Limerick’s tame effort does Tipp no favours

THREE months ago to the day, May 16th, their league campaign over, Munster championship opener against Waterford still several weeks away, Limerick played Cork in a senior hurling challenge match.

It was in Castletownroche, the storied north Cork club opening a new stand in time-honoured GAA fashion with what looked on paper to be an attractive pairing. On the night, however, a young and experimental Cork team gave Limerick an absolute drubbing, 1-32 to 2-15. In a manner that is absolutely atypical of the county at any stage and at any level, Limerick weren’t just without heart and passion on the night, they were without soul. At the time it was dismissed by the Limerick faithful as an aberration, one of those days – sure what was it, only a challenge match.

Well, yesterday was no challenge match – this was an All-Ireland senior hurling semi-final, the whole GAA world watching. And yet, there it was again. Yesterday in Croke Park, tens of thousands of their own supporters having travelled yet again with high hopes that even if they couldn’t overcome the odds, their team would at least put in a worthy challenge, give Tipperary a run for their money, again Limerick were a team without passion, again a team without soul – lifeless, bloodless.

Consider this – not until the 20th minute did Limerick concede a free, not ‘til the 24th minute was there a yellow card. Now in any other circumstance you would point to their discipline here, their control, perhaps even their sportsmanship; at that stage, however, they already trailed 3-2 to 0-2. Where was the hurt? Where was the passion, the fire, the urge – primal, admittedly – to lash out, to get stuck in? This is not to suggest that Limerick should have been out to do physical damage to any Tipperary player, but hurling isn’t a non-contact sport either; yet, for all 70-plus minutes, Limerick played as though it were, Tipp doing most of the heavy hitting. In that context, then, they did hurling no favours yesterday, they did themselves no favours, and – paradoxically – they did Tipperary no favours.

True, the Premier county is in an All-Ireland final, which is where they set out to be from the beginning of this season, but they learned nothing about themselves in this game, merely raised expectation levels again inside the county.

Terrible, terrible fare.

In all their previous big games this year, starting with the league final against Kilkenny, Tipperary have hit the ground running, built up big early leads while hurling with real fluency; what Limerick needed to do, then, to give themselves any chance, was to counter that, hold Tipp early on, ask some questions. For four minutes they managed that, no score, and even then, an error by full-back Stephen Lucey – who had been having a sterling season – that allowed Eoin Kelly in for a gift of a goal didn’t seem to faze them. Quarter of an hour gone it was still only a four-point game, 1-2 to 0-1, that error the difference – then, in rapid succession, came Tipp goals numbers two and three, and again, it was poor defending. After 16 minutes, Lar Corbett used his searing pace to round his marker, but, as he shaped to square the ball across the square, Tipp had not one, but two men standing in the clear, either of whom could have got the final touch. Young Noel McGrath did the honours, got in before Seamus Callanan, but it said much about the slack marking by Limerick. A minute later, two defensive errors (and enough pain, let’s not name any more names) and it was Pat Kerwick in the clear, third Tipperary goal, 3-2 to 0-2, and the rout was on. Six points Tipp added before the break, against two for Limerick, leaving it 3-8 to 0-4 as the teams headed for the dressing-rooms.

Cold comfort for Limerick, surely, inside those walls, but whatever was said, it didn’t work. Tipp’s Achilles heel so far this year in all those big games we mentioned above has been a second half lapse in concentration that allowed the opposition back into contention, and that surely would have been on Limerick minds as they came back out on the field. A couple of changes made, two new half-forwards, meaning that with the earlier introduction of James O’Brien for Niall Moran (immediately after the Ahane-man had scored a point, one of only two Limerick forwards to do so in the first half), Limerick now had an entirely new trio under their own puck-out. Didn’t make a whit of difference. That Tipp frailty was absent yesterday, or perhaps simply wasn’t tested; the second half was a procession of Tipperary scores, their first-half tally more than doubled. Limerick did manage a couple of goals, one apiece from sub Brian O’Sullivan and a penalty by keeper Brian Murray, and the likes of Mark Foley, Seamus Hickey and Brian Geary battled gamely against wave after wave of attack, but this was a massacre. Six points to start with, from Tipp, then goals number four and five, both by Lar Corbett, both from sublime Noel McGrath passes, the second of which, in the 60th minute, made the score 5-15 to 2-5.

An embarrassment for the Limerick supporters, made even worse before the end. Pick of the Tipperary goals was probably the sixth, even if the match was indeed long over as a contest; five players involved, Noel McGrath, Paul Kelly, Seamus Callanan, Michael Webster and finally, shooting to an empty net and completing his hat-trick, Lar Corbett, every pass on the money.

The luck of the draw was partially responsible for Limerick’s run to this All-Ireland semi-final, and no-one can quibble with that – having beaten Wexford in Wexford on an atrocious evening, having overcome Leinster finalists Dublin in the quarter-final, Limerick had earned the right to be in Croke Park yesterday. With that right, however, comes responsibility, comes expectation – Limerick froze yesterday, were caught in the headlights of the Tipperary express. It was a terrible spectacle.

As for Tipperary, where does this leave them? In an All-Ireland final, the obvious reply, and they’ll certainly settle for that, for the moment, but oh, what they’d have given for a real test. Paraic Maher did superbly at full-back yesterday, but how will he do against Henry Shefflin? We don’t know. The defence overall was magnificent, conceded just two points from play to the starting Limerick sextet (though Brian O’Sullivan did add 1-1 on his introduction), but how good are they, really? One thing for certain – the Tipperary training matches in Semple Stadium over the next three weeks will have more intensity, more fire, more brimstone, than anything we saw in Croke Park yesterday. You can be damn sure that whoever is on the whistle, he’ll be kept a sight busier than Brian Gavin was yesterday, when this game was still alive.

Scorers for Tipperary: L. Corbett 3-1; E. Kelly 1-6 (0-6 frees); P. Kerwick 1-3; N. McGrath 1-2; S. Callanan 0-3; C. O’Mahony 0-3 (0-2 frees, 0-1 65); J. O’Brien 0-1.

Scorers for Limerick: B. O’Sullivan 1-1; B. Murray 1-0; G. O’Mahony 0-2 (0-1 free); A. O’Shaughnessy (free), D. Breen, N. Moran, S. Hickey, 0-1 each.

Tipperary subs: B. Dunne (S. McGrath 55); G. Ryan (Woodlock 62); M. Webster (Kerwick inj. 63); W. Ryan (Corbett 63); P. Kelly (E. Kelly 64).

Limerick subs: J. O’Brien (N. Moran 32); O. Moran (J. Ryan 35); B. O’Sullivan (Browne 35); M. O’Brien (McNamara 57); S. Walsh (Lucey 62).

Referee: B. Gavin (Offaly).