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Waterford advanced to an Irish semi-final against neighboring Kilkenny after scoring an impressive 3-27 to 3-18 victory over Clare at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
They held an advantage throughout and with 12 players finding the target, Liam Cahill’s men did enough to reach the last four for the first time since 2017 as they rebounded impressively from Munster’s final defeat at the end of last week against Limerick.
The teams tied four times in the first half, but Waterford led 3-10 to 2-10 at halftime, having played with the breeze.
Corner forward Dessie Hutchinson scored two goals in the first five minutes to stun Clare, but Brian Lohan’s men didn’t panic and points from Tony Kelly, Shane O’Donnell and David McInerney between goals kept them in touch. .
Calum Lyons was given the job of trying to score Kelly and restricted him to one game point, while Clare’s talisman suffered an injury when he rolled onto the ankle but managed to recover.
A point from Hutchinson put Waterford up 2-05 to 0-05 after 16 minutes, but then Cathal Malone pointed and Aron Shanagher scored his first goal after a good preparation involving Ryan Taylor and McInerney in the 18th minute. .
He found the net again a couple of minutes later when he picked up a long ball from Patrick O’Connor before dispatching low to the net with a shot that rebounded to overtake Clare for the first time.
Austin Gleeson and Stephen Bennett struck back for Waterford before Shane O’Donnell, Shanagher and Kelly pushed Clare 2-09 to 2-07 in front seven minutes into the interval.
Stephen Bennett scored two game points to level the sides and after Kelly scored a free quarter, Hutchinson became a supplier and set up Jack Fagan for his first championship goal for Waterford and they finished the half well when Kieran Bennett became his sixth player to score when he aimed to lead 3-10 to 2-10 at the end of an exciting first half.
Stephen Bennett and halftime substitutes Neil Montgomery extended Waterford’s lead after the restart, but these points were canceled by Kelly and Cathal Malone.
Hutchinson took his loot to 2-02 and Kieran Bennett scored his third point to lead 3-14 to 2-12 after 45 minutes before Ryan Taylor responded with an excellent point from Clare from the right.
Tadhg se Burca hit an inspirational point for Waterford and after Kelly landed another free kick, Jack Fagan scored a magnificent point from the right to lead 3-16 to 2-14 before the second water break.
Austin Gleeson pushed that to a six-point lead at the restart and Barron got his second point to extend the lead and leave Clare with a mountain to climb with 14 minutes to go.
They had a glimmer of hope after 57 minutes when Aidan McCarthy pitched into the net after a superb cross from Shanagher to narrow the gap to four points.
Stephen Bennett responded with a point and then his goalkeeper Stephen O’Keeffe produced an impressive save to deny Aaron Cunningham and Clare’s challenge faded after that as Waterford pushed home to victory with a series of points from all angles. to reserve a semifinal date. with Kilkenny.
Waterford: Stephen O’Keeffe; Ian Kenny, Conor Prunty, Shane McNulty; Calum Lyons (0-01), Tadhg de Burca (0-01), Kevin Moran; Jamie Barron (0-02), Kieran Bennett (0-03); Jack Fagan (1-01), Stephen Bennett (0-10, 7f), Jake Dillon; Dessie Hutchinson (2-02), Austin Gleeson (0-02), Jack Prendergast.
Subs used: Neil Montgomery (0-01) for Prendergast (rest), Darragh Lyons (0-01) for Dillon (45), Patrick Curran (0-01) for Fagan (63), Conor Gleeson (0-02) for Austin Gleeson ( 67), Ciaran Kirwan by Hutchinson (70).
Clare: Eibhear Quilligan; Rory Hayes, Conor Cleary, Patrick O’Connor; Stephen O’Halloran, Seadna Morey, Jack Browne; David McInerney (0-01, winger), Jason McCarthy; Aidan McCarthy (1-00), Cathal Malone (0-04), Tony Kelly (0-08, 6f); Shane O’Donnell (0-2), Aron Shanagher (2-01), Ryan Taylor (0-01).
Subs used: David Fitzgerald for Browne (rest), Diarmuid Ryan for McCarthy (53), Aaron Cunningham for McInerney (56), David Reidy (0-01) for Fitzgerald (56), Cathal McInerney for Taylor (63).
Referee: Paud O’Dwyer (Carlow)
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