Limerick collected a third victory on the trot to move firmly into the Division 4 promotion race, eventually swatting aside an underwhelming Tipperary side on home soil.
Jimmy Lee's men have now taken care of London, Carlow and their Munster rivals, to add to an opening round draw with Longford.
They had 11 different scorers, despite blighting their good work with the concession of three soft goals. Tipperary, short captain Steven O’Brien from the start they then lost leading scorer Sean O’Connor and centre-back Luke Boland to hamstring issues.
There was plenty to like about this Limerick display, with goals from Emmet Rigter and substitute Peter Nash adding to a plethora of points from a various angles. They won the second half by 1-08 to 1-02 with Micheál Freaney’s goal giving the visitors feint hope.
A second-minute penalty from the impressive O’Connor came after he was fouled himself, but Limerick were able to reply with their only two-pointer of the contest, from stand-in captain Iain Corbett.
The men in green were streaming forward with some ease but they quickly gave away a second goal. A first for Freaney, who intercepted a wayward clearance. With Josh Ryan AWOL, the Kilsheelan-Kilcash man lobbed to the net from 30 meters.
Despite this setback, the Treaty men steadied and Rigter, the exciting youngster, finished off a fine team counter-attack for a green flag.
By half-time, Limerick led 1-13 to 2-07, with O’Connor’s late injury a body blow to a youthful Tipperary outfit.
Despite conceding a third-quarter goal from Freaney when Ryan spilled a dropping shot, Limerick looked much the superior side. Tipp only managed a further scoring in the closing twenty minutes, a fourth point for the busy Cian Smith.
Substitute Nash finished off a superb move which saw Robbie Childs stream through the middle and from here they never looked back. Tacking on points from the impressive James Naughton, Killian Ryan and subs Danny Neville and Tadhg Ó Siochrú, they eased to the two points.
Having failed to win any league game in both 2023 and 2024, they now have that taste of success as they look to make an immediate return to the third tier.
It is back-to-back defeats for Philly Ryan’s men, who will need to tighten up defensively in the coming games.
KEY: tp - two-point score; tpf - two-point free; tpm - two-point mark
Limerick: J Ryan; C Woulfe, C McSweeney, M McCarthy; F Cotter, I Corbett (C) (0-3; 1tp), T McCarthy; D O’Hagan, P Maher; R Childs (0-2), J Naughton (0-7, 0-4f), S Clancy (0-1); D Ó Siochrú (0-2), E Rigter (1-1), K Ryan (0-1).
Subs: T Childs (0-2) for Clancy (29); P Nash (1-0) for for D Ó Siochrú (45); D Neville(0-1) for R Childs (47); T Ó Siochrú (0-1) for O’Hagan (58); D Buckley for Corbett (62).
Tipperary: S Ryan; M McFadden, J Feehan, E Moloney, K Costello, L Boland (0-1), M Stokes; C Deeley, M Russell; C Fahey, M O’Shea, M Freaney (2-0); C Smith (0-4, 1tpf), M Barlow, (0-1) S O’Connor (1-2; 1-0 pen, 0-2 frees).
Subs: P Feehan for O’Connor (inj – 35); T Condon for Fahey (half-time); B Comerford for Boland (inj - 48); J Nevin for Deeley (53); M Lyons for O’Shea (62);
Referee: A Smith (Meath).
