Ryan Clifford bagged a hat-trick of goals as Cork opened the defence of their Munster MHC crown with an emphatic victory over Waterford at Pairc Ui Chaoimh on Wednesday evening.

Cork 3-15
Waterford 0-9

The Newtownshandrum young gun was the star of the show as the Rebels eased into the provincial semi-final. Waterford, who fielded several of the Croke Cup-winning De La Salle team, had goalkeeper Stephen Enright to thank for keeping them in contention in the first half.

He made two brilliant saves from Clifford and Michael Bowles before Clifford eventually beat him in the 25th minute to give the Rebels a 1-8 to 0-4 interval lead.

Waterford restarted with points from Karl Duggan and impressive substitute Cormac Corran, and looked like making a game out of it until Clifford killed off their hopes with his second major in the 39th minute. Clifford completed his hat-trick in the closing stages to make it easy for Cork in the end.

Cork - D McCartney; J Herlihy, A Kearney, E McCartney; G O’Connor, C O’Donovan, S McDonnell; D O’Sullivan 0-2, M Sexton 0-1; P Gould, D Stack 0-4, R White 0-1; L O’Farrell 0-3, M Bowles, R Clifford 3-4. Subs - C Sheehan for Gould; M O’Mahony for Stack; R O’Driscoll for O’Farrell; S O’Brien for O’Sullivan.

Waterford - S Enright; S Lehay, S Fives, P Kennedy; C Clancy, P Horkan, P Mahony; N Connors, K Geary; S Power 0-4, K Duggan 0-1, S Kearney 0-2; R Fenton, C Maloney 0-1, G Crotty. Subs - C Curran 0-1 for Geary; A O’Neill for Clancy; S Kearney for Crotty; J Foran for Horkan; C Casey for O’Neill.