Round-up: Electric Ireland Munster MHC action
Tipperary Captain Conor Collins and Waterford Captain Andrew Power with referee Niall Fahy before their Electric Ireland Munster Minor Hurling Championship clash. Photo courtesy of Tipperary GAA.
Electric Ireland Munster MHC round 5
Cork 0-18 Limerick 2-21
Waterford 1-17 Tipperary 3-17
Limerick will face Tipperary in next Friday’s Electric Ireland Munster MHC final after securing a nine-point victory away to Cork at Páirc Uí Rinn.
The Premier, meanwhile, completed a perfect round-robin record, beating Waterford by six points at Cappoquin Logistics Fraher Field.
With little to separate the other four teams, the Treaty’s second win was enough to leapfrog the Rebels on the head-to-head tiebreaker.
They hadn’t beaten Cork at this grade since 2020, but the early signs were promising. Shane Waters, who ended with 0-7, Diarmuid Crowe, Ryan Foley, and Daire Long helped themselves to a couple of points each in the first half as Limerick built a 0-14 to 0-8 half-time lead.
The accuracy of free-taker Bobby Power was keeping Cork in touch. The opening two points of the second half took his personal tally to 0-7.
Four points remained the difference until the three-quarter mark. At that juncture, Crowe caught a puck-out and released advancing midfielder Xavier Nelligan into space to bounce the sliotar home for 1-16 to 0-12.
William Ryan’s brilliant diving block prevented an immediate Callum Coffey response.
Cork sub Ryan Cagney had four second-half points, but the game was up in the 55th minute. Gavin O’Brien picked a breaking ball and Crowe’s deceptive shot found the net.
A rotated Tipp team had already bagged top spot, but kept the foot down with a 3-17 to 1-17 victory in Waterford.
Rían McGrath notched two goals, with the first, created by Conor Kennedy, putting some daylight between the sides after 18 minutes. Tipp added the next four points, including two from Josh Moroney, for 1-9 to 0-5.
Waterford gained a lifeline in first-half stoppage time with a super strike from the speedy Cian Delaney. Moroney’s third made it 1-11 to 1-6 at the interval.
Delaney helped Waterford to get back within two points until McGrath tidied away the rebound from a John O’Meara shot in the 48th minute.
Tipp led by 2-15 to 1-13, but Delaney’s fourth point and Dylan Murphy’s seventh made it a one-score game entering three minutes of added time.
As Waterford peppered the Tipp goal, Moroney broke away to swerve past two defenders and apply the green-flag flourish to his 1-4 total.
