Tipperary retain minor title with emphatic win over Limerick

Tipperary 1-24 Limerick 0-10

Tipperary romped to Munster minor hurling championship glory against 14-man Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds on Sunday afternoon.

The Premier County, managed by Liam Cahill, retained their provincial crown with a crushing 17-point success.

A disastrous couple of minutes early in the second half saw Limerick concede a brilliant goal to Tipp's leading scorer Jake Morris before corner back Brian Nash was sent off for a second bookable offence.

It was a procession from there until the finish for Tipp, who had nine different scorers on target by full time.

Morris bagged 1-4 for Tipp while Lyndon Fairbrother collected 0-7, including four points from play.

The writing was on the wall for Limerick from a long way out as Tipp looked the more fluent outfit.

At half-time, Tipp led by 0-13 to 0-7, with Fairbrother, Morris and Mark Kehoe prominent.

Limerick managed just six points from play on the day and that was never going to be good enough against a free-flowing Tipp.

The sending-off ended any hope of a Limerick revival and they were even denied a consolation goal late on.

Sub Aaron Kennedy put the ball in the net but referee Rory McGann had already signalled for a 20m free, which was diverted out for a '65.

Tipp have come a long way in a short space of time under Cahill and watching them in action this afternoon, it’s almost remarkable to think that they lost their championship opener to Waterford.

But a do-or-die victory over Clare set Tipp up for a crack at Cork in the semi-final, a game they won at Páirc Uí Rinn, and their season opened up. TIPPERARY: C Barrett; J Cahill, M Whelan, K O'Dwyer; T Murphy, B McGrath (0-3, two frees), C Flanagan; P Cadell, G Browne (0-2); C Darcy, J Morris (1-4), R Doody (0-1); C English (0-1), M Kehoe (0-2), L Fairbrother (0-7, three frees).

Subs: D Walsh (0-3) for English (27 mins), S Neville (0-1) for Darcy (49 mins), C Stakelum for Doody (temp, 53 mins), G Dunne for Flanagan (59 mins), K Breen for Murphy (60 mins).

LIMERICK: M O'Kelly; B Nash, R Connelly, B Timmons; J Adams, F Hourigan, M O'Grady; D Carroll, J Flynn (0-1); B Ryan, K Hayes (0-2), C Boylan (0-2); P O'Brien (0-3, frees), C Magnier Flynn (0-1), C Nicholas.

Subs: J Boylan for Timmons (19 mins), D Woulfe for Ryan (36 mins), A Kennedy (0-1) for O'Brien (36 mins), C McCarthy for Adams (40 mins), A Barrett for O'Grady (53 mins). Referee: R McGann (Clare).