Munster Senior Hurling Championship

LIMERICK 1-23 TIPPERARY 2-14

By John Harrington at the Gaelic Grounds

Limerick hurling’s boys for the future are now very much the men of the present.

Today’s six-point win over Tipperary in the first round of the Munster Hurling Championship proves beyond any doubt that they are serious contenders for championship honours this year.

Victory was sealed with an impressive burst of scoring in the closing minutes, but they were the hungrier, stronger, and more dangerous looking team for most of the contest.

In truth, it was an average enough game for long stretches with both teams seemingly over-coiled by tension.

The first-touch, shooting, and general decision making wasn’t of the quality you would have expected, especially in the first half.

Aaron Gillane summed up this malaise more than anyone in the opening minutes.

He had the beating of marker Donagh Maher whenever the ball was hit his way, but he skewed one early chance very badly wide, and then missed a close-range free he’d normally hit in his sleep.

Limerick led by 0-3 to 0-2 after a scrappy opening seven minutes, and the standard of play then dropped even further as neither side managed another point for the next seven minutes until Jason Forde landed a free for Tipp.

Forde’s free-taking would prove to be a real life-line for Tipperary in the first-half.

From play they struggled to make much headway against a very committed Limerick defence, but sometimes those Limerick defenders, especially full-back Seamus Hickey, were over-committed and prone to giving away cheap frees which were meat and drink for the accurate Forde.

The first really decisive blow of the match was struck by Tipperary after 19 minutes when Dan McCormack goaled, and it was prefaced by the most intense passage of play yet as both sets of players thundered into a series of really physical contests for possession on the ’45 yard line.

Eventually Tipp midfielder Billy McCarthy won possession and rode a very meaty shoulder before angling a delivery across the Limerick ’21 to John McGrath who did brilliantly to execute a one-handed first-time pull on the ball as it threatened to go beyond him.

His shot pinged against the Limerick upright and bounced into the path of the onrushing McCormack who drove it to the net with a perfectly executed first-time pull.

Limerick’s reaction to that set-back was a positive one. Forwards like Gillane, Tom Morrissey, and Graeme Mulcahy in particular started to win their individual battles and the points began racking up.

Two in quick succession by Cian Lynch and Seamus Flanagan edged Limerick 0-10 to 1-6 ahead by the 29th minute, but much of their work at one end of the field was being undone by indiscipline at the other.

Three more converted frees by Forde kept Tipp ticking over, and when the half-time whistle blew they took a 1-10 to 0-12 lead to the dressing-room after a tight, tense 37 minutes of hurling.

The message in the Limerick dressing-room at half-time was surely that they had been the better team, they just needed to cut out the silly frees.

If it was, it was heeded by the Limerick players. In the second-half they got stuck into the Tipperary forwards with the same gusto as they had in the first half, but now the aggression was more controlled.

Without the lifeline of frees that had kept them afloat in the first half, Tipperary began listing badly.

Limerick’s half-back line were totally dominant and as they sent ball after ball scudding into their forwards the pressure eventually started to tell on the score-board.

Three Limerick points in a row put them 0-18 to 1-12 ahead, but then their momentum was temporarily halted when Jason Forde struck a brilliant goal for Tipperary against the run of play to level the game up again.

Limerick suddenly seemed afflicted by doubt and went ten minutes without a score as Noel McGrath edged Tipp in front – 2-13 to 0-18 - with a nice point from play.

Perhaps another heavy blow would have toppled Limerick at this point in the game, but Tipperary just didn’t have the wherewithal to deliver it.

Instead, Limerick rediscovered their self-belief and had the energy and quality to decisively dominate the final 10 minutes of normal time and five of stoppage as they outscored Tipp by 1-5 to 0-1.

Points from Gillane, Cian Lynch, Diarmuid Byrnes and Ger Hegarty gave them an irresistible momentum, and then substitute Barry Murphy delivered a fatal blow when he zoomed through the Tipperary defence and planted a goal that lifted the roof of the Mackey Stand.

This felt like a really significant win for Limerick hurling.

It’s the first confident step forward this generation of talented young hurlers has made in senior Championship hurling and they should be emboldened by it.

As for Tipperary, they looked a pale shadow of the team that swept to All-Ireland glory in 2016 and may be travelling in the opposite direction to Limerick.

If they don’t rediscover their mojo in time for Cork’s visit to Semple Stadium next Sunday, it could be short and not so sweet Championship campaign for the Premier County.

Scorers for Limerick: Aaron Gillane 0-8 (6f), Barry Murphy 1-0, Diarmuid Byrnes 0-3 (2 ’65, 1f), Tom Morrissey 0-3, Graeme Mulcahy 0-3, Cian Lynch 0-2, Gearoid Hegarty 0-2, Darragh O’Donovan 0-1, Seamus Flanagan 0-1.

Scorers for Tipperary: J Forde 1-9 (9f), Dan McCormack 1-0, Noel McGrath 0-2, John McGrath 0-2, John O’Dwyer 0-1.

**LIMERICK: **Nicky Quaid; Sean Finn, Seamus Hickey, Richie English; Diarmuid Byrnes, Declan Hannon, Dan Morrissey; Darragh O’Donovan, Cian Lynch; Gearoid Hegarty, Kyle Hayes, Tom Morrissey; Aaron Gillane, Seamus Flanagan, Graeme Mulcahy. **Subs: ** Barry Murphy for Graeme Mulcahy (54), David Dempsey for Tom Morrissey (54), Mike Casey for Seamus Hickey (55), Pat Ryan for Seamus Flanagan (61), Paul Browne for Darragh O’Donovan (67)

TIPPERARY: Brian Hogan; Alan Flynn, Seamus Kennedy, Donagh Maher; Barry Heffernan, Padraic Maher, Ronan Maher; Willie, Billy McCarthy; Dan McCormack, Noel McGrath, Sean Curran; John O’Dwyer, Jason Forde, John McGrath. Subs: Sean O’Brien for Donagh Maher (43), Brendan Maher for Willie Connors (49), Seamus Callanan for Sean Curran (52), Patrick Maher for Billy McCarthy (64)

Ref: James McGrath