Waterford 1-20 Tipperary 1-18:IT'S NOT LIKELY that Waterford cared very much about the manner of yesterday's victory. When a county has lost five All-Ireland semi-finals over the past 10 years what supporter or player is going to be fussy?

But the ecstatic and emotional scenes that greeted yesterday's defeat of Munster champions Tipperary in the All-Ireland hurling semi-final reflected the fact this had been both a vibrantly exciting match and one that Waterford had to quarry out of circumstances every bit as unpromising as those that had confounded them on previous August afternoons.

Coming into this match Tipperary were unbeaten for the season and had momentum. Waterford had emerged from the chaos of a worst championship defeat in a decade and the consequent coup against Justin McCarthy's management.

Although the mood in the camp was said to have improved under new manager Davy Fitzgerald, performances had been patchy and although locals felt the low-key approach to the match would help, the bookies didn't share any such ambivalence.

And yet Waterford won, and won the hard way. In familiar fashion they both established and squandered a strong early lead. At times in the second half when it appeared as if the Munster champions were about to jet off into the distance the outsiders kept plugging away and posting scores to keep the match very much alive.

Eventually in the fascinating closing minutes that were - depending on your perspective - supposed to favour Tipp's fitness or Waterford's relief at not being already beaten the match spun one final time. It was the closing five minutes that undid Waterford 12 months ago when having reeled in Limerick to a point, they conceded more goals and conclusively lost the initiative they had looked to have regained.

This time it wasn't they who blinked but the supposedly more assured Tipperary players.

In the 65th minute a prime goal opportunity opened up when Conor O'Mahony unleashed Séamus Callinan whose run through the Waterford defence put him within shooting distance. Clinton Hennessy did well to block the attempt but replacement Micheál Webster couldn't control the rebound, which nonetheless ran out for a 65.

Ominously for Tipp, Eoin Kelly missed his only dead ball of the afternoon and Waterford remained 1-17 to 1-16 ahead. Other replacements Pat Kerwick and Benny Dunne had already exercised dubious shot selection and watched the ball fly wide.

Then in the last minute of ordinary time, a line ball from Eamonn Corcoran was tipped to the net but the goal was overruled for a square infringement.

Waterford's Eoin Kelly punctuated the closing drama with a couple of points of his own to keep the gap on the scoreboard and in the final moments he whipped the ball just over the bar when going for the goal that would have nailed the result. Seconds later referee Diarmuid Kirwan signalled that it was over and that the serial semi-finalists had reached a first All-Ireland decider in 45 years.

Sifting through the concluding action shows how tense and finely balanced the match was and how conducive it must have been to the sort of ruinous hesitancy that has downed Waterford in the past. But this time the nerves held.

Before the match Fitzgerald moved Ken McGrath out from full back to his optimum position at centre back. Declan Prendergast reverted to the edge of the square as Waterford were configured for maximum attacking potential.

Leaving substantial space between the full forwards and half forwards Waterford were eager and committed and a stream of ball was played into the space. Tipp's backs struggled to stay in touch with their men and a stream of points from John Mullane, Eoin McGrath and Stephen Molumphy helped them to a 0-6 to nil lead.

Tipperary's response was impressive. They didn't panic and slowly regained a foothold in the match. Conor O'Mahony and Eoin Kelly hit some frees and around the middle they began to win ball and exercise a greater degree of control. O'Mahony and Shane Maher, who had a tremendous match, broke up the torrent of attacking ball that had earlier flooded the defence.

Shane McGrath came into the match and took on Michael Walsh impressively for a point as balance was restored. Fitzgerald watched as Séamus Callinan move on to the 40 for Tipperary and he prospered, shooting 1-2 from play.

Lar Corbett didn't have his best game of the campaign and the Waterford full backs coped well, restricting him and Eoin Kelly to three points from play. Corbett might have incurred more than a yellow card from the referee for a collision with Eoin Murphy that caught the defender a sharp blow to the head.

At the break the teams were level but the sense was that Tipperary would shortly move clear. Four times they stretched two points clear and appeared to be on the verge of seizing control decisively. One point for Shane McGrath looked significant in that the Tipperary forwards put such pressure on their opponents that the sliotar was being tossed around like a grenade. Finally a despairing clearance dropped straight to the centrefielder and he rifled it back over the bar.

Then Waterford grabbed the initiative but couldn't hold it. Kelly tipped a dropping ball goalwards and Brendan Cummins pulled off a terrific save but the full forward stretched for the rebound and stuck it in the net.

That was the first sign that Waterford might have a different script in mind but soon old narratives intruded. Tipperary exerted enough pressure for Prendergast and Kevin Moran to overrun the ball and Callinan picked up and fired home the riposte. Yet again when Tipp were expected to kick on the underdogs responded. One astute switch in the second half brought captain Michael Walsh to centre forward to counter O'Mahony's influence. In the hectic closing 10 minutes Waterford never lost sight of the prize and Tipperary will be wondering how they let the chance of a first final in seven years slip by.

Then again there's no point agonising to Waterford about losing semi-finals.

A minute's silence before the match commemorated former Waterford hurler Joe Coady of the Erin's Own club. He was a member of the panel that won National League and All-Ireland honours in the late 1950s and early 1960s. On Saturday there was also a minute's silence for 'Trapper' John Dalton, of the St Vincent's club, physiotherapist to the Dublin footballers when the county last won the All-Ireland in 1995 and Paddy O'Hara, the well-known BBC NI radio broadcaster who played for Antrim and enjoyed Sigerson Cup success as coach to Queen's, Belfast in the 1950s.

WATERFORD: 1 C Hennessy; 4 Murphy; 6 T Browne, 3 K McGrath, 7 K Moran; 8 M Walsh capt (0-1), 9 J Nagle (0-1); 10 D Shanahan, 11 S Prendergast, 12 S Molumphy (0-2); 13 E McGrath (0-2), 14 E Kelly (1-10, eight frees), 15 J Mullane (J Kennedy (0-1)-3). Subs: 17 for S Prendergast (52 mins), 18 P Flynn for Mullane (67 mins), 20 G Hurney for Nagle (69 mins), 19 S O'Sullivan for Shanahan (72 mins).

TIPPERARY: 1 B Cummins; 2 E Buckley, 3 P Curran, 4 C O'Brien; 5 E Corcoran 6 C O'Mahony (0-1, free), 7 S Maher (0-1); 8 J Woodlock, 9 S McGrath (0-3); 10 S Callinan (1-2), 11 H Moloney, 12 J O'Brien; 13 E Kelly capt (0-8, six frees), 14 S Butler, 15 L Corbett (0-1). Subs: 29 M Webster for Butler (43 mins), 19 B Dunne (0-1) for J O'Brien (49 mins), 24 P Kerwick (0-1) for Maloney (57 mins), 17 P Bourke for Woodlock (64 mins).

YELLOW CARDS: Waterford: Browne (20 mins), Kearney (35 mins), Mullane (36 mins); Tipperary: C O'Brien (4 mins), Corbett (26), O'Mahony (38 mins). RED CARDS: None.

Referee: Diarmuid Kirwan (Cork).

Attendance: 53,635.