Waterford 2-21
Dublin 1-19
Derek Ryan at Semple Stadium
Dublin have crashed out of the All-Ireland Hurling Championship.
The Boys in Blue lost to Waterford at Semple Stadium by 5 points this afternoon, after a disappointing second half performance.
Dublin led at half time, after a very open first 35 minutes.
Waterford had taken a 3 points to 1 lead early on.
But after that it was score-for-score in an open but close first half.
Mauruce Shanahan was the star man for Waterford, with 8 points in the first half- 7 of those from placed balls.
Dublin, in return, had their accuracy from long range to thank for keeping the scoreboard ticking over for them.
Half back Chris Crummey opened the scoring with a wonderful score from distance, while Niall McMorrow and Ryan O’Dwyer also hit excellent scores from their own 65 metre line.
Danny Sutcliffe also starred with excellent scores of his own- hitting 3 points from play in the first half.
His third gave Dublin a 1 point lead at the break, as the Boys in Blue went in 0-13-0-12 ahead.
That lead didn’t last long in the second half, however.
Waterford stormed out of the blocks in the second period, hitting 1-5 in a stunning opening 10 minutes of the half.
Shane Bennett struck the Waterford goal just 2 minutes into the half, blasting past Gary Maguire in the Dublin goal.
That saw the Deise take control of the game as they led by 6 points after 45 minutes.
Dublin fought back with a well worked goal of their own- Mark Schutte with an excellent finish right into corner.
That reduced the gap to 4 points with 20 minutes left.
But try as they might, Dublin couldn’t get any closer than that and the game was ended as a contest 4 minutes from time.
Maurice Shanahan broke clear to hit Waterford’s second goal of the game, to give them a 7 point lead.
A disappointing end to the season for Dublin was made even worse at the death, with Liam Rushe getting sent off after a brawl in the middle of the pitch.
The full time whistle went right after that- and it spelt the end of Dublin’s season.
It’s Waterford who march onto the All-Ireland semi final, where they will face Kilkenny.
