Steven O’Brien made an impactful return from injury to help steer Tipperary to a 1-22 to 1-19 victory over neighbours Waterford at FBD Semple Stadium this evening.

O’Brien scored 1-8 for the hosts as they edged the Deise men by three points to book their place in the semi-finals of the Munster senior football championship against Clare in a fortnight’s time.

The visitors had sent over the first two points inside the opening two minutes before they we were wiped out by O’Brien’s goal and a two-pointer from the same player along with Cian Smith’s score had them up 1-4 to 0-3 after 10 minutes.

O’Brien would sail over two more from outside the arc and Michael Freaney did likewise for Tipp to go on and hold a 1-13 to 0-8 lead at the half.

Conor Murray and Jason Curry sent over points early in the restart, but Philly Ryan’s side kept in control of this derby championship opener with an unaswered scores from Ben Comerford, Smith (3) and Freaney to push their advantage out to 10.

Waterford would come with a late push that saw an Alan Dunwoody goal backed up by two-pointers via Murray and James Walsh, but Tipp were able to see out the three-point win nonetheless.

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