All the hurling action was in the Waterford Crystal Cup in Munster today with Waterford, Clare, UL and Waterford IT registering victories. The game of the day was in St. Brendan's Park in Ardmore where an experimental Waterford side edged the students of UCC by a point in a gripping encounter by 1-17 to 2-13. Davy Fitzgerald introduced experienced heads Eoin Kelly and John Mullane late on as the Decies were forced to grind out victory. Gary Hurney's early first-half goal gave Waterford a comfortable 1-11 to 0-06 half-time lead, but UCC staged a tremendous second half comeback. Cork substitute goalkeeper Anthony Nash got in on the scoring act for the students as he crashed a free to the back of the Waterford net to cut the gap to five-points. UCC kept up the momentum with Pat Barry crashing a 30 metre free in the direction of Waterford's Donal O'Rourke who pulled off a fine save, before Stephen Moylan crashed home the rebound. With injury-time approaching just a brace of points separated the sides but with UCC continuing to pile on pressure free-taker David Browne added his eighth point. However the recently crowned Higher Education Senior Hurling League Division 1 champions were unable to finish out this game as Waterford held out for the slenderest of victories. The students of Waterford IT were in stunning form as they sent Kerry crumbling to an 18-point defeat at Abbeydorney following a comfortable 2-22 to 1-7 victory. Tipperary's Ray McLoughney was the WIT hero as he cemented victory for his side with two second half goals. WIT's good form of 2008, which saw them take the Fitzgibbon Cup has carried into 2009 and they held an 0-11 to 0-2 interval lead. The hosts were keen to build on their dismal first half display and turned the tide on the restart with Lixnaw clubmates James Flaherty and John Griffin keeping the Kingdom in touch. Flaherty bagged a goal while Griffin added four points, but in reality nothing could halt a rampant WIT who could also rely on the likes of Timmy Hammersley and Richie MacCarthy for scores. UL kept up the winning ways for College sides as a strong final quarter helped them to a 2-14 to 0-16 win over Limerick at Claughaun. Limerick looked like coasting to victory after an impressive start to the second half with excellent contributions from Niall Moran and David Breen, who amassed 10 points between them in this game. However second half goals from John Greene and substitute David Burke of Galway, along with an excellent contribution from Offaly's Brian Carroll ensured the students ground out a two-point win. Meanwhile Clare began their 2009 campaign on a bright note at Meelick thanks to a hard-earned 2-18 to 2-13 win over IT Tralee. Limerick's Eoin Ryan was in outstanding form for ITT registering 1-9 but this wasn't enough as a rampant Clare weren't keen on making an early exit from this competition. An interesting side-effect of the GAA's new experimental disciplinary rules emerged from this game with Clare finishing the contest with 13 men after using all of their substitutes and having Gerry Quinn and twins Conor and Donal O'Donovan yellow carded in the second half. Results Sunday 4 January Waterford Crystal HL Clare 2-18 IT Tralee 2-13 Kerry 1-7 WIT 2-22 Limerick 0-16 UL 2-14 Waterford 1-17 UCC 2-13 Tweet

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