A fantastic performance from Jack Kennedy helped Tipperary secured their first ever win in the Tailteann Cup without impressing against a resurgent Waterford side, although the Premier County are unlikely to progress to the knockout stages.

Both sides knew they needed a minor miracle to progress in the Tailteann Cup this afternoon having lost their opening two games in Group 2 had left them a mountain to climb in the hunt to finish in the qualifying third place positions in the competition which would require both Carlow and Wicklow to lose very heavily in their Group C games tomorrow.

Tipperary started the game brightly with Jack Kennedy, who was in fine form, hitting four points in the first twenty minutes sandwiched around a Teddy Doyle single to put Tipp five points up before Waterford finally got up and running on the scoreboard with a Darragh Corcoran long range pointed free.

Worryingly for both sides the number of bookings crept up with Jason Curry becoming the fourth player to see yellow after earlier infringements for his Waterford team mate Brian Looby and Tipp pair Stephen Quirke and Colman Kennedy.

Jack Kennedy continued his impressive display with his fifth point restoring the five point lead with just ten minutes remaining in the first period as Tipperary’s clinical finishing proved to be the difference between the sides during the opening half hour.

Scores from midfielder Mark Russell and a lovely long range effort from Conal Kennedy added scores to push the favourite’s advantage further but eventually Waterford burst into life with a quick break. Despite the goal opportunity Jason Gleeson elected to flick the ball across the bar to double Waterford’s tally.

The leaders responded with a score from defender Shane O’Connell but Waterford seemed to pick up a taste for scores as they cut through the Tipp defence to find Sean Whelan-Barrett who drove the ball to the net giving O’Reilly no chance to get the first goal of the game. A quickfire pair of points from Corcoran and Jason Curry brought the score back to just two points.

Kennedy ended the half as it started closing the first period with a point to leave the sides three points apart at the break. 

Waterford looked like a different animal in the second half. Two early scores for Micheal Curry and Darragh Corcoran saw them reduce the deficit to a single point. Darragh Brennan got his first championship score to reopen the two point lead.

Waterford found another two scores. Jordan O’Sullivan saw his goal chance go over the bar before Conor Murray hit his first score to level the game on 43 minutes. Conal Kennedy hit an impressive long range point to try and stop the switch of momentum, a second Darragh Brennan score put Tipp two points to the good with twenty minutes remaining on the clock.

Waterford’s Conor Murray swapped a pair of points with Teddy Doyle and Jack Kennedy before Kennedy and Jason Curry’s scores cancelled each other out either side of a massive turning point with Tipperary midfielder Conal Kennedy seeing a black card, effectively ruling him out of the remainder of the clash.

Waterford sub Donal Fitzgerald cut the lead to a single score with a minute of the regulation time left on the clock but wing back Kevin Fahey settled the nerves electing to score a point with a goal chance on the cards.

Tipperary got themselves back to a full complement with the return of Conal Kennedy as Darragh Corcoran hit his fourth score to reduce the score again to the minimum. But the Deise ran out of time in the search for an equalising score to effectively end both team’s inter county seasons.