Limerick edged Waterford in a titanic tussle at Dr Cullen Park to return to the Liberty Insurance All Ireland intermediate camogie final.
Last year's beaten finalists had to dig very deep to dispense with the challenge of a team that had proved a bogey side for them in recent seasons.
It was no surprise that Niamh Mulcahy played such a big role in the victory, as the Ahane sharpshooter has been a key cog in Joe Quaid's machine for a number of years now.
The 24-year-old worked the oracle once more as she contributed seven points in the 0-9 to 0-8 win, with long-serving Aoife Sheehan and minor star, Caoimhe Costelloe completing the tally.
It was a devastating loss for Waterford, who contributed so much to a stirring encounter. They fell just short however, despite the efforts of Karen Kelly, Lorraine Bray, Catriona McGlone and Trish Jackman.
Limerick will play Kilkenny in the final on September 14 after proving too strong for last year's premier junior champions Kildare, 1-16 to 0-7.
The Noresiders held the upper hand throughout although Kildare would have been happy enough with their start as a couple of points from Siobhán Hurley and another by Susie O’Carroll had them just a point behind after a quarter of an hour.
Kilkenny tagged on six points in a row with Orla Handrick, Mags Fennelly and Laura Norris contributing. Goalkeeper, Anne Marie Lennon prevented a certain goal too and they went in at the break leading by 0-9 to 0-4.
Perhaps the key moment of the game arrived two minutes after the resumption, when Melissa Lyons’ penalty was saved by Catherine Foley, who had conceded it for a foul on O’Carroll. O’Carroll and Cliodhna McSweeney did tag on points either side of an Áine Gannon score to reduce the margin to four but the winners put the game to bed with a flurry that produced a goal and six points.
Fennelly, Lydia Fitzpatrick, Handrick and Mary O’Connell contributed points to put the game to bed before Mary O’Connell provided the exclamation mark on a professional display by finding the Kildare net on the hour.
