Electric Ireland Munster Minor Hurling Championship

TIPPERARY 1-20 LIMERICK1-12

By John Fallon at Semple Stadium

Tipperary captured their 40th Munster minor hurling championship with a polished display against a Limerick side who had defeated them earlier in the competition.

Tipperary led by 0-12 to 0-7 at the interval and never looked in danger in the second-half as they pulled away to win their third provincial minor title in four years.

Limerick opened brightly with points from Bob Purcell and Cathal O’Neill but Tipperary took charge and hit three in just over minutes with James Devaney getting them off the mark before Sean Hayes landed two in rapid succession.

O’Neill tied the sides at 0-3 each after 12 minutes before Tipperary surged ahead with six points in a row, four of them coming from Devaney, a grandson of former Tipperary All-Ireland winner Liam Devaney.

Ryan Renehan also chipped in with a sideline and Sean Phelan scored from half-back before Cormac Ryan got Limerick’s first score in eleven minutes to make it 0-9 to 0-4 after 23 minutes.

Hayes got his third point of the half before Patrick Kirby pointed and O’Neill added a couple of frees for Limerick.

Devaney got his sixth point of the half and after O’Neill got his fourth free for Limerick, Tipperary went in leading by 0-12 o 0-7 at the interval after Cian O’Farrell scored just before the break.

Limerick, backed by the breeze, shot three wides after the restart, before O’Farrell extended Tipperary’s lead at the other end.

Ryan responded for Limerick and then Tipp goalkeeper Aaron Browne, who produced a superb save to deny Ryan in the opening half, did well to block a shot from full-forward Bob Purcell after 37 minutes.

Tipperary extended their lead to double scores with points from Kian O’Kelly, Devaney and Max Hackett to lead by 0-16 to 0-8 going into the final quarter.

Limerick responded with four points from O’Neill (2), Barry O’Connor and Cormac Ryan but Tipperary substitute Mikey O’Shea sealed the win with a goal seven minutes from time.

Limerick never gave up and Bryan Nix found the net in the closing stages when O’Neill did enough to distract Tipperary goalkeeper Browne as he tried to get a flick.

Scorers for Tipperary: James Devaney 0-8 (4f, 1 65), Mikey O’Shea 1-1, Sean Hayes 0-3, Sean Phelan 0-2, Cian O’Farrell 0-2, Kian O’Kelly 0-1, Max Hackett 0-1, Ryan Renehan 0-1 (sideline), Conor Whelan 0-1.

Scorers for Limerick: Cathal O’Neill 0-6 (5f), Bryan Nix 1-0, Cormac Ryan 0-3, Patrick Kirby 0-1, Barry O’Connor 0-1, Bob Purcell 0-1.

TIPPERARY: Aaron Browne; Kevin Hayes, Conor Whelan, Conor O’Dwyer; Sean Phelan, Fintan Purcell, Johnny Ryan; Max Hackett, John Campion; Ryan Renehan, Cian O’Farrell, Kian O’Kelly; Sean Hayes, Devon Ryan, James Devaney.

Subs: Mikey O’Shea for Renehan (46), Jack Morrissey for Campion (49), Kevin Maher for Hackett (56), Billy O’Connor for D Ryan (60), Frank Hanafin for Phelan (60).

LIMERICK: Bryan Heavey; Padraig Harnett, Ben Herlihy, Michael Keane; Eoin O’Mahony, Emmet McEvoy, Jack Nicholas; Patrick Kirby;

Cathal O’Neill, Cormac Ryan, Bob Purcell; Colin Coughlan, Diarmuid Hegarty, Danny O’Leary Subs: Bryan Nix for O’Leary (25), David Hickey for Hegarty (49), Micheal Martin for Coughlan (54), Andrew Shanahan for Nicholas (60), Cian Casey for Kirby (60).

Referee: Thomas Walsh (Waterford)