Doyle’s delight as Tipp win again

Tipperary 1-17

Two wins out of two now for Tipp’s new manager, two losses for Keane in his first competitive games since being promoted from the three-in-a-row All-Ireland-winning U21 side.

“So far so good but we’re not getting carried away. Too early for that,” said a pleased Doyle. Down the corridor of the work-in-progress that will be the revamped old stand, Keane was being as pragmatic as he could, in the circumstances.

“I wouldn’t be concerned, we’ve played two of the toughest teams in our group (lost a close encounter to Cork in the first round), and I suppose we’re unfortunate in that we had to play them first and second, away from home too, though this was supposed to be a home game.

"But we were going to have to play them at some stage. I wouldn’t panic yet but the next three games, I’d like to see us win and maybe get into the playoffs.

“This is still a learning curve for us, our first year at senior level, and there is a difference. We know a lot of the lads, but we’ve got to gel as a team, which we haven’t succeeded in doing yet,” he said.

Doyle had every reason to feel pleased with his side. Despite the absence of stalwarts Philly Maher and Paul Kelly, late flu-victim victim and hamstring injury respectively, their defence was impressive.

An early goal by corner-forward Donncha Sheehan, after a fine move involving Peter Lawlor, Niall Moran and Brian Begley, whose strength and pace forced the final opening, was the only blot in a suffocating first-half performance that didn’t yield another score until the 29th minute.

That was a pointed free from wing-forward John Meskell, followed by another in the third minute of injury time. Against that half-time score of 1-2, aided admittedly by a strong breeze, an on-fire Tipp attack notched 1-12, leaving the visitors a rather intimidating hill to climb.

Foremost for Tipperary in that attack was left-corner-forward Lar Corbett, scorer of 1-3, all from play.

Two of those points were of the cheekiest variety, the first about 10 yards out from the corner-flag, the second an over-the-shoulder effort while being hunted from goal, again from a most acute angle, each the sign of a player at the top of his game.

For the goal, after using his telescopic reach to pluck a high ball from the heavens, even the pacy Damian Reale was left for dead as Corbett raced in on goal, and Timmy Houlihan hadn’t a hope in hell of saving the rocket shot.

All-Star Eoin Kelly too, after a totally uncharacteristic miss from a free dead in front of goal, was in fine form, chiming in with a hat-trick of points before the break.

All the Tipp attack in fact contributed to the scoreboard, including the two midfielders, Tommy Dunne his usual polished self, supplying perfect ball inside. Most impressive about the contribution of the others however, was that most of it came in the second half, against the wind, and when Tipp were coming under some pressure.

An uninterrupted five-point start for Limerick, three from placed balls by Meskell, with sub Barry Foley looking good, saw the deficit reduced to just five, 1-12 to 1-7 after 50 minutes, and the vocal visiting contingent in the small (3,221) crowd were on song.

TJ Ryan, subdued in the first half, was looking busier, Begley was continuing to cause problems from the limited supply the inside line was seeing, while the half-back line of Eoin Foley, Brian Geary and the outstanding Mark Foley were also getting on top.

There the comeback ended however, and only a second Mark Foley point intruded on a five-point finish for Tipp, leaving them comfortable winners in the end.

“A good game, good tough stuff”, summed up Michael Doyle, four yellow cards for Limerick (none for Tipp) supporting that statement.

Understandably, Dave Keane wasn’t as upbeat. “The first thing I wasn’t to say is that the better team won on the day. It wasn’t lack of commitment on our part, but Tipp were faster, quicker to the ball, and they seemed to pick up all the breaks. Maybe we’re suffering by virtue of the fact that we don’t have any hurling training done, it’s all physical so far for us.”

Scorers for Tipperary: L. Corbett 1-3; E. Kelly 0-5 (0-3 frees); T. Dunne 0-3 (frees); B. O’Meara 0-2; E. Brislane, M. O’Leary, C. Gleeson, G. O’Grady, 0-1 each.

Limerick: D. Sheehan 1-1; J. Meskell 0-4 (frees); M. Foley 0-2; B. Foley 0-1.

TIPPERARY: B. Cummins; M. Maher, J. Devane, B. Dunne; E. Corcoran, A. Butler, B. Horgan; T. Dunne, E. Brislane; M. O’Leary, C. Gleeson, B. O’Meara; E. Kelly, G. O’Grady, L. Corbett. Subs: M. Ryan (Brislane inj. 28).

LIMERICK: T. Houlihan; D. Reale, E. Mulcahy, M. O’Brien; E. Foley, B. Geary, M. Foley; P. Lawlor, O. Moran; J. Meskell, TJ Ryan, J. O’Brien; N. Moran, B. Begley, D. Sheehan.

Subs: B. Foley (O’Brien 44); C. Carey (Meskell 50).

Referee: S. McMahon (Clare)