Waterford are effectively out of this year’s hurling championship after suffering a sobering 2-24 to 0-10 defeat to Limerick at Walsh Park.

Beaten by Cork last weekend, the visitors effortlessly ignited their defence of the Liam MacCarthy Cup with a straightforward victory over a dejected home side, Aaron Gillane and Gearoid Hegarty netting in either half, Waterford’s third straight defeat ensuring that they will exit the championship at the end of the provincial round-robin stage regardless of how their trip to Cork pans out next weekend.

The second half was a procession as the winners reeled off the last eleven points, outscoring Paraic Fanning’s men by 1-14 to 0-3 after the resumption.

Despite playing into the stiff breeze in the first half, the reigning All-Ireland champions established a 1-10 to 0-7 interval advantage. The hosts reeled off the first three points via Stephen Bennett and Pauric Mahony (2), but the momentum turned in Limerick’s favour when Gillane whipped the sliothar first time to the net following a strong, direct Hegarty run in the 15th minute.

That goal edged the Treaty County ahead for the first time, 1-3 to 0-5, and they pushed on with points from Gillane (free) and Peter Casey. Mahony’s fourth point (free) reduced the arrears but Na Deise would go 15 minutes without a score, while Limerick tacked on four uninterrupted points – Gillane, Paddy O’Loughlin, Declan Hannon and Casey on target – before Mahony (free) and debutant O’Loughlin traded injury-time points.

The game was over as a contest in the 38th minute when Hegarty cut in from the left wing and lashed a precise shot to the right of the Waterford net after Bennett and Kyle Hayes had swapped the first two points of the second half. Tom Morrissey, Hegarty and Hayes replied to a couple of Mahony frees and substitute Darragh O’Donovan slotted a point with his first touch to make it 2-15 to 0-10 midway through the second half.

Shane Dowling (free) also pointed with his first touch – and his second! – and another replacement, Barry Murphy, added Limerick’s 18th point before the losers were reduced to 14 men on 59 minutes when a frustrated Mahony was dismissed for a wild pull.

Treaty subs continued to catch the eye as Dowling (two) and David Reidy increased the winning margin before midfielder and current Hurler of the Year Cian Lynch got on the end of a flowing move to leave 18 between them.

John Kiely’s men, who host Clare in seven days’ time, kicked on towards the winning line with points from Dowling and O’Donovan.

Limerick - N Quaid; S Finn, M Casey, R English; D Morrissey, D Hannon (0-1), P O’Loughlin (0-2); C Lynch (0-1), W O’Donoghue; G Hegarty (1-1), K Hayes (0-3), T Morrissey (0-1); A Gillane (1-4, 0-4f), G Mulcahy, P Casey (0-2). Subs: D O’Donovan (0-2) for W O’Donoghue, B Murphy (0-1) for A Gillane, S Dowling (0-5, 4f) for T Morrissey, D Reidy (0-1) for G Hegarty, P Ryan for G Mulcahy.

Waterford - S O'Keeffe; C Lyons, C Prunty, N Connors; D Fives, T de Burca, K Moran; J Barron, J Prendergast (0-1); P Mahony (0-7, 5f), A Gleeson, M Shanahan; M Kearney, Stephen Bennett (0-1), T Ryan. Subs: M Walsh for M Shanahan, Shane Bennett (0-1) for A Gleeson, C Gleeson for D Fives, B O’Halloran for T Ryan, S McNulty for N Connors.

Referee - F Horgan.

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