The 2009 Munster Senior Hurling Championship final was a hurling match played on 12 July 2009 at Semple Stadium, Thurles, County Tipperary. It was contested by Tipperary and Waterford. Tipperary claimed their third Munster Championship of the decade, beating Waterford on a scoreline of 4–14 to 2–16, a 4-point winning margin. Overall, this was Tipperary's thirty eighth Munster Senior Hurling Championship.

Previous Munster Final encounters Previous to this encounter, the teams had met each other in six Munster Hurling Finals, with Tipperary edging the rivalry with four wins in comparison to Waterford's two wins. The most recent Munster Final involving both teams was in 2002, with Waterford winning on a scoreline of 2–23 to 3–12. The match was notable for the fact that Waterford won their first Munster Championship in thirty-nine years.

Date Venue Tipperary score Waterford score Match report 23 August 1925 Fraher Field, Dungarvan 6–06 (24) 1–02 (5) 6 July 1958 Semple Stadium, Thurles 4–12 (24) 1–05 (8) 5 August 1962 Gaelic Grounds, Limerick 5–14 (29) 2–03 (9) 28 July 1963 Gaelic Grounds, Limerick 0–08 (8) 0–11 (11) 2 July 1989 Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Cork 0–26 (26) 2–08 (14) Irish Times 30 June 2002 Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Cork 3–12 (21) 2–23 (29)

GAA 125th Anniversary Special events were held in Thurles to mark the 125th anniversary of the GAA on the weekend of the match. Most notable of these special events was a torch procession from the birthplace of Michael Cusack, Carran, County Clare to Hayes' Hotel in Thurles (founding place of the GAA). On the day of the match, the torch was brought from Hayes' Hotel to Semple Stadium. The torch was brought onto the pitch by former Tipperary hurler, Jimmy Doyle.

Team selection Tipperary manager Liam Sheedy named an unchanged team from the semi-final win over Clare for the Munster Senior Hurling Championship final clash with Waterford. For Waterford, Tony Browne came in at wing-back for Richie Foley, Aidan Kearney took Kevin Moran's spot on the other wing. Moran moved to midfield to allow Stephen Molumphy switch to centre forward.

Match Summary

Details

TIPPERARY:1 Brendan Cummins2 Paddy Stapleton3 Paul Curran 4 Conor O'Brien5 Declan Fanning6 Conor O'Mahony   7 Pádraic Maher8 James Woodlock 9 Shane McGrath10 Pat Kerwick 11 Séamus Callanan12 John O'Brien 13 Noel McGrath14 Eoin Kelly 15 Lar CorbettSubstitutes:16 Darren Gleeson17 Pa Bourke18 Éamonn Buckley19 Michael Cahill20 John Devane21 Benny Dunne 22 Seamus Hennessy   23 Paul Kelly24 Brendan Maher 25 Patrick Maher26 Hugh Maloney 27 Gearóid Ryan28 Willie Ryan (c) 29 Thomas Stapleton30 Micheál Webster Manager: Liam SheedyWATERFORD:1 Clinton Hennessy2 Eoin Murphy3 Declan Prendergast4 Noel Connors5 Tony Browne   6 Michael Walsh7 Aidan Kearney8 Kevin Moran 9 Shane O'Sullivan10 Seamus Prendergast 11 Stephen Molumphy (c)   12 Jamie Nagle 13 John Mullane14 Eoin Kelly15 Jack Kennedy Substitutes:16 Adrian Power17 Richie Foley 18 Dan Shanahan 19 Eoin McGrath 20 Maurice Shanahan 21 Jerome Maher22 James Murray23 Shane Walsh24 Shane Casey25 Thomas Ryan26 Mark O'Brien27 John Hurney28 Thomas Connors29 Shane Fives30 Bryan PhelanManager: Davy FitzGerald

Man of the Match: John Mullane

Linesmen: Barry Kelly (Westmeath) Anthony Stapleton (Laois)

Sideline Official David Hughes (Carlow)

Umpires Michael Copps John Wall Richard Troy Michael O'Kelly

Post-match reaction Waterford manager Davy FitzGerald was unhappy with his teams defending before half time, "the goal before half-time, and the one after, were bad errors, mistakes we made, But fair play to Tipp, they were in control of the game for a lot of it. Tipp have been coming a long time. And they'll be hard beaten. Their work ethic is very good. You can't make mistakes and expect to win" he said.

Tipperary manager Liam Sheedy conceded that Waterford outhurled Tipperary for much of the Final, "We're down to the last four and we're delighted to be there, We have to be fair and honest, Waterford outhurled us for long patches and we were tipping the odd point here and there, Overall, we came here to win, we've won and we're delighted to be back in Croke Park" he said. Midfielder Shane McGrath claimed that Tipperary were a more rounded team than in 2008, "I think we're more of a team this year than last year - we train a lot harder, we've put in a lot more. We're a closer team, You don't win anything unless you're a close team and friends. At the end of the day, we're all friends and we'll all plug away for each other" he said.

References

External links Match details at Hurlingstats.com