JAS THE ACE OF PREMIER

Dublin 0-24 Tipperary

JASON FORDE gave his full focus to tearing Dublin apart with 1-10 as Tipperary maintained their perfect start.

Forde fired 1-15 against Kilkenny in Round 2 and took his strong form to Croke Park with another huge display.

Second-half goals from Conor Bowe and Forde did the trick for Tipp, sub Bowe netting after coming on at half-time while Alan Tynan, Mark Kehoe and Seamus Kennedy picked off some tidy points in cool conditions.

It’s the end of Dublin’s unbeaten record in the league under new manager Micheal Donoghue and fans will be concerned about an apparent hamstring injury picked up by Donal Burke.

The Na Fianna man was man of the match with 0-14 but pulled up with an injury in the process of striking his last point from a 65 in the 61st minute.

University of Limerick duo O’connor and O’mara returned to action as Fitzgibbon Cup winners.

O’connor’s frees were crucial for UL in the third level competition and the Moyne Templetuohy man hit 0-11 for Tipp against Laois in Round 1.

But the more experienced Forde (above) remained on them this time and helped himself to seven points in the opening half. He got one from play after an intercept in the 11th minute and won a free that he converted himself later in the half.

Dublin led 0-4 to 0-2 early on but fell into Tipp’s slipstream from the 12th minute.

Burke was Dublin’s chief marksman again with eight of their 13 points in the opening half though five of those came from play as the free-taker opened up with some thrilling form.

Tipp, leading 0-14 to 0-13 at half-time, restarted brightly and Bowe had an immediate impact with a well taken 40th minute goal, Kehoe bursting through the centre and offloading to his right.

Dublin trailed by six at one stage in the third quarter but recovered well with a series of Burke scores to close the gap to three.

That was as close as they got to reeling in Liam Cahill’s men and Forde’s 52nd minute goal, when he beat the advancing goalkeeper to a long ball in from O’mara, reopened the six-point margin. Tipp never looked troubled after that and there were impressive cameos from Seamus Callanan late on. Dublin scorers: D Burke (0-14, 6f, 1 65), A Considine (0-3), C Burke (0-1), D Gray (0-1), C O’leary (0-1), D Sutcliffe (0-1), J Flanagan (0-1f), P Crummey (0-1), S Currie (0-1). Tipperary: J Forde (1-10, 0-8f), G O’connor (0-4, 2f), C Bowe (1-0), M Kehoe (0-3), A Tynan (0-2), S Kennedy (0-2), B Mcgrath (0-1); J Morris (0-1).