Waterford are Allianz Hurling League champions for the first time since 2015 after seeing off Cork with a 4-20 to 1-23 victory in Thurles tonight.

Liam Cahill’s side once again showed their prowess for goals by hitting two in each half to control this decider and eventually led to captain Conor Prunty collecting the Division 1 title on his county’s behalf.

Minus the services of suspended talisman Austin Gleeson, the Deise men were led by Stephen Bennett in this decider as the Ballysaggart sharpshooter hit 2-11 over the 70 minutes at Semple Stadium.

Bennett backed up Patrick Curran’s 25th minute goal with a major of his own less than a minute later and it saw Waterford go in with a 2-10 to 0-10 lead at half-time.

The victors widened the margin early in the restart and after Patrick Horgan got the difference back down to five, disaster hit the Rebels again with Bennett striking his second goal a dozen minutes into the second-half.

Cork battled back to make it a four-point game but their defence wasn’t done leaking goals and this time Ballygunner ace Dessie Hutchinson provided the finish on 64 minutes to make it 4-17 to 0-22.

Curran, Jack Prendergast and DJ Foran all added points that would be wiped out by a Cork consolation goal from Robbie O’Flynn in the second minute of injury-time.

The success marks a fourth National League title for Waterford as they now prepare to emark on the Munster championship, starting with Tipperary in Walsh Park on April 17th. 

Woohoo!!!

Up the Déise 🏆🏆🏆#deiseabú
⚪🔵⚪🔵⚪🔵 pic.twitter.com/DjivGx43oi

— Waterford GAA (@WaterfordGAA) April 2, 2022

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