Limerick are back into the Munster SHC final for a record-breaking eighth year in a row after a comfortable 17-point victory over their old rivals from Tipperary.
There were four points between the sides at the break but a strong attack in the second half eased Limerick into the decider against Cork after victory over a Tipperary side in search of their first championship win against the Shannonsiders in seven years.
First-half goals from Aaron Gillane (after just 15 seconds) and Aidan O'Connor in the space of six minutes put Limerick in pole position against the All-Ireland champions, before second-half goals from Gillane, O’Connor and a Diarmaid Byrnes penalty made it comfortable for John Kiely’s men, despite putting up 17 wides.
The result seals Limerick's place in the Munster final against Cork on 7 June – a repeat of last season's provincial decider.
Tipperary boss Liam Cahill made five changes to the side that were defeated by Clare last weekend with Keith Ryan, Seamus Kennedy, Conor Stakelum, Noel McGrath and Stefan Tobin all coming into the starting line-up.
Limerick made two changes to the side that overcame Waterford with captain Cian Lynch and Mike Casey coming in for Barry Nash and Shane O’Brien.
Limerick started off like a train and Gillane had the ball in the net after just 15 seconds after a superb precision ball into the Patrickswell man from William O’Donoughe.
By the time O’Connor bizarrely found the net from a 65’ six minutes later, with Gillane’s raised hurley doing enough to distract Rhys Shelly in the Tipperary net, John Kiely’s charges were six points to the good – 2-03 to 0-03 in favour of the hosts – a lead they extended to nine by the ninth minute.
Tipp had their first of two opening half purple patches two minutes later, with Stefan Tobin, Darragh McCarthy (free), Noel McGrath, and Jake Morris scoring four without response in a dominating five-minute spell from the 11th to 16th minute.
By the time Diarmaid Byrnes scored Limerick’s first score in seven minutes in the 18th minute, Kiely’s men had restored their six-point advantage.
Tipp scored another four without response in the seven minutes before the half hour mark, with McCarthy (free), Stefan Tobin, Ronan Maher and Eoghan Connolly (free) narrowing the deficit to just three.
Limerick responded with three of the next five points to take a four-point lead – 2-10 to -0-13 into the break.
Limerick upped the temp significantly in the second half, and by the time Byrnes raised the green flag from a penalty after Kyle Hayes was brought down in front of goal just two minutes after the restart – the result being Eoghan Connolly, who brought down the Kildimo-Pallaskenry man, being shown a black card – the Treaty men opened up an seven-point lead.
By time Ballybrown talisman Aidan O’Connor scored Limerick’s fourth goal of the afternoon, it was all but game over as the hosts eased into a 10-point lead.
From here, Limerick outscored their Tipp counterparts by seven points in the final 28 minutes to open up an impressive 17-point lead with Gillane scoring his second of the game with 20 minutes left on the clock, turning Connolly to raise the green flag for Limerick for a fifth time.
After Gillane’s goal, Connolly responded with a point of his own, but Limerick scored five in-a-row, followed by another five without response, either side of two Connolly scores, to cruise to victory in front of 29,069 in TUS Gaelic Grounds.
The scramble for tickets for the Munster SHC between Limerick and Cork in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh in two weeks’ time gets underway.
Limerick: Nickie Quaid; Sean Finn, Dan Morrissey, Mike Casey (0-01); Diarmaid Byrnes (1-03, 1-00 penalty, 2f), William O'Donoghue, Kyle Hayes; Adam English (0-01), Darragh O'Donovan (0-01); Gearoid Hegarty (0-02), Cian Lynch (capt, 0-02), Cathal O'Neill (0-02); Peter Casey (0-01), Aaron Gillane (2-00), Aidan O'Connor (2-07, 1-00 '65, 5f)
Subs: Barry Nash (0-01) for Mike Casey (ht), Tom Morrissey (0-04) for English, David Reidy for Peter Casey (both 48 minutes), Shane O’Brien (0-02) for Gillane (58), Colin Coughlin for Hayes (61)
Tipperary: Rhys Shelly; Robert Doyle, Ronan Maher (capt, 0-01), Keith Ryan; Eoghan Connolly (0-04, 2f), Bryan O'Mara, Seamus Kennedy, Conor Stakelum (0-03), Alan Tynan; Oisin O'Donoghue, Jake Morris (0-03), Noel McGrath (0-02); Darragh McCarthy (0-07, 0-07f), John McGrath, Stefan Tobin (0-03)
Subs: Sam O’Farrell (0-02) for Tynan (42), Joe Caesar for Kennedy (45), Michael Breen for Noel McGrath Paddy McCormack (0-01) for John McGrath (54), Jamie Ormond for McCarthy (61), Brian McGrath for Ryan (69)
Referee: Colm Lyons (Cork)
