Never-say-die Clonmel’s late comeback stuns Newcastle West

Clonmel Commercials (Tipperary) 0-12 Newcastle West (Limerick) 1-7: As Stephen Kelly’s long-range free sailed between the Clonmel posts 55 minutes into this Munster Club SFC quarter-final, the linesman turned to Commercials manager Charlie McGeever and remarked their race was run.

The scoreboard read 1-7 to 0-6 in Newcastle West’s favour and, in truth, it was impossible to see a road back for the home outfit. They struggled in front of goal all afternoon and had been on the back foot as early as the second minute when their Limerick opponents struck for 1-1.

What materialised in the closing five minutes of regulation time and the two additional minutes played by referee by Kevin Murphy bordered on the remarkable. Having managed a meagre six points in the opening 50 minutes, the Tipperary champions kicked a further six coming down the home stretch to secure passage to the Munster semi-final. An Aldo Matassa white flag directly after Kelly’s booming free bore the hallmarks of a consolation score, but was quickly followed by an Ian Barnes free — full-forward Michael Quinlivan drew the foul after expertly taking down Jack Kennedy’s delivery. And when Pádraig Looram split the posts on 58 minutes, the gap stood at one. Game back on.