Stradbally 1-8
The Nire 0-10

Substitute David Grey scored a last-gasp point to hand Stradbally their 17th Waterford SFC title at The Nire's expense in Saturday night's final replay at Fraher Field.

The defeat was a familiar feeling for The Nire who have now lost four final replays to their great rivals in the past decade. Saturday's replay was far superior to the drawn encounter with Stradbally trailing until the 48th minute when Ger Power's fisted goal gave them the lead for the first time.

In a dramatic finale, Shane Ahearne pushed Pat Curran's charges into a two-point lead before The Nire drew level through points from Shane Walsh and Thomas O'Gorman. With extra-time looming, Grey struck the winning point in injury-time.

The Nire were quickly into their stride and had opened up a 0-5 to 0-1 lead by the end of the first quarter with Liam Lawlor and Brian Wall scoring two points each. But three Ahearne points narrowed the gap at half-time, 0-7 to 0-4.

The losers still led by three points at the end of the third quarter, but an injury to Liam Lawlor proved a major setback as Power's goal sparked the Stradbally comeback.

Stradbally - O Costelloe; T Grey, K Coffey, T Costelloe; S Lannon, E Rockett, A Doyle; M Walsh, J Hearne; J Coffey (0-1), P Kiely, G Power (1-0); N Curran (0-2), S Ahearne (0-4), R Ahearne. Subs: P Doyle for T Costelloe, S Cunningham for Hearne, D Grey (0-1) for A Doyle, L Casey for P Doyle, T Curran for Power.

The Nire - T Wall; J McGrath, Maurice O'Gorman, J Walsh; J Moore, M Walsh, S Lawlor; Michael O'Gorman, T O'Gorman (0-1); D Guiry (0-1), B Wall (0-2), J Barron; S Walsh (0-3), L Lawlor (0-2), S Ryan (0-1). Subs: R Fenton for L Lawlor, D Wall for Ryan.

Referee - A Kissane. Tweet

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