Tipperary edged a 2-16 to 1-17 victory over Limerick in a thrilling Guinness Munster Hurling final at Páirc Uí Chaoimh this afternoon. Crowned Munster champions for the 36th time, Nicky English's men managed to hold off a fired-up Limerick team to progress to the All-Ireland semi-finals.
Tipperary dominated the early stages of the first half to lead 0-6 to 0-5 by the end of the 12th minute. Declan Ryan opened Tipperary's account in the explosive opening minutes followed by points for Limerick from Mike O'Brien and James Butler. Tipperary spell of superiority began with five unanswered points from Lar Corbett, Eddie Enright, Brian O'Meara, Mark O'Leary and Tommy Dunne.
Limerick began to settle and points from Mark Foley, Barry Foley and Ollie Moran left Limerick trailing 0-6 to 0-5 before Sean O'Connor scored the first goal of the match for Limerick in the 13th minute to give Limerick a 0-6 to 1-5 lead. Enright scored his second point for Tipperary before Declan Ryan scored a goal followed by a point from Eoin Kelly to give the lead back to Tipperary.
Jack Foley scored a point for Limerick before Corbett scored the second goal for Tipperary to open a five-point gap. Limerick dug deep and four points from Paul O'Grady and one point from goal-scorer O'Connor levelled the score-line 2-8 to 1-11 at half-time.
In the second half, Mark O'Leary and O'Connor exchanges points in the opening minute before Paul Kelly and Mark O'Leary scored two quick points in succession to edge a 2-12 to 1-12 lead. Brian Begley and Dunne exchanges points before Limerick began a period of dominance yielding two points from Foley and O'Grady.
Eoin Kelly scored Tipperary's first point in 10 minutes from a converted free before Ciaran Carey scored a point in the 60th minute to leave Limerick trailing 2-14 to 1-16. Sean O'Connor levelled the teams for the fifth time with a point in the 64th minute but three minutes later O'Meara edged Tipperary one point ahead. Sean O'Brien added another point for Tipp in the 69th minute and Nicky English's team managed to hold onto their two-point lead to win the Munster Championship for the first time since 1993.
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
