Waterford beat Kilkenny by 0-20 to 0-18 in Thurles to claim the National Hurling League title.
They came from 3 points down in the second half to win with two injury time points.

The first half was a scrappy affair with a lot of the scores coming from frees, at half time Waterford led by 11 to 9. Kilkenny started the second half on fire and hit 5 unanswered points but Waterford found a new lease of life and pulled back level before 2 late points by Eoin Kelly and Seamus Prendergast gave them the win. Ken McGrath was named the man of the match and captain Michael Walsh lifted the Croke cup.

This was Waterford’s first senior national title since their 1963 league win and Kilkenny’s first defeat in a league final since 1978 to Clare.

WATERFORD: C Hennessy; E Murphy, D Prendergast, J Murray; T Browne, K McGrath (0-3, 1f), A Kearney; M Walsh, S Molumphy; E Kelly (0-8, 6f), S Prendergast (0-3), S Walsh; J Mullane (0-2), D Shanahan (0-1), J Kennedy (0-1).

Subs used: P Flynn (0-1) for S Walsh (48 mins), E McGrath (0-1) for Murray (53), S O’Sullivan for Kennedy (74).

KILKENNY: PJ Ryan; N Hickey, B Hogan, JJ Delaney; J Tyrrell, PJ Delaney, T Walsh; D Lyng (0-1), W O’Dwyer; E Brennan (0-1), M Comerford (0-2), R Power (0-2); H Shefflin (0-12, 6f, 1 ‘65′), J Fitzpatrick, A Fogarty.

Subs used: E Larkin for Fitzpatrick (38 mins), E McCormack for Fogarty (66).

Another Tipperary player has transferred to Kildare. This time it’s Paddy O’Brien and he’s likely to feature in the league semi-final against Wicklow at the weekend. Two other Tipp men already transferred there, David Kennedy and Ronan Tynan. Eoin Brislane transferred to Meath.
Also in Tipperary it looks like the injuries suffered by Pa Bourke and Conor O’Mahony aren’t too serious although they are likely to be out for around 4 weeks.

The Offaly and Limerick managers, John McIntyre and Richie Bennis, are complaining about the relegation play-off they face this weekend. It does seem a bit strange having a 9 team division instead of a 10 team one where 1 team will be free each round. We’ve known about this from the start of the league though so it’s a bit late now to be complaining but bizaarely Richie Bennis claims he and the Limerick county board only found out recently. Both sides are in a bad way with injuries going into the game and will be short several regulars.

Jerry O’Connor returns to the Cork team to face Waterford on Sunday for his first start of the year. His brother Ben is also back from an injury lay-off and is on the subs bench.

The details of the Division 1 semi-finals have been confirmed.

• Kilkenny v Wexford (Thurles, 2.30pm)
• Cork v Waterford (Thurles, 4.15pm)

Wexford produced a surprise at the weekend by beating Galway and so set themselves up for a semi-final clash with Kilkenny. After recovering from a poor result on the first day of league Wexford have been in great form. All bodes well for the Leinster Championship later in the year. Galway on the other hand don’t seem to be making much progress under Ger Loughnane, he has one hell of a task to get any more out of the team than they have produced in recent years.

Waterford and Tipperary served up a very good game with the deise just edging it by a point. They now play Cork in the semi-final and if they have ambitions of finally making the breakthrough this year they have to win that. Babs and co will probably be happy enough with Tipp’s display but concerned at the number of injuries they picked up.

In Division 2 Laois and Kildare won the quarter finals so Laois will now play Westmeath and Kildare will play Wicklow in the semi-finals.

All the League quarter-finals are down for decision over the weekend. With a sunny weekend in store and dry pitches we should see some top class action, particularly in Nowlan Park where the 2 Division 1 quarters are being played on Sunday.

Wexford are boosted by the return of 3 players from injury for their clash with Galway although they are without Rory McCarthy who’s off to Augusta, Georgia for the US Masters. Both teams have been in good form but the Galway men should probably edge it. In the other game Waterford had been flying through the league until Offaly caught them last weekend. They should have too much firepower for Tipp who still don’t seem to have a settled side.

In Division 2 Laois have have named an unchanged side for their clash with Kerry on Saturday despite only drawing with Carlow last time out. However they still should be a bit too strong for the Kingdom who’s league form was very patchy until their good win over Kildare last day. The other game between Kildare and Derry is a tough one to call, both teams have mixed the good with the bad so far. I’ll pick Kildare to edge it.

In Division 3 I’ll go for Louth to beat Tyrone and Longford to beat Donegal.

With the regular League action now ended it’s time to take note of All-Star form. A player’s league form is totally forgotten about come All-Star selection time so we’re going to keep track of this form throughout the season to build a more accurate view of who the best players in the year are.

We’ll start by naming 3 players at each position. The player’s are picked only in positions they play in, so if there’s an overload of players at one position that’s tough luck, we won’t be doing silly things like accommodating them in a different position even if there’s a weaker selection there. There’s no particular ranking to the order they’re listed, it’s a bit early in the season to have definite number 1s at each position yet.

Kilkenny and Cork are straight through to the Division 1 semi finals, while Waterford will play Tipperary and Galway will play Wexford in the quarter finals.

Dublin’s campaign fell to pieces in the end but they have at least guaranteed themselves Division 1 hurling next year. Antrim and Down are relegated, while Offaly and Limerick will battle over the other relegation spot.

In Division 2 Wicklow and Westmeath topped the tables, Wicklow with an impressive 100% record. Laois and Derry took the playoff places in 2A while Kildare and Kerry did so in 2B.

In Division 3 Sligo and Rosommon topped with Roscommon also recording a 100% record. Louth and Donegal filled the playoff places in 3A and Longford and Tyrone did so in 3B.

Check the tables here.