2008 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final

A programme for the 2008 final

Kilkenny's path to the All-Ireland Hurling Final turned out to be a more straight forward affair in comparison to Waterford. Kilkenny's Leinster Championship campaign started off in O'Moore Park, Portlaoise on 15 June 2008 against Offaly. The match turned out to be a very one-sided affair with Henry Shefflin scoring 11 points on his return from a long term injury. Kilkenny eventually ran out easy winners on a scoreline of Kilkenny 2–24 Offaly 0–12.[4] Kilkenny moved onto the Leinster Hurling Final where they would face a Wexford side who took a replay to defeat Dublin in the other semi-final. As in previous year, the Leinster Final also turned out to be a one sided affair. Wexford stuck with Kilkenny for the first half but the cats pulled away in the second half, essentially killing off Wexford's challenge with 4 goals in the second half. Kilkenny became Leinster Champions for the ninth time in ten years on a scoreline of Kilkenny 5–21 Wexford 0–17.[5]

After the completion of the All-Ireland Qualifier Series, Cork revealed themselves to be Kilkenny's All-Ireland Semi-final opponents. The fixture was much hyped by the Irish media, in light of both teams' respective records over the past 5 years. A large crowd at Croke Park viewed an entertaining match which pitted the 2006 finalists against each other. The sides stuck with each other, point for point at the start, resulting in a score of 6 points each after 20 minutes. However, Cork went without a score for a long period of the first half resulting in Kilkenny leading by 8 points at half time. Cork opened the second half with a barrage of points, but Kilkenny held strong and ran out 9-point winners – Kilkenny 1–23 Cork 0–17.[6] Kilkenny qualified for their eighth final in ten years.

Waterford started off the year with a Munster Championship first round clash with Clare at the Gaelic Grounds, Limerick on 1 June 2008. Waterford, missing a number of first team regulars such as Ken McGrath, Eoin Kelly and Eoin Murphy succumbed to a youthful Clare team on a scoreline of Waterford 0–23 Clare 2–26.[7] Soon after the game, manager, Justin McCarthy was fired from his position by the Waterford County Board. It has been rumoured at the time that player unrest had a lot to do with the decision.[8] The Waterford County Board acted quickly and appointed former Clare goalkeeper Davy Fitzgerald as new Waterford manager on 10 June 2008.[9] The loss to Clare sent Waterford into the All-Ireland Qualifier Series. The first round match against Antrim saw the return of both Ken McGrath and Eoin Kelly. Davy Fitzgerald started his Waterford managerial career with the unusual decision of placing Ken McGrath at full back in order to strengthen the full back line. The decision paid off and the match turned out to be a complete mismatch, with Waterford running out winners on a scoreline of Waterford 6–18 Antrim 0–15.[10]

Waterford were then pitted against Offaly in their Phase 4 Qualifier on 19 July 2008 at Semple Stadium, Thurles. After a stern test in the first 60 minutes, Waterford eventually pulled away towards the end winning on a scoreline of Waterford 2–18 Offaly 0–18.[11] This resulted in Waterford reaching the All-Ireland Quarter Finals and a match-up against Leinster runners-up Wexford. This was a competitive match which toed and froed from one side to the other. However, a late barrage of points saw Waterford over the endline on a scoreline of Waterford 2–19 Wexford 3–15.[12] The win against Wexford lead Waterford to their sixth All-Ireland Semi-Final since 1998. The opponents would be a highly fancied Tipperary, who were reigning National Hurling League and Munster champions. Waterford started a blistering page, going 0–6 to 0–0 up after 8 minutes. However Tipperary were level going in at half time. Both teams scored goals in rapid succession in the 2nd half. Waterford's nerve held, and they won by two points on a scoreline of Waterford 1–20 Tipperary 1–18.[13] It was Waterford's first semi-final win since 1963 and brought to an end a run of 5 consecutive semi-final defeats.[14]