Tipperary were comfortable 2-16 to 1-7 victors over Waterford in this quarter-final at Thurles.

Jack Delahunty and substitute Brendan Martin netted in the second half for the home team, who never looked like losing.

The winners are now through to a May 13th semi-final, where they will face whoever comes through the play-offs, which involve Waterford, Limerick and Clare. Thus, Charlie McGeever's men are odds-on to advance to a provincial final meeting with either Cork or Kerry.

The Premier County were on top for most of the first half but a combination of poor shooting and some resilient defending from their opponents saw them struggle to make this superiority show on the scoreboard.

In the end, Tipp needed three late unanswered points to take a narrow interval lead, 0-8 to 1-3.

Shane O'Meara's 26th-minute goal had propelled the visitors into an unlikely lead, 1-3 to 0-5, but Tipp lofted over a trio of points to reclaim control of the game.

They led by 0-5 to 0-1 after 20 minutes, with Jack Kennedy (free), dual star Stephen Quirke and Delahunty raising white flags, while centre forward Conor Murray supplied Na Deise's opening score.

A purple patch from the visitors yielded further points from Murray and O'Meara before the latter momentarily turned the game on its head with the only goal of the first half.

Waterford's Sean White registered the first score of the second half but a seven-point gap appeared between the teams when Delahunty pounced for a Tipp goal five minutes after the resumption. The winners led by eight at the three-quarters stage, 1-13 to 1-5, and Martin's 47th-minute major made it 2-13 to 0-6.

There was no way back for Tim Lenehan's lads, who will now play Limerick in a do-or-die clash next Wednesday night.

Tipperary - C Manton; T Lowry, M Irwin, T Fitzgerald; M Kehoe, S Power, L Fahy; J Kennedy (0-5, 3f), T Nolan (0-2); A Buckley (0-2), S Quirke (0-3), D Owens; E Moloney, C Cashman, J Delahunty (1-2). Subs: B Martin (1-1) for C Cashman, J Bergin for L Fahy, B McGrath for J Delahunty, G Whelan for T Fitzgerald, R Peters (0-1) for T Nolan, J Butler for M Kehoe.

Waterford - K Dwane; C McCarthy, S Ryan, D O'Grady; N Montgomery, D McGuckian, C Barry; C Looney, C Prunty; D Looby (0-1f), D Guiry, S O'Meara (1-0); M Sweeney (0-1), S White (0-3, 1f, 1'45), C Murray (0-2). Subs: M Culloo for C Looney, D McGrath for S O'Meara, M Phelan for D Looby, G Sheehan for N Montgomery, E Kelly for M Sweeney.

Referee - B Kelly.

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