Waterford 5-25

Antrim 1-8

Waterford had 29 points to spare over Antrim in the first of this afternoon's All-Ireland U21 hurling semi-finals at Semple Stadium.

Parading a number of the seniors that suffered a heartbreaking replay defeat to Kilkenny at the same venue seven days ago, the Deise were far too powerful for their hapless opponents. With Austin Gleeson, Patrick Curran - who top-scored with 2-7 - Tom Devine and Stephen Bennett to the fore, Sean Power's charges led by 3-10 to 0-6 at the break and there was no respite for the Ulster outfit after the restart as the All-Ireland minor champions from three years ago booked a final date with either Galway or Dublin September 10.

Despite playing against the wind, Waterford - who posted 3-23 and 2-19 against Clare and Tipperary respectively in their triumphant Munster campaign - immediately asserted their authority to open up a 2-5 to 0-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. Gleeson, Curran, DJ Foran and Shane Bennett had all raised white flags before the first goal arrived in the ninth minute via Tom Devine, who got away with taking too many steps.

Devine tagged on a point before Antrim corner back Eoin McManus put through his own net in the 14^th minute after DJ Foran's shot was half-blocked.

Saul McCaughan finally opened Antrim's account in the 18th minute from a free, only for Michael Harney to reply. The Saffrons then enjoyed their best spell, during which they outscored the winners by 0-4 to 0-1. Domhnall Nugent, Maoi Connolly and McCaughan had points to reduce the gap to eight, 0-5 to 2-7.  

But they would only score once more before half-time as Patrick Curran took centre stage by blasting 1-2, while DJ Foran was also on the mark as the Deise took a 13-point lead into the break.

Kearney extended Waterford's lead on the resumption before Antrim were given a glimmer of hope when McCaughan finished to the net after cutting in from the sideline. But normal service resumed when Mark O'Brien, Devine and Curran split the posts before Stephen Bennett and Curran hit quick-fire goals to completely knock the stuffing out of Ollie Bellew's underdogs.

The turkey shoot continued until the final whistle as further points from Kearney, Foran, Curran and Jack Fagan added gloss to the scoreline.

Waterford - G Power; W Hahessy, C Gleeson, D Lyons; M Harney, A Gleeson (0-2), C Prunty; C Roche, Shane Bennett (0-1); Stephen Bennett (1-1), T Devine (1-2), M O'Brien (0-1); M Kearney (0-4, 1sl), D J Foran (0-4), P Curran (2-7, 0-4f). Subs: P Hogan (0-1) for Shane Bennett, A Farrell (0-1) for C Roche, B O'Keefe for D Lyons, J Fagan (0-1) for T Devine, D Ryan for A Gleeson. E McManus (1-0og).

Antrim - R Elliott; G Walsh, T Burns, E McManus; D McMullan (0-1f), P Burke, R McCambridge; C Ross, A Delargy; M Connolly (0-2, 1f), D Nugent (0-1), J O'Connell; S McCaughan (1-4, 0-3f), T T Butler, R McKee. Subs: J Connolly for C Ross, R Gillan for G Walsh, C McNaughton for D Nugent, C McAllister for J O'Connell, R Delargy for E McManus.

Referee - D Hughes.

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