Waterford suffered a second successive defeat in the Electric Ireland Munster Minor hurling Championship last night going down to a superior Cork outfit at a rainy Pairc Uí Chaoimh.
Thirteen points separated the sides at the final whistle as the Rebels started their campaign with an impressive 3-19 to 0-15 over a battling Déise side.
Barry Walsh netted a brace of goals either side of the break (including a 2nd-half penalty) as Barry O' Flynn also found the net for the home side who held a 2-11 advantage at half-time.
Ballygunner ace Colm Hartley top scored for the Déise hitting ten points (9 frees and 1 from play) while joint-captain Sean Mackey struck two from play in a lively opening half. Gearoid Power, Conor Tobin and Eoin Barry were the other Waterford scorers.
The sides were level after ten minutes in what was an entertaining opening half but Cork's first goal which was a thundering finish from Barry O' Flynn in the 14th minute was a big score, from here on in the Leesiders never looked back as they made a big statement on what was their first outing of the campaign.
Highlights from Páirc Uí Chaoimh as @OfficialCorkGAA opened their campaign with a 3-19 to 0-15 victory over @WaterfordGAA. @ElectricIreland | #ThisIsMajor | @StreamsportI https://t.co/yUhOpLFaj5
— Munster GAA (@MunsterGAA) March 28, 2023
Waterford boss James O' Connor admitted after the game that his side were second best; "Very down and out after that but look we came up against a top class team here tonight. Cork are an awesome team and we just couldn't come up to that level being honest but look they gave it everything that they had, we just got to hit the reset button now again and just go back during the week and we must get a win against Clare in two weeks time".
Waterford now face a must win game at home to Clare in Round 3 on April 11th, a game which will take place in Fraher Field at 7pm.
