Four players were sent off by referee Noel Cooney yesterday as the points were secured by Wexford at Lemybrien.

The players, three from Waterford - Ger Walsh, Michael Ahern and Michael Byrne - and one from Wexford - Willie Carley - were dismissed in the opening 15 minutes of the second period.

A goal by Jason Lawlor, five minutes before the break, saw Wexford go in leading by 1-4 to 0-4 at the interval.

Seven minutes after the restart, Wexford had their second goal from Pat Forde, leaving Waterford facing an impossible uphill battle.

WEXFORD: O Murphy; J Whelan, P Wallace, F Wallace; D Breen, D Murphy (0-1), P Forde (1-0); I Wickham, W Carley; D Kinsella, P Colfer, L O'Brien (0-1); J Lawlor (1-0), M Mahon, M Forde (0-6, 0-4 frees). Subs: J Hegarty (0-2) for Kinsella, B Byrne for Wickham, D Redmond for Francis Wallace, JJ Doyle for Mattie Forde, N Murphy for Whelan.

WATERFORD: P Houlihan; I Walsh, G Walsh, M Byrne; D Ryan, R Power, K Coffey; M Ahern, D Kiely; B Wall (0-2), G Walsh, S Briggs; E Doherty (0-1), D Kelleher (0-3, all frees) F Halpin. Subs: K O'Keeffe for Kiely, G Hurney (0-1) for Halpin, J Hennessy for O'Keeffe, J Hearne for Doherty, N Brennan for Briggs.

Referee: N Cooney (Offaly).