DIVISION 1B/Limerick ... 2-13 Tipperary ... 1-12: Tipperary went down in their first defence of the Allianz National Hurling League title. The All-Ireland champions hadn't lost a competitive fixture in nearly 20 months until edged out by Limerick at Semple Stadium yesterday.
In the prevailing conditions, neither of the managers will read too much into the result. Although the day started well with bright sunshine and only a strong wind spoiling the match's prospects, the weather deteriorated in the second half with freezing rain reducing exchanges to a bit of a pantomime by the end, and it was the visitors who finished better.
Nonetheless the match ended in great excitement, with Limerick establishing the lead as Tipperary tried to engineer a comeback. It was only with Stephen Lucey's fine long-range point deep into injury-time that Limerick's win was signed, sealed and delivered.
After the frustration of the opening-day defeat by Cork, Limerick will have been happy with the improvement in their finishing and glad to have avenged last summer's Munster final reverse against the same opponents.
The sharpest blade in the toolbox was the recalled Mark Keane, who finished the day with 2-7. Both goals were well taken from play and the bulk of the points came from frees. Keane wasn't exactly rampant in open play, with Thomas Costello shadowing him well for much of the match, but the big score should benefit the confidence of a player who, despite a prolific under-21 reputation, has often struggled on the senior stage.
His fortunes contrasted with Donie Ryan in the other corner of the Limerick attack. The brother of full back TJ, Ryan gave Paul Ormonde a difficult start to the afternoon and won the first four contested balls. But his tendency to break inside all the time, coupled with some indifferent shooting, meant that little came of his hard work in terms of personal statistics, although he was fouled for three of Keane's first four pointed frees.
Things were also buzzing in the opposite corners.
Liam Cahill was in good form for Tipperary and gave Jack Foley a lot of problems on the left hand side of the Limerick defence. Although he scored only a point, his combination play with both Eugene O'Neill and Eoin Kelly was a positive aspect of the team's display before the interval.
Tipperary had the benefit of the wind in the first half. Scores were tightly swapped for most of the 35 minutes, with the home side probably disappointed with the number of wides posted. Their defence - the complete All-Ireland unit - was doing fine, with Paul Kelly in form and Philip Maher playing particularly well on big Brian Begley, who had to drop very deep for his only score.
The match ignited after half an hour when Begley won a good possession and made inroads before releasing to Sean O'Connor, who placed the unmarked Keane and he crashed in the first goal for a 1-6 to 0-6 lead.
Eoin Kelly responded immediately. He cut two points off the deficit with scores from play and from a free.
A minute later, the match had turned again. Limerick's Stephen McDonagh and goalkeeper Joe Quaid appeared to have a through-ball covered but the corner back stumbled and Quaid never quite got the ball under control. It ran loose for Eugene O'Neill to scramble it into the net.
O'Neill, embarking on an attempt to replace the retired Declan Ryan at full forward, had a purple patch just before the interval, scoring 1-1 and placing Cahill for the final score of the half and a lead of 1-10 to 1-6.
Limerick narrowed the gap after the break but appeared to become overly anxious at an early stage and shot some bad wides. The arrival of John Carroll at centre forward for Tipperary gave the champions some fresh momentum and he was prominent in the opening of three-point lead, 1-12 to 1-9.
But just as the match was drifting away from Limerick, Keane delivered his second goal, pulling strongly on a loose ball when it looked as if an attack had broken down. This may have been in retrospect the game's crucial score in that it stopped Tipperary pulling away but it ushered in a scoreless period lasting nearly 15 minutes.
During that phase Tipperary became visibly annoyed at some of the frees awarded against them by referee Seán McMahon. It was one of these, converted by Keane, that finally broke the deadlock in the 63rd minute and gave Limerick the lead.
The rain fell and the contest intensified but it was Limerick who picked off the scores. Tipperary countered but a couple of uncharacteristic wides from frees by Eoin Kelly, one of which he vigorously disputed, were to be their last chances.
LIMERICK: J Quaid; S McDonagh, TJ Ryan, J Foley; M O'Brien, B Geary, M Foley (0-3, two 65s, one free); S Lucey (0-1), C Carey; S O'Connor (0-1), O Moran, J Moran; D Ryan, B Begley (0-1), M Keane (2-7, six points from frees).
TIPPERARY: B Cummins; T Costello, P Maher, P Ormonde; E Corcoran, D Kennedy, P Kelly (0-1, 65); N Morris, E Enright (0-1); M O'Leary (0-1), M Ryan, J O'Brien; L Cahill (0-1), E O'Neill (1-2), E Kelly (0-6, four frees).
Referee: S McMahon (Clare).
