New green wave refuses to yield

IT TOOK over four hours to settle, and while the standard of hurling yesterday may not have been up to the previous two games, this was another cracking contest at the Gaelic Grounds.

Limerick prevailed ultimately because they stayed the pace to the very death — scoring five points in the second period of extra time. In contrast, Tipperary, having led by a point, failed to score.

Tipperary had looked likely winners when Willie Ryan goaled in the first period of extra time to put three points between the sides. But switching Andrew O’Shaughnessy out on Hugh Maloney worked well for Limerick and their greater physical strength and fitness saw them home, as Tipperary failed for the third time from a seemingly a winning position.

To win Tipperary needed an open game but in the slippery conditions — and against the driving commitment of the Limerick players — this was never going to happen.

In the previous battles, Tipp had held the lead with time nearly up. Yesterday saw a role reversal. Tipperary’s replacements Willie Ryan and Pa Burke engineered the chances to draw Tipp level at the death.

However, all through Limerick outfought Tipperary and their forwards Andrew O’Shaughnessy, Niall Moran, Mike Fitzgerald and Ollie Moran — closely watched by Conor O’Mahony all through — came up with the big scores when needed.

Limerick would have been heartbroken if they’d lost this game as they had a very high wides tally in comparison to Tipp. They stuck to their game plan all through and fully deserved their win.

Their defence, particularly, in the last period of extra time completely outshone Tipperary’s forwards, denying them the space Babs’ men required.

Tipperary have over-relied on Eoin Kelly in big matches over the years and unfortunately, despite chipping in with a big score and making the goal for Willie Ryan, a few wayward frees from the Mullinahone man proved costly. Also, having to play Lar Corbett so far from goal took some of the sting from Tipperary’s attack.

But overall, they could have no complaints. In such contests the strongest prevail.

The opening jousts were a virtual replica of last week with Brian Geary landing a long range free. Limerick had clearly learned from their earlier encounters and placed Kevin Tobin as a third midfielder just in front of centre back. He acted as the link between his half backs and forwards, and in the first 20 minutes this tactic worked well for Limerick.

Tipperary struggled to cope and found themselves six points in arrears — and they were slow on the line to come to terms with it. Limerick also used directed puck-outs, both long and short, and also played a lot more short ball than they had previously, as they looked to place their players in advantageous positions. Allied to this was the dominance of Limerick’s half back line where Mark Foley, Brian Geary and Peter Lawlor, a replacement for injured captain Damien Reale, were all doing well.

Limerick were very combative and hunted and harried all through the first half. But they conceded a lot of frees coming up to half time and with Lar Corbett now operating in midfield, Tipp managed to claw their way back into contention.

It is very difficult to dominate for the full 35 minutes and incredibly, Tipperary, went ahead when a long ball from Hugh Moloney found Darragh Egan all alone inside the defence and he finished well.

Limerick were more than upset play hadn’t been stopped for an injury to Mark Foley, but they showed their fighting character by hitting back with good points from Niall Moran and Andrew O’Shaughnessy to draw level.

It’s normal practice for a team to bring out an inside forward to counteract the third midfielder but the Tipp management were a little slow to counter this move, obviously practiced in training by Limerick. With Lar Corbett’s move to midfield, the tide turned back somewhat in Tipperary’s favour but the high workrate required to get back into the game may have taken too much out of them in the end.

While Limerick continued in the second half with the extra man protecting their defence, Tipperary’s well-documented problems at centre forward were again in evidence — Darragh Egan, who had profited on the wing the previous weekends, found the going tough against the in-form Brian Geary.

And with Eoin Kelly closely watched by Seamus Hickey, Limerick had all the encouragement they needed to pursue their high level of intensity.