Tipp dig out victory over the Deise in real dogfight at Semple

Tipperary 0-24

Waterford 2-16

Three sent off; massive rain and snow showers ;42 between them; - Tipperary and Waterford served up a really absorbing  dogfight at Semple Stadium in the Allianz NHL this afternoon with Liam Sheedy's men emerging to take their qualification challenge right to the very wire next weekend.

This was a must win game for Tipp against the Liam Cahill managed Waterford. And, having secured the points, Tipp now travel to Salthill next Sunday where they must get a result from the clash with Galway.

Tipp led by 0-14 to 1-8 at the interval, but unfortunately it wasn't the scoring feats of the players which occupied thoughts at the break. Rather it was the dismissal of three players in an eight minute spell which had the attendance spitting nails. First off was Waterford's Austin Gleeson in the 30th minute for a second yellow card - he had no real complaints. Then, four minutes later wing back Kevin Moran received a straight red for an off the ball incident - the Deise management team was highly animated at this move by referee Sean Stack (Dublin). Then, Tipperary defender Cathal Barrett also received a straight red in the 38th minute for? Well, nobody seemed to know really - it happened after much consultation on the part of the officials and resulted in Barrett shaking his head and laughing as he trudged to the sideline.

A massive snow and sleet shower midway through the half  - just after Waterford had goalled through Peter Hogan - made for very difficult conditions. There were pools of water on the pitch but they didn't stop Jason Forde from helping himself to  0-8 in the half to keep Tipp, who played wind assisted, in the driving seat.

The second half was only a minute old though when Stephen Bennett bagged a fine goal  for Waterford and despite having the numerical disadvantage, the chase was really on. They were back on level terms by the 18th minute when Jamie Barron pointed, but Tipperary hit three in succession from Dillon Quirke, Seamus Callanan and sub Cian Darcy to put daylight between them. And, try as they did Waterford could not get enough scores on the board after that to get into a position to share the spoils - they did hit 11 second half wides though.

Tipp could have had a hat of goals had it not been fro the excellence of Stephen O'Keeffe in the Deise net - he made a string of fine saves to keep the Premier County at bay. Tipp had 0-4 from the impressive Dillon Quirke  while Forde finished up with 0-11.

Next up is Galway in a game Tipp must get something from if they are to progress.