Hammersley leads the charge for Tipperary

Limerick 0-15 Tipperary 0-20

Former senior panellist Timmy Hammersley was the star of the show for the Premier County as the 2010 All-Ireland SHC medallist bagged 0-10. His haul was split evenly between both halves as Tipp set up a final meeting with Clare or Cork on July 18.

Ryan said: “The first round of the championship in the intermediate grade can be tricky. We had good form in a few recent challenge games but you’d always be apprehensive about bringing that to the table today. We went flat for a bit but we kicked on again from there to the finish.”

Tipp recovered from going 0-0 to 0-3 behind to lead by 0-10 to 0-8 at the break. Tipp should have netted in a goalless game as early as the fifth minute, when Ruairi Gleeson flashed a fierce shot inches wide.

Yet Limerick were still hanging around and within touching distance approaching the finish. And it took a superb double-save from Tipp goalkeeper Darragh Egan in the closing minutes to preserve a clean sheet.

Scorers for Limerick: J Aherne 0-7 (6f), W Griffin 0-2, C McNamara 0-2 (1f, 1 65) J Hayes, P Leahy, P Begley & M Ryan 0-1.

Scorers for Tipperary: T Hammersley 0-10 (6f, 1 65), J McLoughney 0-3 (1 sl), P Molloy 0-2, W Ryan, O Quirke, R Gleeson, P Greene & P O’Leary 0-1.

LIMERICK: S O’Donoghue; S Irwin, B O’Connell, M Reidy; J Hayes, C McNamara, D O’Neill; P Leahy, C Kearney, K O’Brien, D Reidy, D Morrissey; W Griffin, P Begley, J Aherne.

Subs: B Lynch for O’Neill (33), M Ryan for O’Brien (36), M Ryan for Griffin (41), B Giltenane for D Reidy (50).

TIPPERARY: D Egan; S O’Brien, M Butler, T Treacy; W Ryan, D Young, P Heffernan; J McLoughney, S McCormack; O Quirke, T Hammersley, P Molloy; R Gleeson, D Maher, P Greene.

Subs: P O’Leary for Maher (40), M Ivors for Greene (46), A Horgan for McCormack (50).

Referee: P Foley (Waterford).