RAINING CHAMPS
Limerick overcome Tipp, and the elements, in bruising clash
THESE days, wherever Limerick lay their hurls, that’s their home.
Their perfect start to a season continues at pace with a fourth straight win at Páirc Uí Chaoimh last night – which was adopted as their ‘home’ pitch for this round four clash.
But, then, where isn’t?
In taking the points with a team that reeked of high summer – Aaron Gillane and Cian Lynch the latest to flex their considerable muscles as they started for the first time this spring – they booked their place in the league semifinal.
It is now five years and nine games since Tipperary last beat Limerick in a game of hurling – a run that included John Kiely’s team famously coming from 10 points down the last time they met here in the 2021 Munster final.
It wasn’t quite that dramatic last night, the one-point scoreline fashioned by the fact that with the last puck of this game, in the seventh minute of injury time, Jake Morris goaled.
But after an off-colour first half, which saw them trail by a point (1-7 to 0-9) despite playing with the wind, this was the champions as we know them – strong, powerful, defiant and with a bench (all four of their second half substitutes scored) to spook.
What should really chill is that while still winning they are getting even stronger.
Donnacha Ó Dalaigh and Colm Coughlan – the latter’s powerful third quarter key in turning the screw on Tipperary – shared five points from play, beefing up the starting options for John Kiely come the summer.
Briefly, veteran Patrick ‘Bonnar’ Maher threatened to change the script when, within a minute of his arrival from the bench, his delightful touch took him away from Coughlan and he slalomed his way through the Limerick defence to raise a green flag in the 58th minute.
It tied the scores (2-12 to 0-18) but as ever it only served to tip the game the way of the champions, who as usual took offence at the cheek of it.
Gillane, Byrnes and Tom Morrissey converted frees and when Graeme Mulcahy steered one over from play all during a six-minute period, this was done and dusted.
In truth, the first half was as removed from championship hurling as a St Stephen’s Day charity match.
That had less to do with the intent on either side but because both of the teams were trying to play summer hurling in defiance of the wind and rain on a slick Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
The finishing by both was in keeping with the malfunctioning build-up, with the chaos reaching parts normally not seen.
Diarmaid Byrnes has a deserved reputation as a long distance sniper, but he took a scattergun approach early on here, hitting two wides and dropping another two short.
But naturally he was back to his usual self in the period that mattered most, spearing over three second half points.
In the first half Tipperary were the more effective with ball in hand, but it helps when you have forwards of the calibre of Gearóid O’Connor and Jason Forde.
It was fitting that the pair combined when O’Connor’s sideline cut in the 31st minute was caught
by Forde, who rounded Mike Casey and flicked the ball past Nickie Quaid.
It left Tipperary leading by 1-7 to 0-5 – all of the Premier County’s scores having come from play – but it served only to stir Limerick.
Indeed, despite being off colour for large parts of that opening half, Limerick would have been better placed but for the curious decision of referee Liam Gordon to award the champions a free instead of a penalty in the 13th minute, when Aaron Gillane was tripped by Mike Breen just outside the square, for which the Tipperary defender should have seen a black card.
More than the defeat – which is unlikely to derail Tipperary’s passage to the play-offs – what is likely to sting Liam Cahill was the sight of wing-back Séamus Kennedy limping out of the game early in the third quarter with a knee injury that could see the St Mary’s clubman sidelined for a significant period of time.