An inspirational Waterford soared to a first All-Ireland minor hurling title in 12 years as they overpowered Clare by 1-18 to 0-10 in front of 16,411 fans at FBD Semple Stadium.
With only an injury-time burst separating the sides in Dungarvan two months previously, this time Waterford led from start to finish to record their biggest victory of the campaign when needed most.
Such determination was epitomised by top scorer Cormac Spain, who despite getting injured in the opening minutes, managed to not only last the entire hour but score an impressive 11-point tally in the process to top up his side's advantage throughout.
Shane Power, Gearoid O’Shea, and a miserly full-back unit of Darragh Keane, Conor Lynch and Darragh Murphy also excelled to frustrate their opponents.
James O’Connor’s side couldn’t have asked for a better start when an opening-minute delivery was collected by Dylan Murphy, who offloaded to Pierce Quann to find the net.
Accentuated by points for Spain and Power, the Deise found themselves five points clear after only three minutes, a lead they would maintain thanks to a timely block from Keane on a Liam Murphy shot down the other end.
Spain went down twice for treatment on his leg but still dominated on the scoreboard, raiding for six second-quarter points, including seeing a point-blank shot tipped over the bar by goalkeeper Leon Talty to power a wind-assisted Waterford to a 1-12 to 0-05 interval cushion.
Clare did rally on the resumption with the first three points through substitute John Barry and Ian O’Brien to lower the arrears to seven by the 35th minute.
However, that would be as close as the 2023 champions got to Waterford, who fittingly got back on track thanks to talisman Spain.
Dylan Murphy had a goal attempt denied by Evan Crimmins, while Talty again repelled a Spain effort.
However, a four-point unanswered blitz entering the final 10 minutes – three from the stick of Spain – put the result beyond any doubt as Waterford ended their hurling famine with only a fourth minor crown.
Waterford: James Comerford; Darragh Keane, Conor Lynch, Darragh Murphy; Bradley Penkert, Hugo Quann, Tommy Kennedy (0-01); Éanna McHugh (0-01), Gearoid O’Shea; (0-02) Shane Power (0-03), Jack Power, Pierce Quann (1-00); Jamie Shanahan, Dylan Murphy, Cormac Spain (0-11, 0-07f)
Clare: Leon Talty; Niall Doyle, Jack O’Halloran, Zak Phelan; Evan Crimmins, Dara Kennedy, Colm Daly; Graham Ball (0-01, 0-01f), Evan Cleary; Ian O’Brien (0-01), Rory Ralph, James O’Donnell; Ben Talty (0-01), Paul Rodgers (0-02, 1f, 1’65), Liam Murphy (0-02)
Subs: John Barry (0-03, 0-03f) for Ralph (29), Gavin Marshall for B Talty (45), Darragh Murrihy (0-01) for Cleary (52), Jake Gibbons for O’Donnell (60), Donncha Mahon for Murphy (63)
