pecking order by recording a third win over Tipp in the counties' past four meetings. At the end of the month they will now face champions Cork in a re-run of last year's decider, also at Thurles. It will be a third successive final for Waterford.

Manager Justin McCarthy will now get a chance to face his own county for the fourth time following on from last year and the meetings of Clare and Cork in the 1970s when he had charge of Clare. McCarthy was well pleased with the afternoon.

"From our point of view, and you don't always see the game from the stands as we might, it was real championship stuff. We're in good shape, coming together as a group. It was very intense today with a lot of pressure."

The survival of that pressure is likely to give the team fresh momentum going into the tilt with Cork.

Tipperary counterpart Ken Hogan was philosophical. He brought a new-look team into the match and for long periods they looked like getting away with their limited scoring threat.

"We got chances to maybe get a victory. Waterford had a lot of wides on the day and we were getting back into the game, sniping scores. But I never really felt we could punch it home. I think Waterford just had the edge on us today.

"Both teams seemed to tie up in the last 10 minutes. The points weren't coming freely. They took their goal chance and we had opportunities to equalise, but it just sums up our day that we weren't able to take them and bring it to another day."

Galway footballers have suffered a major blow with the news that captain Seán de Paor has sustained a suspected cruciate injury playing for his club An Ceathrú Rua against Clonbur on Saturday.

Although there is no confirmation yet, the feeling is that he has damaged the knee ligament.

A scan will be carried out tomorrow to ascertain the precise extent of the injury. If the worst is confirmed it will be the second serious injury suffered by the team in the space of a few weeks.

Kevin Brady, cover for the wing back positions, has already been ruled out for the rest of the season.