Limerick are through to the semi-final stage of the Munster MHC following this 0-18 to 1-10 victory over Waterford at Thurles tonight.

With a crowd of 1,267 watching on, the winners overturned a six-point deficit to win by five and book a semi-final date with Cork, which will be played at the Gaelic Grounds on July 1st.

That will be an interesting encounter as the Rebels actually defeated Limerick by ten points at the quarter-final stage at Pairc Ui Rinn on April 8th. Meanwhile, Waterford's campaign is over, tonight's defeat following on from their luckless one-point quarter-final loss to Tipperary last month.

If they were unfortunate that night, they can have no complaints about their third successive defeat to the Treaty County (they lost to them in the 2013 and 2014 provincial finals) as they managed just a single point from play from the 22nd minute onwards in this game.

A run of nine unanswered points either side of the break - between the 25th and 47th minutes - helped Leo O'Connor's charges transform a six-point deficit into a three-point lead, 0-13 to 1-7. Aaron O'Sullivan's 21st-minute goal had been enough to give Waterford a 1-7 to 0-7 lead at the short whistle.

Leading for the entire first half, Na Deise hit the front inside the opening minute and were ahead by 0-5 to 0-3 before O'Sullivan goaled to put five points between the teams.

It was double scores with five minutes left in the first half, 1-7 to 0-5, but the Treaty County clipped over the last two points before the break and it took a fine save from big-hitting Waterford netminder Billy Nolan to ensure that his side took an advantage into the interval.

The floodlights at Semple Stadium came on for the second half as the daylight faded along with the Waterford challenge. When the action resumed, the Treaty lads continued where they had left off to reel off four more unanswered points and move ahead by 0-11 to 1-7 within five minutes of the restart, goalkeeper and captain Eoin McNamara's fourth point of the night (from a '65') edging them ahead for the first time.

After Limerick had brought their scoring sequence to 0-9 without reply, Waterford finally grabbed their first score in some 23 minutes of play, but they still trailed by three with ten minutes left, 0-14 to 1-8.

As Sean Lyons' team ruined their diminishing chances of victory with a series of poor wides, Limerick pushed on to seal their place in the last four and a rematch with the Rebels.

Limerick - E McNamara (0-5, 3'65, 2f); T Hayes, C McSweeney, J O'Grady; C Byrnes, P O'Loughlin, C Houlihan; T Grimes, W O'Meara (0-1); K Hayes (0-1), S Flanagan (0-1), B Ryan (0-2); P Casey (0-6, 4f), B Murphy (0-1), D Carroll (0-1). Subs: M Mackey for W O'Meara, C O'Connor for C Houlihan, C Boylan for T Hayes, E Ryan for T Grimes, P Ahern for J O'Grady.

Waterford - B Nolan (0-1f); D McGrath, C Prunty, D Lynch; C Lyons (0-1), J Henley, C Dunphy; A Molumby (0-2), D Lyons; G Waters (0-1), JP Lucey, E Meaney; A O'Sullivan (1-1), J Prendergast (0-3, 2f), P Hogan (0-1). Subs: J Beecher for D McGrath, M Daykin for G Waters, J Kennedy for JP Lucey, C Barry for E Meaney.

Referee - P Ryan.

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