Tipperary players, from left, Noel McGrath, Ronan Maher and Seamus Kennedy after the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Round 3 match between Clare and Tipperary at Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg in Ennis, Clare. Photo by John Sheridan/Sportsfile.
Munster Senior Hurling Championship
Tipperary 4-18 Clare 2-21
By Eoin Brennan at Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chiosóg
An already unpredictable Munster Senior Hurling Championship round-robin series took another major twist in a capacity Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chiosóg in Ennis after a relieved Tipperary finished the stronger to edge a real rollercoaster ride.
With only the victor able to vie for a Munster Final spot, the Premier initially grasped their opportunity with both hands with four goals in 17 first half minutes through John McGrath (2) and Andrew Ormond (2) seemingly putting this derby to bed as Liam Cahill’s side soared twelve points clear by the 27th minute.
Clare’s powers of recovery had survived an identical deficit in their opening round tie against Cork and the hosts remarkably managed to somehow repeat the dose as a Mark Rodgers major before the break and a Tony Kelly penalty entering the final quarter proved the catalyst for a full Banner recovery by the 63rd minute at 4-14 to 2-20.
However, despite the wind in their sails and at their backs, Clare just seemed to have nothing left in the tank to see out victory as instead a Tipperary revival of four unanswered points through John McGrath, Jason Forde, Eoghan Connolly and substitute Sean Kenneally to finally cement their first victory of the campaign.
In hindsight, for the second successive home tie, the All-Ireland champions gave themselves too much to do as while they looked very porous in a patched up defence that was without John Conlon, Conor Cleary and Diarmuid Ryan in the opening half, at the other end, they managed to mount a twelve point reprieve with their entire forward line only scoring 1-4 from play.
Contrast that to 4-8 from Tipperary’s attacking division and it tells its own tale about Tipperary’s superior threat despite 13 wides.
Indeed, there was a period in the opening half when every Tipperary attack looked to be a likely goal chance as John McGrath’s opening strike after only six minutes should have been doubled a minute later only for the Loughmore-Castleiney star to fire just over the bar.
A second goal did arrive in the 12th minute through Andrew Ormond but home goalkeeper Eibhear Quilligan did superbly to prevent Jake Morris from adding to that goal tally twice, the second of which would be finished from the rebound by poacher Ormond.
By then John McGrath had cut in from the right corner and also doubled his goal tally on their way to a facile 4-6 to 0-6 cushion by the 27th minute.
Clare meanwhile couldn’t buy an ounce of fortune as David Reidy was thwarted twice in front of the posts before finally turning provider for Mark Rodgers to catch on the turn and fire to the right corner of the net to lessen the half-time damage to nine at 4-9 to 1-9.
That goal did ignite Clare’s belief that another miraculous backlash could be on the cards as with the wind now at their backs, the Banner resumed with a hat-trick of Rodgers frees to immediately lower the arrears to just six.
That margin would still separate the sides by the turn of the final quarter though. Cue captain Tony Kelly to alter the narrative once more though as he converted a free, set up Sean Rynne for a point before earning and emphatically finishing a 55th minute penalty to the top right corner of Rhys Shelly’s net to leave only the minimum between the neighbours at 4-13 to 2-18.
It took until Mark Rodgers’ 63rd minute free to finally regain full parity but it would prove the final kick from the war-weary hosts as Tipperary dusted themselves down and admirably wrestled back full control for the remainder with a four point flourish.
It means that Tipperary have a chance to reach a first Munster decider in four years if they can build on this victory at home to Waterford next weekend while the All-Ireland champions’ title defence is hanging by the thinnest of threads.
Scorers for Tipperary: John McGrath 2-3; Jason Forde 0-8 (6f, 1’65); Andrew Ormond 2-1; Jake Morris, Eoghan Connolly (2f) 0-2 each; Craig Morgan, Sean Kenneally 0-1 each
Scorers for Clare: Mark Rodgers 1-13 (13f); Tony Kelly 1-1 (1-0 Pen, 1f); Sean Rynne 0-3; Ryan Taylor 0-2; Cathal Malone, Peter Duggan 0-1 each
Tipperary: Rhys Shelly; Michael Breen, Eoghan Connolly, Robert Doyle; Ronan Maher, Craig Morgan, Bryan O’Mara; Sam O’Farrell, Alan Tynan; Conor Stakelum, Andrew Ormond, Noel McGrath; John McGrath, Jake Morris, Jason Forde
Subs: Oisin O’Donoghue for Stakelum (46), Seamus Kennedy for Maher (56-58, BS), Willie Connors for N. McGrath (58), Kennedy for O’Farrell (62), Darragh Stakelum for Tynan (62, inj), Sean Kenneally for Forde (66)
Clare: Eibhear Quilligan; Darragh Lohan, Adam Hogan, Conor Leen; Daithi Lohan, David McInerney, Cian Galvin; Cathal Malone, Ryan Taylor; Sean Rynne, David Reidy, Peter Duggan; Tony Kelly, Mark Rodgers, Shane Meehan
Subs: Rory Hayes for Leen (19, inj), Shane O’Donnell for Meehan (44), David Fitzgerald for Rynne (58), Ian Galvin for Reidy (62), John Conlon for Daithi Lohan (67)
Referee: James Owens (Wexford)
