Galway are through to the last four of the national hurling league after overturning a ten-point deficit to defeat Waterford by 2-22 to 2-19 at Salthill.

Micheál Donoghue's charges looked like a losing docket when Tom Devine netted twice inside a minute shortly after the restart to give the Munster county a double-digit advantage but the hosts outscored their opponents by 1-12 to 0-2 in the final 27 minutes to seal a semi-final date with Limerick in a fortnight, registering 1-7 without reply in the last 14 minutes. Man of the Match Joe Canning finished the day with 1-10 in brackets after his name and also had a penalty saved.

Waterford, who hit the first six scores of the game, also led by nine points with less than 15 minutes remaining in the first half but - aided by a Conor Cooney goal - Galway made a game of it in the second quarter to trail by just three points at the short whistle, 0-15 to 1-9, with wind advantage to come.

Stephen Bennett and Tommy Ryan both pointed in the sixth minute to give the visitors a three points to no score advantage, with Maurice Shanahan having opened the scoring from a free. DJ Foran floated over another terrific Na Deise score from distance before Kevin Moran and Stephen Roche supplied the fifth and sixth unanswered Waterford points in the ninth minute - two more lovely long-range strikes.

Roche grabbed his second moments after Conor Whelan had opened the Tribesmen's account on eleven minutes and a Canning free on 15 minutes was in turn cancelled out instantly by Foran - 0-8 to 0-2. Shanahan tapped over a couple of frees to leave the gap at eight at the midway stage in the first half.

Ian O'Regan easily dealt with a poorly-stuck Canning penalty in the 21^st minute after Whelan has been dragged down and there was a four-point swing when Mark O'Brien promptly despatched an eleventh Waterford point between the posts.

Galway needed a goal and it duly arrived when - with O'Regan advancing - Cooney fizzed a low shot from an acute angle on the right to the far corner of the net. Points from Shanahan and Seamus Keating at the other end made it 0-13 to 1-2 but Canning (free) and Cathal Mannion quickly replied. Roche bagged his third point on the half hour after Whelan and Canning had slotted the Westerners' third and fourth successive scores.

Galway continued to push on and points from Mannion, Canning (free) and Thomas Monaghan had them back within two on the cusp of half time, 0-14 to 1-9. Shanahan popped one over from play in added time to give the Suirsiders a three-point advantage at the break.

Waterford registered the first two points after the restart via Ryan and Shanahan; Canning replied before Devine's tame shot deceived Colm Callanan for the losers' first goal and Devine followed up almost immediately with an unstoppable bullet to the far left corner of the Galway net to make it a ten-point game eight minutes into the second half - 2-17 to 1-10.

Respective No.10s Canning and Moran traded points and man of the moment Canning pegged back another four consecutive scores to reduce the arrears to six with 17 minutes left to play. Devine cut through to fire over a timely Waterford point in the 56^th minute but Galway would reel off the last 1-7 the game to advance... Niall Burke wasted no time in replying to Devine's point with one at the other end - 2-19 to 1-16.

Quickfire points from Aidan Harte and Burke set up a grandstand finale as the Tribe closed within four with an hour played. Whelan gathered a Canning pass to leave just a goal separating the sides after 61 minutes…

Galway were awarded a second penalty in the 63^rd minute when O'Regan and Tadhg De Burca combined to knock Cooney over and this time Canning made no mistake, drilling low to the right to tie the scores up. Wing back Padraic Mannion edged the hosts ahead for the first time in the 65^th minute!

Galway had the wind in their sails now and midfielder Harte drilled over a terrific point on the run from the right wing to double their advantage and Shanahan missed a couple of late frees before midfielder David Burke ran through to tap over the 22^nd Galway point of the day as the victors finished with a real spring in their stride.

Galway - C Callanan; J Hanbury, Daithi Burke, A Harte (0-2); P Mannion (0-1), G McInerney, P Killeen; A Tuohy, J Coen; J Cooney, J Canning (1-10, 1-0pen, 0-4f), David Burke (0-1); C Whelan (0-3), C Cooney (1-0), C Mannion (0-2). Subs: T Monaghan (0-1) for J Hanbury, N Burke (0-2) for J Cooney, S Maloney for C Cooney.

Waterford - I O'Regan; K Bennett, S McNulty, S Fives; C Gleeson, T De Burca, S Keating (0-1); K Moran (0-2), M O'Brien (0-1); Stephen Bennett (0-1), S Roche (0-3), DJ Foran (0-2); T Ryan (0-2), M Shanahan (0-6, 4f), T Devine (2-1). Subs: Shane Bennett for DJ Foran, N Connors for S Keating, M Walsh for M O'Brien, B O'Halloran for T Ryan, P Mahony for S Roche.

Referee - B Kelly.

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