Limerick produce big finish to burn off Tipperary’s gutsy challenge

Limerick 3-21 Tipperary 0-23

The expected outcome at Limerick’s TUS Gaelic Grounds only emerged late in the contest but once the home side clicked into gear there was no way back for Tipperary.

The visitors were disappointed to have resisted so strenuously that they were level in the 65th minute but to lose the endgame as emphatically as 0-3 to 2-4.

The champions' manager John Kiely acknowledged afterwards that they had struggled for a long time to hit their stride but was relieved at how strongly they had finished to – all but – rub out their opponents' prospects of progressing in the championship.

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“Three-quarters of the way through the game, Tipp had been the better team up to that point but the boys coming off the bench made a substantial contribution and that was the difference in the end in terms of who won the game.

“All told, we’d be disappointed with an awful lot of our performance today – it lacked the intensity we’d associated with our play. It was just a smidgen off but having said that, credit has to be given to Tipperary, who brought huge aggression and intensity to the game in the first 45 minutes.

“They were sharper; they were crisper today and the bottom line is we struggled with them at times.”

What was notable about the Tipp challenge was how they had contested on such a physical level, an arena in which few are equipped to survive let alone thrive with the champions.

They battled around the middle and disputed so energetically that Limerick weren’t able to establish their customary grip to the point that Will O’Donoghue didn’t have his usual galvanic impact on centrefield.

Conor Stakelum was excellent and they kept the scores coming through Noel McGrath's accuracy from the placed ball and Ger Browne's sniping, which delivered three points from play within the first 20 minutes.

This unscheduled resistance, which for a long time threatened the biggest surprise in Munster since Cork's successful raid three years ago, was undaunted by a Limerick goal, a Patrickswell special, the assist delivered by Diarmaid Byrnes and the finish inevitably from Aaron Gillane, who lost Séamus Kennedy in the eighth minute and pushed them 1-4 to 0-3 ahead.

Yet, Tipperary were level by the 23rd minute. Mark Kehoe's run and a block on Paul Flynn left the ball running for McGrath to float over the equaliser, 0-9 to 1-6. Limerick were now under pressure, as could be seen in the uncertain shooting that saw them rack up nine wides in the first half. Michael Breen had another goal chance for Tipp but shot straight at Nickie Quaid.

Goal chances

Cathal O’Neill relieved a scoring drought, by now running at quarter of an hour in the 29th minute and added an equaliser two minutes later. The in-demand under-20 hurt his ankle and hadn’t managed to run it off a few minutes into the second half and was replaced.

Most in the home-dominated crowd of 27,111 were expecting a thunderous second half from the champions. After all, the most recent meetings between the counties had been one-way affairs – allowing for last year’s extraordinary Munster final in which Tipp lost a 10-point half-time lead.

Add in Colm Bonnar’s injury-list and the absence of half the team that had built the above lead and the lack of faith was understandable and maybe in a way it was vindicated by the seven-point win but Limerick couldn’t bend the match to their will in the same manner as they had those previous encounters.

Tipperary continued to hustle. McGrath continued to pot his frees and Jake Morris fired a couple of points to maintain the lead. And goal chances were still presenting themselves but in quick succession Quaid kept out Kehoe and Breen poked a loose ball tantalisingly beyond the goalkeeper – but also just wide.

One symptom of the pressure on Limerick was a familiar loss of discipline. As in last year's Munster final, top gun Aaron Gillane was lucky to escape a red card when he swung wildly at Ronan Maher, who had a fine match in the Tipp rearguard, minding Kyle Hayes, and referee Liam Gordon showed him yellow.

The same might be said of Darragh O’Donovan, who was similarly punished for what looked like a jab on Jake Morris.

The Limerick bench made a difference, however, and their opponents began to tread water. The champions’ defence reasserted itself – Seán Finn’s sharpness unblunted as the challenge started to fade.

Replacement David Reidy scored the point that pushed them ahead in the 65th minute and they moved three clear. The coup de grace came in the 68th minute. Gearóid Hegarty moved a considered pass up to Séamus Flanagan, the All Star making his first appearance of the championship as a sub, and he in turn found another of the auxiliaries Conor Boylan, who fired in the second goal.

There was time for O’Donovan to drop another ball in on Tipp’s beleaguered defence for Gillane to take the ball from Cathal Barrett and plant the third goal to complete Limerick’s scoring.

They move on to the last group match with Clare next weekend, already qualified and in the happy position of choosing which route they want to take on their latest defence of an All-Ireland.

LIMERICK: 1 N Quaid; 2 S Finn, 3 M Casey, 4 B Nash (0-1); 5 D Byrnes (0-3, two frees, one 65), 6 D Hannon (capt; 0-1), 7 D Morrissey; 8 D O'Donovan (0-2), 9 W O'Donoghue; 10 G Hegarty (0-1), 11 C O'Neill (0-2), 12 T Morrissey (0-4); 13 A Gillane (2-5, four frees), 14 K Hayes, 15 G Mulcahy (0-1).

Subs: 22 S Flanagan for O'Neill (40 mins), 25 D Reidy (0-1) for O'Donoghue (55), 18 C Boylan (1-0) for Mulcahy (59), 21 R English for D Morrissey (68), 24 O O'Reilly for Hayes (69).

TIPPERARY: 1 B Hogan; 2 C Barrett, 6 R Maher (capt), 4 C Morgan; 8 P Cadell, 7 S Kennedy, 3 B Heffernan (0-1); 5 D Quirke, 10 C Stakelum; 13 J Morris (0-3), 11 N McGrath (0-13, nine frees, two 65s, one lineball), 9 M Breen; 12 G Browne (0-3), 14 M Kehoe (0-1), 15 P Flynn (0-1).

Subs: 18 R Byrne (0-1) for Quirke (35 mins), 17 C Bowe for Cadell (48), 23 D McCormack for Browne (64), 20 A Flynn for Stakelum (69).

Referee: Liam Gordon (Galway).