Tipperary on course for back-to-back titles

All-Ireland MHC Semi-final/Tipperary 1-19 Kilkenny 2-12:History will be made at Croke Park on September 2nd when Cork and Tipperary meet in the first all-Munster All-Ireland minor hurling final. Tipperary set up a repeat of the teams' Munster final clash with a four-point victory over beaten Leinster finalists Kilkenny at Croke Park yesterday.

The Munster side had to come from three points behind with 18 minutes remaining to win. Shane Brennan's 42nd minute goal, followed by an Adrian Stapleton point from Kilkenny's next attack, handed the beaten Leinster finalists a 2-11 to 1-11 lead.

But Tipperary dug deep and eight unanswered points pushed them five points clear as they eventually defeated Kilkenny at the semi-final stage for the second year running.

Tipperary raced into a 1-5 to 0-2 lead after 17 minutes but managed just a single score for the rest of the half as Kilkenny took complete control, having earlier gone 14 minutes without a point themselves.

Michael Heffernan scored the Tipp goal after nine minutes when he took a fine pass from John O'Neill and fired to the net. Stapleton's 26th-minute goal hauled Kilkenny back into contention and his was a neat finish from Shane Brennan's pass.

Séamus Hennessy's point a minute later was Tipp's first score for 10 minutes but three Kilkenny points in four minutes just before half-time handed the Kilkenny a 1-7 to 1-6 interval lead.

The sides were level three times in the third quarter before Brennan struck for Kilkenny's second goal. But Tipp came with a scintillating late onslaught to remain on course for back-to-back All-Ireland crowns.

TIPPERARY: J Logue; K O'Gorman, Pádraig Maher, S O'Brien; N McGrath, J Coghlan, J Barry; M Cahill, J Gallagher; S Hennessy (0-7, 5f), C Lorigan, B Maher (0-2); J O'Neill (0-4), Patrick Maher, M Heffernan (1-3). Subs: S Carey (0-2) for Gallagher (half-time), P Murphy (0-1) for Cahill (39 mins), D O'Brien for Patrick Maher (50).

KILKENNY: C McGrath; C Fogarty, K Mooney, E Malone; J Fitzpatrick (0-1, sl), D Langton, M Bergin; P Murphy, M Fagan; J Brennan (0-2), M Moloney (0-1), M Murphy; C Fennelly, A Stapleton (1-2), S Brennan (1-6, 0-5f). Subs: O Walsh for Malone (14 mins), J Nolan for Moloney (40), T Breen for Fagan (41), D Walton for Mooney (50), C McQuillan for Langton (55).

Referee: G Devlin (Armagh)