Morris hat-trick inspires Tipp win over Waterford

GAA: Allianz National Hurling League Division 1B Round 4

Tipperary 4-23

Waterford 0-25

Report: Shane Brophy at FBD Semple Stadium

MATCH DIGEST

Player of the Match: Jake Morris (Tipperary)

SCORERS – Tipperary: Gearoid O’Connor 0-9 (7 frees, 1 65); Jake Morris 3-0; Jason Forde 0-6 (1 free); Conor Bowe 1-0; Conor Stakelum, Mark Kehoe 0-2 each; Seamus Kennedy, Alan Tynan, Noel McGrath, Patrick Maher 0-1 each.

Waterford: Stephen Bennett 0-8 frees; Calum Lyons 0-4; Jack Prendergast, Patrick Fitzgerald (2 frees) 0-3 each; Jamie Barron 0-2; Neil Montgomery, Colin Dunford, Iarlaith Daly, Paudie Fitzgerald, Dessie Hutchinson 0-1 each.

Tipperary booked their place in the National Hurling League semi-finals with a game to spare as a Jake Morris hat-trick inspired them victory over Waterford in a feisty encounter on Saturday night.

Premier boss Liam Cahill made four changes to the side that defeated Dublin with a number of positional switches and that, combined with Waterford’s hard running style saw the home side caught unawares in the early stages conceding the first three points to Jack Prendergast, Stephen Bennett and Neil Montgomery before Alan Tynan got Tipp off the mark on six minutes.

This was shortly after Waterford keeper Billy Nolan turned away a Seamus Callanan shot but he could do nothing to deny Jake Morris a goal in eight minutes. Noel McGrath nudged Tipp in front and after Tadhg de Burca pointed for Waterford on thirteen minutes, they where held scoreless for twenty minutes as Tipp took over, with the half back line utterly dominant, spear-headed by Ronan Maher on the left wing, including one superb hook to deny Calum Lyons a goal chance.

With the possession, Tipp turned it into good scores for Patrick Maher and five points from Gearoid O’Connor, four of them frees, before he landed a 65 which came after Jake Morris forced a save from O’Brien with Bonner Maher’s follow-up deflected out for a 65.

Waterford finished the half strongly with Jamie Barron to the fore with two points from play while Stephen Bennett with Gearoid O’Connor bringing his first half tally to eight points as Tipp led 1-12 to 0-11 at half time.

Like the first half, Waterford started brightly and outscored Tipp 0-7 to 0-2 to the 52nd minute when Stephen Bennett put them in front for the first time. Tipp were struggling to win the ball in attack but the subs really made an impact with Mark Kehoe and in particular Jason Forde stepping up, the latter scoring six points in 25 minutes.

The key moments came in the 55th minute when Jake Morris cracked home his second goal and in the aftermath Waterford’s Jake Barron was sent off for an off the ball incident involving Conor Stakelum.

Three minutes later, another sub, Conor Bowe, finished a superb move for the third goal, in his brief time on the field before going off injured. Jake Morris rounded off the evening by completing his hat-trick in the 68th minute as Tipp defeated Waterford for the first time in five attempts going back to 2020.

TEAMS – Tipperary: Rhys Shelly; Johnny Ryan, Michael Breen, Eoghan Connolly; Dan McCormack, Bryan O’Mara, Ronan Maher; Conor Stakelum, Alan Tynan; Gearoid O’Connor, Noel McGrath, Seamus Kennedy; Seamus Callanan, Patrick Maher, Jake Morris.

Subs: Mark Kehoe for Callanan (20 inj); Jason Forde for Tynan (49); Conor Bowe for O’Connor (57); John McGrath for Bowe (67 inj); John Campion for N McGrath (69).

Waterford: Billy Nolan; Mark Fitzgerald, Iarlaith Daly, Conor Prunty; Calum Lyons, Tadhg de Burca, Shane McNulty; Austin Gleeson, Jamie Barron; Neil Montgomery, Jack Prendergast, Patrick Curran; Dessie Hutchinson, Stephen Bennett, Colin Dunford.

Subs: Carthach Daly for McNulty (16-23 blood); Kevin Mahony for Gleeson (30); Carthach Daly for Curran (HT); Conor Ryan for Prunty (HT); Patrick Fitzgerald for Bennett (59); Paudie Fitzgerald for Dunford (64).

Referee: James Owens (Wexford).