Facing a star studded Waterford was always going to test Galway with manager Tony Ward admitting the Deise's flying start had the underdogs in severe trouble early on.

"Yeah I suppose the first two goals were really the killer," was Ward's verdict. "We would have managed conceding one maybe 14 minutes in or that. but conceding the first two was really a killer. 

"You were on the back foot straight away and I think we had a goal chance ourselves down the other end and it spilled and it came down and finished up in our net. But that’s sport isn’t it?

"Goals win matches, they got the goals and we had no answer. There’s no complaints, they best team won on the day and they deserve their under-21 title and fair play to them."

Ward praised his players for a battling second period display against a physically imposing Waterford team. "Yeah I think we brought it back to eight points at one stage, and I felt if we just got one or two more maybe the doubt would come in. But look, they were strong and they had answers everywhere all over the field.

"They are huge. Austin Gleeson, Tom Devine, DJ Foran – they are huge men. We were hoping that maybe we would get them on an off day and we would punish them a little bit and they might be showing a bit of complacency, but they didn’t. They were up for the game and fair play to them."