Waterford 1-20; Limerick 4-7: Coach Justin McCarthy claimed afterwards he had never thought Waterford would lose this one, even though in the dying minutes he had seen a 1-13 to 0-5 lead at the three-quarter mark whittled down to three points.

Limerick's vigorous second-half effort had found such heights even McCarthy could have been excused a sigh of relief when Eoin Kelly drilled a free from beyond halfway over the bar in the second minute of injury-time for a glorious insurance point.

Waterford's complete control of the first half, particularly at midfield, fell away to mediocrity after the break and Limerick took advantage, aided by a couple of goals of the lucky variety.

Nobody was more surprised than late Limerick substitute Michael McKenna, to see his tentative lob from 60 yards, seconds after arriving on the pitch, slip past goalkeeper Stephen Brenner.

That reduced the deficit to six points and, a couple of minutes later, Andrew O'Shaughnessy found the net with a blistering shot.

With two minutes of injury-time to come, the issue was now very much in doubt. Moreover, Waterford had amassed a damaging 15 wides and with principals in attack like Paul Flynn, John Mullane, Dan Shanahan and Eoin Kelly failing to attain the heights of earlier performances, Limerick were suddenly in with more than a shout.

Limerick manager Pad Joe Whelahan, felt his side deserved a draw. He put his team's weak first-half showing down to immaturity. "We have a young team, learning fast" he insisted.

The Limerick manager rued his team's lack of control in midfield. Certainly, Waterford came up with the answers and general dominance in this sector.

The most pleasing aspect for the home supporters in the 9,000 crowd was no doubt the return of captain Ken McGrath.

Listed at left-half forward, McGrath unleashed a five-star performance at right-half back, repeatedly frustrating the best efforts of Seánie O'Connor and John P Sheehan.

All six of Waterford's starting forwards scored with Flynn's goal off a free just on the stroke of half-time, putting his side into a 1-12 to 0-4 half-time lead.

WATERFORD: S Brenner; D O'Brien, T Feeney, J Murray; K McGrath (0-1), T Browne, L Lawlor; D Bennett (0-4, one free), M Walsh; A Moloney (0-1), D Shanahan (0-2), E Kelly (0-3, one free); J Mullane (0-3), S Prendergast (0-2), P Flynn (1-4, 1-2 frees). Subs: B Phelan for Lawlor (53 mins); J Kennedy for Bennett (69).

LIMERICK: J Cahill; M Cahill, TJ Ryan, B Carroll; D Reale, O Moran, M Foley; P O'Reilly, P Tobin (0-1); D Sheehan, JP Sheahan (0-1), S O'Connor; A O'Shaughnessy (2-3, 1-1 frees), E O'Neill (1-2), D Ryan. Subs: N Moran for O'Reilly (22 mins); C Smith for Ryan (h-t); M McKenna(1-0) for O'Neill (67); S McDonagh for Carroll (68).

Referee: P McDonald (Kilkenny).