Munster SHC: Limerick 5-27 Tipperary 0-25
Limerick left nothing to chance by rattling five goals past an already-eliminated Tipperary in front of 29,069 fans at TUS Gaelic Grounds to book their eighth successive Munster final appearance.
It was the Treaty’s highest goals tally against their neighbours since scoring 6-7 in the 1973 Munster final, with braces for Aidan O’Connor (2-7) and Aaron Gillane (2-0). It also tied their record championship win over the Blue and Gold of 17 points, dating back to 1947.
Limerick further extended their dominance against Tipp to 14 games without defeat. John Kiely’s men closed with 13 different scorers and still tallied 17 wides. They will face Cork in the provincial decider at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday, June 7th, at 2pm.
Tipp end without a championship win for the fourth time since the round-robin system was inaugurated in 2018. The margin of defeat saw them slip behind Waterford to finish last for the third time in five years.
READ MORE
Kiely made two late changes as captain Cian Lynch was restored to start in place of Shane O’Brien. At the back, Mike Casey replaced Barry Nash.
If Gillane was irked by being held scoreless against Waterford, he got it out of his system within 13 seconds here. William O’Donoghue delivered the ball into the full-forward line and Gillane rounded Ronan Maher to bounce home for a green flag.
Conor Stakelum struck with a brace, but Limerick soon reeled off 1-5 without reply.
The second goal arrived in the seventh minute. Bryan O’Mara initially blocked a goal chance for the wide-open Gillane, but from the resulting 65, O’Connor’s mishit travelled untouched to the net. Mike Casey came forward to complete the scoring streak for 2-6 to 0-3.
Robert Doyle had been switched onto Gillane and his block triggered a Tipp uplift for four consecutive points, with Noel McGrath and Stefan Tobin off the mark.
Another four-point streak soon followed. Tobin flashed a half-chance over the bar and Maher charged out of defence for a long-range effort. An Eoghan Connolly free made it a one-score game, 2-9 to 0-12.
Peter Casey was the ninth Limerick player off the mark before half-time as they led 2-12 to 0-14 at the interval.
They took a major leap towards the finish line in the 37th minute. Cathal O’Neill released a charging Kyle Hayes, who was taken down from behind by Connolly. The Cashel man was sin-binned and Diarmaid Byrnes stepped up to bury the sliotar into the top corner, leaving Rhys Shelly rooted to the spot.
They had goal number four in the 43rd minute. O’Connor gathered Darragh O’Donovan’s ball in, sidestepped O’Mara, and blasted low past the keeper for 4-14 to 0-16.
A superb Stakelum point saw Tipp end the black-card period 2-2 to 0-3 in arrears.
In the 51st minute, the Treaty added their fifth goal as Gillane collected O’Donovan’s delivery, twisted past O’Mara, and fired his second to the roof of the net.
O’Brien twice threatened a sixth goal, robbed by Oisín O’Donoghue for one and whizzing the second over, while Tom Morrissey added 0-4 off the bench.
LIMERICK: N Quaid; S Finn, D Morrissey, M Casey (0-1); D Byrnes (1-3, 1-0pen, 2f), W O’Donoghue, K Hayes; A English (0-1), D O’Donovan (0-1); G Hegarty (0-2), C Lynch (0-2), C O’Neill (0-2); A O’Connor (2-7, 1-0′65, 5f), A Gillane (2-0), P Casey (0-1). Subs: B Nash (0-1) for M Casey (h-t), T Morrissey (0-4) for English, D Reidy for P Casey (both 48 mins), S O’Brien (0-2) for Gillane (58), C Coughlan for Hayes (61).
TIPPERARY: R Shelly; R Doyle, R Maher (0-1), B O’Mara; K Ryan, O O’Donoghue, S Kennedy; E Connolly (0-4, two frees), C Stakelum (0-3); A Tynan, D McCarthy (0-7f), N McGrath (0-2); J Morris (0-3), J McGrath, S Tobin (0-3). Subs: S O’Farrell (0-1) for Tynan (42 mins), J Caesar for Kennedy (45), M Breen for N McGrath (50), P McCormack (0-1) for J McGrath (54), J Ormond for McCarthy (61), B McGrath for Ryan (69, temp).
Referee: C Lyons (Cork).
