Superior Tipperary shake off Limerick

BIGGER, stronger, cooler on the ball, a young Tipperary side (the bulk of whom are eligible for minor again next year) were too good for Limerick in this Munster MFC quarter-final game in showery Kilmallock last night.

Seven points was the difference in the end but — contradictory as this may seem — it could have been more, had Tipperary converted their obvious superiority into scores, but it could also have been a lot less, had Limerick converted the many goal chances they created throughout the game.

Three times in the opening half Limerick bore down on the Tipp goal (though playing into the breeze) but a single point was all they had to show for those efforts; twice more in the second period they again sliced open the Tipp defence, came away with nothing on either occasion. In those latter instances, however, no blame could be attached to the attackers. In the first instance a there was a magnificent last-ditch goal-line block by corner-back Óisín O’Flynn on William Shanahan (39th minute), then later, an acrobatic foot-save by keeper Gearoid Slattery, to deny Ian Fahey (55th minute).