Electric Ireland Munster minor hurling championship Final

TIPPERARY 1-24 LIMERICK 0-10

By Jackie Cahill at the Gaelic Grounds, Limerick

TIPPERARY stormed to Electric Ireland Munster minor hurling championship glory at the Gaelic Grounds this afternoon.

The Premier County ran out massive 17-point winners against hosts Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds.

Jake Morris collected 1-4 from play and Lyndon Fairbrother notched seven points, including four from play, as Liam Cahill’s charges retained their provincial crown.

On a miserable afternoon for Limerick, they were reduced to 14 players four minutes after half-time when Brian Nash was dismissed for a second bookable offence.

That came shortly after a 33rd minute goal for Morris, a superb low effort past Mark O’Kelly after Paddy Cadell had somehow managed to get his pass away under extreme pressure.

From there until the finish, it was a procession for Tipperary as they cruised to a 39th Munster minor hurling crown.

The writing was on the wall for Limerick from a long way out as Tipp looked the more fluent outfit.

They’ve come a long way in a short space of time under Cahill and watching them in action this afternoon, it’s almost remarkable to think that Tipp lost their championship opener to Waterford.

But a do-or-die victory over Clare set Tipp up for a crack at Cork in the semi-final, a game they won at Páirc Uí Rinn, and their season opened up.

Today, they produced some brilliant hurling in difficult weather conditions to storm past Limerick, who admittedly had to play the vast majority of the second half a player light.

At half-time, Tipp led by 0-13 to 0-7, with Fairbrother, Morris and Mark Kehoe prominent.

Limerick managed just six points from play on the day and that was never going to be good enough against a Tipp wide with scoring contributions from nine players.

The sending-off ended any faint hopes of a Limerick revival and they were even denied a consolation goal late on.

Sub Aaron Kennedy put the ball in the net but referee Rory McGann had already signalled for a 20m free, which was diverted out for a ’65.

**Scorers for Tipperary: **J Morris 1-4, L Fairbrother 0-7 (3f), B McGrath (2f) & D Walsh 0-3 each, G Browne & M Kehoe 0-2 each, R Doody, C English & S Neville 0-1 each.

Scorers for Limerick: P O’Brien 0-3f, K Hayes & C Boylan 0-2 each, C Magnier Flynn, J Flynn & A Kennedy (f) 0-1 each.

TIPPERARY: C Barrett; J Cahill, M Whelan, K O’Dwyer; T Murphy, B McGrath, C Flanagan; P Cadell, G Browne; C Darcy, J Morris, R Doody; C English, M Kehoe, L Fairbrother. **Subs: **D Walsh for English (27), S Neville for Darcy (49), C Stakelum for Doody (temp, 53), G Dunne for Flanagan (59), K Breen for Murphy (60).

LIMERICK: M O’Kelly; B Nash, R Connelly, B Timmons; J Adams, F Hourigan, M O’Grady; D Carroll, J Flynn; B Ryan, K Hayes, C Boylan; P O’Brien, C Magnier Flynn, C Nicholas. Subs: J Boylan for Timmons (19), D Woulfe for Ryan (36), A Kennedy for O’Brien (36), C McCarthy for Adams (40), A Barrett for O’Grady (53).

Ref – R McGann (Clare)