Kerry manager Éamonn Fitzmaurice reckons Tipperary are a stronger and more “unified” force for having lost so many big-name players during the off-season.

Ballyboden St Endas were made to bend low to secure a first All-Ireland final spot that looked beyond them for so much of the second half of normal time.

The Clonmel Commercials dressing room sings in perfect unison.

Dressing Rooms No 1 and No 2 are only feet apart at Mallow GAA’s stately Carrigoon complex, but the swing of a left foot yesterday daubed one in black and green despair, and turned the other into forever folk heroes in Tipperary.

It took Castlehaven, and many observers, by surprise when Nemo Rangers operated a sweeper in the drawn Cork final last month. Indeed Haven’s selector James McCarthy made a point of mentioning it after the game.

Clonmel Commercials 1-13 St Joseph’s Miltown-Malbay 0-3, Clonmel

Miltown-Malbay’s 1990 adventures in Munster are still fresh in the memory of Michael Neylon, hardly surprising given the corner-back travelled via Boston to be present in Clonmel.

Tipperary star Michael Quinlivan admits Clonmel Commercials did “everything in their power” to throw away the chance of claiming county senior football glory on Sunday.

Their growing confidence inside the whitewash is at long last being matched by their words off it; Tipperary football speak has never been so bold or assertive.

Tyrone withstood a barrage of late Tipperary pressure to secure the county’s fifth All-Ireland U21 football title this evening.

The mini-truck carrying close to 30 Tipperary U21 footballers edged through the town of Templemore close to midnight.

Tipperary management insist Ian Fahey will play in the EirGrid All-Ireland U21 football semi-final against Dublin next Saturday.

TIPPERARY 1-15 CORK 3-8: Another giant step forward in the development of Tipperary football as Tommy Toomey’s young charges foiled Cork’s five-in-a-row bid to secure the county’s second Munster U21 title.

A trio of young stars set to shine in Semple Stadium tomorrow night.

Four players have walked out of the Tyrone squad in frustration at a lack of game time, in the latest sign of unrest in the Red Hand camp.

Tipperary 0-15 Clare 0-07: Tommy Toomey conceded his Tipperary U21 footballers will have to improve considerably to shock Cork in the EirGrid provincial decider.

Connacht semi-final: Roscommon v Sligo, Kiltoom, 7.30pm.

Tipperary 2-17 Longford 0-6

Jack Sheedy’s Longford were bounced out of the All-Ireland senior football championship by Tipperary this afternoon.

Limerick 1-11 Tipperary 2-14

Tipperary made easy work of Limerick to line up a Munster football semi-final against Cork in three weeks' time, but the refereeing of the black card rules still remains a major talking point.

Tipperary senior football manager Peter Creedon has slammed his county board for a “crazy” fixtures pile-up that is putting huge pressure on the county’s U21 players.

Dr Crokes defender Fionn Fitzgerald will make his Championship debut for Kerry in Sunday's Munster SFC quarter-final against Tipperary at Fitzgerald Stadium (throw-in 2pm).

Champions Donegal will begin their defence of the Ulster SFC against Tyrone at Ballybofey on Sunday (4pm) with the same 15 players who started last September’s All-Ireland final win over Mayo.

Tipperary’s senior footballers will be without influential pair Brian Fox and Michael Quinlivan for next Sunday’s Munster SFC quarter-final against Kerry in Killarney.

The Cork U21 footballers have named an unchanged side from the team that beat Kerry a fortnight ago in the Munster quarter-final for tomorrow night’s last-four clash with Limerick in the Gaelic grounds (7.30pm).

Tipperary U21 football team manager David Power has voiced his deep frustration with the scheduling of local club fixtures that could involve 15 of his squad members this weekend.

Clonmel Commercials 4-11 Loughmore-Castleiney 4-9 (AET)

Tipperary senior football champions Thomas MacDonaghs came from behind in both ordinary and extra-time to force a draw in a thrilling championship quarter-final with Éire Óg/Anacarty at The Ragg on Saturday.

David Power will be confirmed as Tipperary’s new U21 football team manager later this month, with former Finn Harps soccer manager Charlie McKeever replacing him in the minor job.

Tipperary overturned a seven-point deficit against Kerry in yesterday’s Gaelic Grounds final to retain their Electric Ireland Munster MFC crown.

The challenge now for David Power and his Tipperary minor footballers is to rewrite the history books.

Tipperary’s ambitions of retaining their All-Ireland MFC crown remain intact after they staved off the determined challenge of Cork in an engaging Munster semi-final clash in Páirc Uí Chaoimh last night.

Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne moved one step closer to an unprecedented clean sweep of Munster and Kerry colleges’ football titles yesterday.

Donegal’s Paddy McBrearty has refused to rule out accepting an AFL rookie contract. However, last year’s Tipperary minor star Michael Quinlivan is more circumspect about the possibility of any move DownUnder.

A BLISTERING second-half strike from Eoin O’Donnell proved the decisive score as Limerick overcame a slow start to see off Tipperary in the Vocational Schools ‘B’ inter-county football championship final at bitterly cold Mallow last night.

THE meeting of Dublin and Tipperary may not have been the final pairing envisaged at the start of the year but they have been the leading exponents in this year’s minor championship and their clash tomorrow carries plenty of intrigue.

ANOTHER box ticked. And what a box.