Electric Ireland GAA Hurling All-Ireland Minor Championship Final

TIPPERARY 1-21 LIMERICK 0-17

By John Harrington at Croke Park

A mixture of grit and guile helped Tipperary to a hard-fought but ultimately convincing victory over Limerick in today’s All-Ireland Minor Hurling Final.

They had to work a lot harder for the silverware against their neighbours than they did when the sides met in the Munster Final, but that will have made the victory all the more satisfying.

Limerick were beaten by Tipperary in that provincial decider by 17 points and subsequently watched their conquerors fire seven goals past Galway in the All-Ireland Semi-Final, so it was hardly a surprise they set up with a defensive system that made this a cagey contest for much of the match.

By playing a two-man full-forward line they were able to use Ciarán O’Connor as a sweeper in front of their full-back.

That’s the space Tipperary made hay in against Galway, but with O’Connor patrolling authoritatively they struggled to make much inroads against the tightly-packed Limerick defence.

They weren’t helped in this mission by some wayward shooting, but even though they struggled to find the rhythm they had against Galway, they were still gaining the upper hand as the game progressed. 

Wing-forward Colin English was looking like the sharpest player on the pitch, and two sweet points from him helped Tipp into a 0-6 to 0-2 lead after 20 minutes.

The Limerick defence was coming under steadily increasing pressure and resorting to fouling which was punished to the hilt by Tipp’s accurate free-taker Lyndon Fairbrother.

With Tipp 0-8 to 0-3 ahead by the 22nd minute thanks to a nice point from their increasingly prominent centre-forward Jake Morris, the contest looked like it was about to reach a tipping point. It seemed like only a matter of time before Limerick would be forced to abandon their sweeper system which you felt would play into Tipp’s hands.

Limerick suddenly found an extra gear when they needed it most though, and a string of four points in a row reduced the deficit to one and temporarily at least silenced the alarm-bells that had begun ringing in their management’s dug-out.

Tipp’s lead was still just a single point at the break, but a fast start to the second-half really changed the complexion of the contest.

First Colin English knocked over another point for the Premier County, and then they hit the only goal of the game when a barn-storming run and perfectly timed pass from Mark Kehoe sent Jake Morris clear.

The Tipp centre-forward still had a lot to do when the collected the pass, but showed great composure to lance a really clinical shot low and hard to the bottom right corner of the net.

Limerick’s initial response to this set-back was positive as they outscored Tipp by 0-4 to 0-2 over the course of the next ten minutes.

But as the half progressed and the space started to open up, Tipperary’s class in attack began to tell, especially when Limerick finally threw caution to the wind and abandoned their sweeper system.

Points from English, Kehoe, and Fairbrother pushed the Premier County six ahead, and even though Limerick kept battling bravely they never really looked capable finding a way to win the game.

Tipperary were given added energy in the final quarter by a couple of really impressive substitutes, Shane Neville and Dylan Walsh, who scored four points between one another that kept the Shannonsiders at arm’s length.

The Premier County finished the game with a flourish by scoring the last three points of the match and in the end were well-deserving victors.

**Scorers for Tipperary: **Jake Morris 1-3, Lyndon Fairbrother 0-5 (4f), Collin English 0-4, Shane Neville 0-3, Mark Kehoe 0-2, Brian McGrath 0-2 (1 f, 1 ’65), Ger Browne 0-1, Dylan Walsh 0-1

**Scorers for Limerick: **Brian Ryan 0-11 (8f 1 ’65), Conor Boylan 0-1, Ciarán O’Connor 0-1, Darragh O’Carroll 0-1, Paul O’Brien 0-1, David Woulfe 0-1, Kyle Hayes 0-1

**Tipperary: **Ciarán Barrett; Killian O’Dwyer, Michael Whelan, Tom Murphy; Cian Flanagan, Brian McGrath, Jerome Cahill; Paddy Cadell, Ger Browne; Rian Doody, Jake Morris, Colin English; Cian Darcy, Mark Kehoe, Lyndon Fairbrother. Subs: Shane Neville for Rian Doody (26), Gavin Dunne for Tom Murphy (37), Dylan Walsh for Cian Darcy (42), Dillon Quirke for Cian Flanagan (50), Conor Stakelum for Ger Browne (62)

**Limerick: **Mark O’Kelly; Brian Nash, Conor Nicholas, Ronan Connolly; Josh Adams, Ciarán O’Connor, Finn Hourigan; Jerome Boylan, Darragh Carroll; Michael O’Grady, Anthony Barrett, Brian Ryan; Conor Boylan, Kyle Hayes, Cian Magner-Flynn. **Subs: **Paul O’Brien for Cian Magner-Flynn (34), John Flynn for Darragh Carroll (36), David Woulfe for Anthony Barrett (42), Michael Bourke for Josh Adams (45), Conor O’Grady for Michael O’Grady (54)

Referee: John Keenan (Wicklow)