‘We’ll plan without Bubbles, at least we’ll be back to 15’

For all the poetry of the Munster championship at the height of summer this was strictly prose.

The miserable, wet weather didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the 25,531 crowd but it was a day more to be endured than enjoyed.

It looked like even endurance might be beyond Tipperary after they lost John O'Dwyer to a 14th-minute red card so manager Michael Ryan was well satisfied to be reacting to a semi-final win when the whistle blew.

Great composure

“Absolutely. I’m thrilled for all the lads. They showed great composure and character out there, which you’d need to show regardless for a win over Limerick in a Munster semi-final – whether it was 14 or 15.

“These guys are mature. We all acknowledge that. The core have been there since 2009-10, playing for Tipp. They’ve a lot of experience, and a lot of hard experience.”

He said that they would cope without O’Dwyer, who is likely to be suspended for the final against Waterford but acknowledged that he would be a loss.

“He will. Ye know the rules – that’s a match [suspension]? Fair enough. We’ll plan without Bubbles, but at least we’ll be back to 15. I can name at least 11 in there who’ll be delighted one of them will get on the team.”

Inability

His namesake and counterpart, Limerick manager TJ Ryan was frustrated and disappointed at the inability to turn an extra man for the best part of an hour into a winning outcome.

“I’d say today was definitely a lost opportunity. We couldn’t beat them; that’s the opportunity that was there.

“The flipside of that was we conceded the goals before that so they had a good platform at the start. Conceding three goals in the first half makes it very hard to win games.”