Tipperary have retained the Munster Under 20 Hurling Championship title following a hard-fought five-point victory over Clare.
Two goals in the space of four second-half minutes swung a cracking encounter in the Premier's favour, senior star Darragh McCarthy landing a penalty after Jamie Moylan fouled Conor Martin when through on goal.
With Moylan off the field with a black card, Cathal English fired in a second goal that powered Tipperary to victory.
The scoring was opened after just 15 seconds thanks to Jack O’Neill but Tipperary were level within 30 seconds when Oisin O’Donoghue hit the target.
The teams were even once more in the following three minutes before Clare hit four on the trot. Fred Hegarty (2) and Jack O’Neill fired Terence Fahy’s side into a 0-6 to 0-2 advantage with nine minutes played.
Two McCarthy frees cut the advantage to two and Tipperary were soon in front when the Toomevara starlet spotted the chance to hit a quick, short free to O’Donoghue, who fired a low shot beyond the onrushing Mark Sheedy.
Tipperary took control from there with English, Paddy McCormack and Conor Martin saw them take a four-point lead.
English fired over a second to hammer home their dominance but three on the bounce from the Banner brought them back into the game.
McCormack then hit the crossbar with a bullet shot with O’Donoghue firing over from close range on the rebound.
Clare fought their way back to within a point at the break with Hegarty to the fore. His excellence saw the score at 1-11 to 0-13.
Hegarty didn’t relent on the restart, three quick-fire scores putting Clare into a two-point lead.
However, Tipperary soon reeled them in after two strikes from O’Donoghue squared the game for a fourth time.
It remained that way until the 43rd minute when Clare were awarded a penalty and Hegarty made no mistake to put them 1-17 to 1-14 clear.
Tipperary responded with that McCarthy penalty and then English's goal after a scramble around the edge of the square.
McCarthy, McCormack and substitute Jamie Ormond followed up with the points that sealed the game and Tipperary’s grasp on the title, which makes them the all-time record winners on 23, one ahead of neighbours Cork.
Tipperary: E Horgan; C O’Reilly, A O’Halloran, P O’Dwyer; A Ryan, J Ryan, D Ryan; J Egan, A Daly (0-01); C English (1-02), C Martin (0-02), D Costigan; D McCarthy (1-08, 1-00 pen, 8f), P McCormack (0-02), O O’Donoghue (1-03).
Subs: S O’Farrell for D Ryan (43), J Ormond (0-01) for Costigan (48), C Fitzpatrick for Daly (53), M Cawley for Martin (60).
Clare: M Sheedy; E Gunning, J Cahill, F O'Bhroin; J Moylan, J Hegarty, E McMahon; D Costelloe (0-01), R Kilroy (0-01); J Organ (0-02), J O’Neill (0-02), F Hegarty (1-12, 1-00 pen, 9f); S Boyce (0-01), D Stritch, M Collins (0-01).
Subs: H Doherty for Boyce (39), R Loftus for Organ (49), L Crotty for Collins (51), T Lohan for Kilroy (60).
Referee: C O’Regan (Cork)
Kilkenny will face Dublin in this season's Leinster U20 final next Wednesday after they overcame Laois and Galway respectively.
Dublin, who lost both their group games to Kilkenny and Wexford, had recovered to reach a second successive provincial title at the grade, by beating Antrim and reigning All-Ireland champions Offaly to reach this evening's semi-final.
They went in as underdogs against Fergal Healy's Galway side, who had dispatched both Laois and Offaly in the group phase, but got off to a dream start, Callum Graham rustling up two goals in the first five minutes to give them a 2-02 to 0-01 lead.
A Galway side boasting the likes of Rory Burke, Aaron Niland and Jason Rabbitte steadied the ship after a poor start, reducing the gap to three at the break (2-08 to 0-11).
The Westerners appeared to have the advantage with the wind at their back in the second half, however a ruinous wide tally scuppered their chances despite appearing to be exerting dominance in the middle third.
With an inaccurate Galway unable to get the deficit beneath three points, the Dubs mounted another push in the closing 10 minutes, Ollie Gaffney hitting a trio of points to give them breathing space.
Senán Crosbie tagged on another before the prolific Gaffney rounded off the scoring, opting to tap over a penalty with time up to leave the final score at 2-18 to 0-17.
In the decider, Dublin will meet Kilkenny, who cantered home against Laois after a devastating final-quarter surge in Portlaoise.
The home side had stunned Wexford at the quarter-final stage, and were well in the contest here early in the second half.
Kyron Cuddy struck the game's only goal to reduce the margin to one point on the half-hour mark, the Cats responding swiftly with points from Rory Glynn and free-taker Michael Brennan to leave it at 0-10 to 1-04 at half-time.
A trio of frees from Ben Deegan brought it back to a one-point game on 37 minutes but Kilkenny were rampant from that point on, out-scoring Laois by 0-16 to 0-02 for the remainder of the game.
Marty Murphy, Aaron McEvoy and Brennan were to the fore in the scoring as they eased to a 0-26 to 1-09 win.
