Dan Shanahan and Ken McGrath were inspirational as Waterford defeated Tipperary by 1-22 to 3-13 in a thrilling All-Ireland SHC quarter-final at Croke Park. Both counties went at it from start to finish and the winners just about shaded it to avenge their defeat to Tipp in this year's Munster championship and proceed to the semi-final stage. Waterford had the better of the first half but Tipperary stayed in touch thanks to goals from John Carroll and Eoin Kelly. Tipp launched the first attack but Eoin Kelly fired uncharacteristically wide. Dan Shanahan then opened the scoring before John Carroll sprinted through the Waterford defence to drive the sliothar to the top corner of Clinton Hennessy's net in the second minute. Kelly (free) swapped points with Eoin McGrath and Dave Bennett kept Waterford in touch from a free following a crafty John Mullane tumble. Another carefully-delivered Kelly free made it 1-2 to 0-3 in favour of the Premier County but Bennett immediately closed the gap with a wonderful eighth-minute point from play. Paul Kelly scored a point and Tipp captain Lar Corbett exchanged points with the industrious Shanahan before the Tipp attacker clipped over another to make it 1-5 to 0-5 after 17 minutes. Bennett's free closed the gap to two and Eoin McGrath's second point made it 0-7 to 1-5 before Shanahan drew the sides level in the 24th minute. Eoin Kelly restored Tipp's advantage with a rasping goal from a fiercely-driven 26th-minute free but a couple of Bennett frees again closed the margin to the minimum. With half an hour played, Tipp's lead was slender, 2-5 to 0-10. Bennett's sixth point of the match, from another free, tied matters up and Eoin Kelly capitalised on some slack Waterford defending to put Tipp back in front for the last time. Mullane struck the leveller and Waterford suffered a blow when midfielder Bennett was forced out of the game through injury. The Decies were awarded a soft penalty three minutes into first-half injury time and Ken McGrath stepped up to take it. The centre back's piledriver was goalbound but Brendan Cummins spectacularly diverted the ball over the bar. The team in white held a slender interval lead, 0-13 to 2-6. Try as they might, Tipp could not get back on level terms. Eoin McGrath extended Waterford's lead on the restart and Hennessy dealt with Corbett's low shot at the expense of a 65, which Eoin Kelly converted. Mullane's goal attempt flew a couple of feet over the bar for the Decies' 15th point. Justin McCarthy's men had the ball in the net in the 42nd minute, however: Shanahan gathered a long delivery and ran around his marker before placing a precise shot to the corner of the net past Cummins' despairing dive. It was a brilliant goal and it handed Waterford a five-point lead, 1-15 to 2-7. Tipp's Eoin Kelly brought his haul to 1-5 with a point from a free and John O'Brien and Willie Ryan kept Babs Keating's team in it with two strikes inside a minute. Shanahan, who was producing a Man of the Match display, knocked over a sweet fourth point but Tipp had no such joy when O'Brien hit their twelfth wide. Paul Flynn signalled his introduction with a 51st-minute point but Kelly again reduced the gap to three with a typical score from play. Michael 'Brick' Walsh popped one over at the start of the final quarter and Waterford moved further clear with points from Flynn (free) and Mullane. With under six minutes remaining, Flynn converted another free and Waterford led by seven. Tipp needed a goal and John O'Brien duly obliged with a stunning 65th-minute strike. O'Brien's second major made it 3-11 to 1-21 - four points in it. Kelly converted a 65 and the Croker crowd came to life. With three minutes to go, three points separated the teams. Shanahan capped his magnificent individual display with the insurance point in the last minute and Kelly took his tally to 1-8 with a pointed free five seconds from the end of normal time. Ken McGrath had an outstanding match and he repelled Tipp's next attack before deflecting Kelly's shot out for a 65. Waterford - C Hennessy; D Prendergast, T Feeney, E Murphy; T Browne, K McGrath 0-1, B Phelan; S O'Sullivan, D Bennett 0-6, D Shanahan 1-5, S Pendergast, E Kelly 0-1 free; J Mullane 0-2, M Walsh 0-1, E McGrath 0-3. Subs - J Murray for B Phelan, D Bennett for J Kennedy, P Flynn 0-3 for S O'Sullivan, S Molumphy for S Prendergast, P O'Brien for E McGrath. Tipperary - B Cummins; D Fanning, P Curran, P Ormonde; E Corcoran, C O'Mahoney, H Moloney; P Kelly 0-1, S McGrath; J Carroll 2-0, F Devanney, J O'Brien 0-1, L Corbett 0-2, D Fitzgerald, E Kelly 1-8. Subs - W Ryan 0-1 for F Devanney, J O'Brien for S Butler, C Morrissey for S McGrath, K Dunne for P Kelly. Tweet

Most Read Stories