Tipperary settle after early Clare blitz and finish strongly

UNDER-21 HURLING MUNSTER FINAL/Tipperary 1-22 Clare 1-17:TIPPERARY RECOVERED from a disastrous start to topple All-Ireland champions Clare in a thrilling provincial decider at Semple Stadium yesterday.

The 11,450 fans were treated to a spectacular contest as Clare blitzed Tipperary in the opening four minutes, hitting 1-3 without reply.

Conor McGrath got the goal in the second minute, punishing a slip by James Logue. But the Tipp goalkeeper redeemed himself minutes later with a brilliant stop off a Darach Honan effort and saved a John Conlon penalty as Clare threatened to run riot.

Tipp settled and a string of points by Séamus Hennessy, Michael Heffernan and John O’Dwyer saw them level after 20 minutes. They nudged ahead through Hennessy a minute later, and got a great boost when Heffernan netted in the 25th minute after Brian O’Meara created the chance.

At the break Tipp were 1-12 to 1-9 ahead, and with the breeze to favour them in the second half looked poised for victory.

In a cracking second half, Clare kept coming at Tipperary, but, the opening minutes apart, when Clare cut the lead to a point, Tipperary maintained a three- to four-point advantage. Four points from Paddy Murphy in the closing seven minutes set the seal on a great Tipperary win.

Though he scored only one point, senior star O’Meara, back after injury, was an inspirational figure in the Tipp attack.

Clare will be bitterly disappointed to lose their title after such a bright start.

TIPPERARY:J Logue; M Cahill, J Coghlan, K O'Gorman; J Barry, Padraic Maher, B Maher; S Hennessy (0-5, four frees), N McGrath (0-2); S Carey (0-3), Patrick Maher, P Murphy (0-5); J O'Dwyer (0-3), B O'Meara (0-1), M Heffernan (1-3). Sub: K Morris for O'Dwyer.

CLARE:D Touhy; D Nash, C Chaplin, J Gunning; P O'Connor, C Morey, L Markham; N O'Connell, S Collins; P Vaughan, J Conlon (0-1), E Hayes (0-4); F Kennedy (0-1), D Honan (0-3), C McGrath (1-8, seven frees). Subs: D O'Halloran for Vaughan; S Golden for Collins.

Referee:C McAllister (Cork).