Cork 1-18, Waterford 1-13: At this level an inch is as good as a mile so it's hardly consolation to Waterford that the five-point margin at the end of yesterday's Guinness All-Ireland hurling quarter-final wrongs them and misrepresents a taut and absorbing match that only relaxed into clarity in the dying minutes.
There's equally no point in denying Cork's merit and the champions' advance to the penultimate stage of their title defence was deserved. But this was a fine match in the tradition that the counties have established in recent years.
Once more Waterford were a little hexed, in this case by the injury to Paul Flynn that almost totally restricted his mobility and certainly ruled out the astonishing heroics he had produced on his last business trip to Croke Park for the semi-final with Kilkenny just under 12 months ago.
Flynn took five points from dead-ball situations but, whether through injury or not, didn't seem as ruthless from close in frees.
Although one did lead indirectly to a goal, he was less ready than usual to pull out the sidewinders within 30 metres' range. His immobility was well exploited by Diarmuid O'Sullivan who played a sensible, disciplined game - using the opportunity to choose his clearances without losing track of what was going on inside.
But Cork's abiding strength is the resolve of their game plan. Yesterday as the match stayed worryingly in sight but out of grasp for much of the second half, the holders stuck to what they do and implicitly trusted in their ability to redress the situation.
It wasn't until the 63rd minute that their cool confidence paid off with the score that broke Waterford. The sides were level at 0-15 to 1-12 when Jerry O'Connor launched a high ball into the opposition goal. It fell just short and was nudged back by Joe Deane - a telling touch by the corner forward who was otherwise excellently marked by Eoin Murphy throughout the afternoon - for Brian Corcoran to pick up.
He still had work to do and dummied the closing cover with a drop shot that arrowed precisely into the right hand corner of Clinton Hennessy's net. Ironically on an afternoon when Waterford could say that they had located a goalkeeper capable of unfussy play without glitches, they conceded a goal that little could have been done to prevent.
It also meant that Waterford trailed for the first time in almost 50 minutes. Corcoran's score was the starter in a final sequence that saw the winners out score their challengers by 1-3 to 0-1, thus defining the final margin.
Once more, though, Justin McCarthy's team put it up to Cork and cast the shadow of a possible upset across the match. His switches contributed to the team's strong performance, with Séamus Prendergast outstanding at centre forward, posing a physical challenge to Ronan Curran and hitting 0-4 from play in the process.
Ken McGrath started at centre back and played a key role in a much improved defence where he and his line colleagues Tony Browne and James Murray raised a few of the old doubts about the Cork half forwards' ball-winning capacity.
The problem was that apart from some fine long-range scores and Flynn's frees, Prendergast was the only consistent scoring threat. Dan Shanahan was once again on hand to poach a goal - reacting quickly when Flynn's 17th-minute free was blocked on the line - but couldn't add to it whereas John Mullane, despite putting enormous heart into his performance, again struggled to reach the highs of 2003 and could only manage a point.
Then again Waterford's attack scored more from play than Cork's but the champions were more methodical and adept at getting scores when needed.
Once more the winners indulged their taste for playing short ball and can point to the strong wind that gusted into them in the first half but when they want to, Cork are creative under early ball - as demonstrated by the goal and also a first-half chance that might have earned a penalty rather than the close-in free converted by Deane.
They also benefited from some superb long-range free taking by John Gardiner who again with his captain Seán Ó hAilpín, was calmness personified at the back and when needed, up front as well.
Having gone in trailing by just one, 0-9 to 1-7, Cork knew they had the breeze to come and would have felt nicely placed on their opponents' shoulder. But Waterford refused to budge and going into the final quarter still led by two.
One critical turnaround happened with 15 minutes to go. Eoin Kelly, in subdued form all afternoon, had a chance of the sort of point he takes without looking on his good days. Instead, he was blocked by Ben O'Connor who ended the sequence by pointing a free to cut the margin to one.
Shortly afterwards Ó hAilpín took control of the situation and finding himself in a bit of space swung over what he claimed afterwards was his first championship point for the county. Two minutes later Gardiner knocked over a whopping free only 55 metres from his own goal.
Cork led and Waterford's momentum didn't recover despite a feisty equaliser from Prendergast.
In the space of the 10 minutes that followed Cork made the match safe.
John Allen and his selectors will be happy with some aspects of the display but will also know that there is room for improvement. Cork are now in the semi-finals where they will face Clare and know that they have every chance of reaching a third successive final for the first time in over 20 years.
CORK: 1. D Cusack; 2. P Mulcahy, 3. D O'Sullivan, 4. B Murphy; 5. J Gardiner (0-3, all frees), 6. R Curran, 7. S Ó hAilpín (capt; 0-1); 8. T Kenny (0-1), 9. J O'Connor (0-1); 10. B O'Connor (0-4, two frees, '65), 11. N McCarthy, 12. T McCarthy; 13. K Murphy (Sarsfields; 0-1), 14. B Corcoran (1-1), 15. J Deane (0-5, four frees). Subs: 20. N Ronan (0-1) for T McCarthy (54 mins), 21. K Murphy (Erin's Own) for N McCarthy (56 mins), 17. C O'Connor for Curran (73 mins).
WATERFORD: 1. C Hennessy; 2. T Feeney, 3. F Hartley, 7. E Murphy; 5. T Browne (0-1), 6. K McGrath (0-1, free), 4. J Murray; 8. D Bennett (0-1), 11. M Walsh; 9. E Kelly, 14. S Prendergast (0-4), 10. D Shanahan (1-0); 13. J Mullane (0-1), 12. P Flynn (0-5, frees), 15. J Kennedy. Subs: 24. P O'Brien for Kennedy (54 mins), 25. P Foley for Flynn (61 mins).
Referee: B Kelly (Westmeath)
Attendance: 55,587
