Waterford defeat Cork to win Allianz Hurling League Division 1 title

Waterford laid down a huge marker to Cork ahead of their Munster Championship hurling clash in five weeks with an emphatic 1-24 0-17 victory in the Allianz Hurling League final at Semple Stadium.

Deise captain Kevin Moran capped off a man-of-the-match performance by lifting just Waterford’s third league title ever and first since 2007.

The Division 1B winners, promoted back to the top flight for the 2016 campaign, led from start to finish and sealed the win with a goal from Tom Devine in the 64th minute. 

Waterford started fast and quickly found themselves 0-3 to 0-0 ahead thanks to two points from Pauric Mahony and one from Maurice Shanahan.

Pat Horgan got Cork up and running with two points from frees before Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh extended Waterford’s lead to two points with a wonderful score from midfield.

Cork were dealt a blow when star forward Alan Cadogan sustained an injury early on and, with the Munster Championship clash with Waterford looming, Jimmy Barry Murphy quickly took him off in favour of Paudie O’Sullivan.

Horgan landed another free quickly afterwards before Austin Gleeson and Kevin Moran scored two magnificent points from distance to give Waterford a four-point lead.

Cork got their first score from play in the 18th minute when Conor Lehane raised the white flag and that appeared to settle the Rebels down.

A goal looked on the cards for Cork soon after when Seamus Harnedy raced through but Stephen O’Keefe produced a wonderful diving save to deny him.

Rob O’Shea and Jamie Barron traded scores before Gleeson got the Deise fans on their feet when he caught the ball in the half-back line, raced up the right sideline and evaded two tacklers before firing the ball over on the run.

Two further frees from Mahony for Waterford and one from Horgan as well as a point from Billy Cooper for Cork meant the Deise led 0-11 to 0-7 at the break.

Horgan and Mahony each scored frees in quick succession straight after half-time before Lehane and Stephen Bennett traded scores as both teams looked to establish their supremacy.

Aidan Walsh made it 0-13 to 0-10 when he pointed for Cork before Mahony sent over three quick scores – two from frees – to stretch Waterford’s lead to six.

Lehane and Shanahan exchanged points before Harnedy scored to cut Waterford’s lead to five, but points from Mahony and Moran quickly stretched that back out to seven – 0-19 to 0-12 – with 15 minutes to go.

It looked like Cork would need a goal to get back into it and they nearly got it when Lehane struck the crossbar with a rasping shot from 20 yards out but the ball flew over the bar before Mahony and Horgan traded scores from frees once again.

Substitute Devine sealed the win for Cork with six minutes to go when put the ball into the net from close range after Walsh caught Gleeson’s long sideline delivery and laid the ball off.

There was a flurry of points in the closing minutes as Harnedy, Luke O’Farrell and Horgan scored for Cork while Brian O’Halloran, Walsh, Moran and Devine added to Waterford’s tally.

The result is hugely encouraging for Waterford, whose promising minors of recent years look to be successfully transitioning into the senior ranks, and all eyes will now eagerly turn to Semple Stadium on June 7, when these two sides will do it all again in the Munster Championship.

Waterford: S O'Keeffe; S Fives, B Coughlan, N Connors; T De Burca, A Gleeson (0-2, 1 s/l), Philip Mahony; J Barron (0-1), S Bennett (0-1); K Moran (0-3), Pauric Mahony (0-11, 8f, 1 '65), J Dillon; M Shanahan (0-2), M Walsh (0-2), C Dunford.

Substitutes: B O'Halloran (0-1) for C Dunford (58), T Devine (1-1) for S Bennett (61), S O'Sullivan for J Dillon (67), M O'Neill for A Gleeson (70), G O'Brien for J Barron (70).

Cork: A Nash, S O'Neill, A Ryan, S McDonnell, L McLoughlin, M Ellis, C Murphy, D Kearney, A Walsh (0-1), B Cooper (0-1), S Harnedy (0-2), R O'Shea (0-1), A Cadogan, C Lehane (0-5), P Horgan (0-7, 7f).

Substitutes: P O’Sullivan for Cadogan (11), B Lawton for Walsh (49), L O’Farrell for O’Shea (49), D Cahalane for Ryan (56), J Coughlan for S Harnedy (70).