Tipperary hurlers embarrassed by Limerick in Munster opener

Munster Senior Hurling Championship - Round 2

Tipperary 0-18

Limerick 2-27

A dark, dark day for Tipperary hurling. 

Beaten by a point a man by Limerick in their Munster Senior Hurling Championship opener in TUS Gaelic Grounds, this was an embarrassing display from Tipperary who completely capitulated early in the second half and had no answer to the Limerick machine; a machine it has to be said didn’t need to go into second gear to claim their second win.

It completely beggars belief that this team could have such a big build-up for this game, and even had the luxury of looking at a poor Limerick performance in Ennis the week previous but still managed to look like a team who only met each other before throw-in.

Despite a dour and lacklustre first-half contest which was riddled with errors from both teams, Tipp didn’t look at all comfortable and even though they only trailed by 0-12 to 0-7 at the break with a big wind coming in the second half, it made no discernible difference to the flow of the game and, if anything, Limerick looked way more threatening.

It really was a case of men against boys as Limerick took the game away from Tipp early in the second half; Aaron Gillane’s thunderbolt in the 44th minute all but confirmed which way the result was going, but the lack of fight and resistance from Tipp was worrying and the game was summed up in the final ten minutes when Adam English - introduced on 61 minutes - managed to outscore the any Tipperary forward on the field with four points from play.

Tipperary supporters can be pessimistic at the best of times but the overall consensus leading into this game was a win may be hard to achieve but a solid performance was paramount to give the panel a good chance of qualifying from the province. 

The performances of key men like Jake Morris, Jason Forde, Bryan O’Mara, etc. were so far off the levels of what we usually associated with them; the team’s first touch, link-up play, conviction in possession, and shooting (in the first half especially) would lead you to wonder what was achieved on the recent training camp to Portugal. They played with a strong element of fear, and it showed in the final result.

Even though this is game one of four, the loss will cause huge concerns for Tipperary with the huge minus-15 scoring difference as it makes the complexion of Tipperary’s challenge for a top-three spot completely emaciated and Liam Cahill and his team will have to churn out a miracle from here based on this display.

The six-day turnaround leaves very little time for the players and management to lick their wounds as they will have to turn their attention to a tough trip to a rejuvenated Waterford team in Walsh Park next Saturday, with their season now firmly on the line.

Scorers: Tipperary: Jason Forde (0-9, 0-8f), Mark Kehoe 0-2, Gearoid O’Connor (0-2, 0-1f), Eoghan Connolly, Alan Tynan, Noel McGrath, Patrick Maher, Johnny Ryan all 0-1 each.

Limerick: Aaron Gillane (1-8, 0-7f), Peter Casey 1-2, Adam English 0-4, Cathal O’Neill, Tom Morrissey 0-3 each, Diarmaid Byrnes, David Reidy 0-2 each, Kyle Hayes, Will O’Donoghue, Donnacha Ó Dalaigh all 0-1 each.

Tipperary: Barry Hogan; Johnny Ryan, Ronan Maher, Craig Morgan; Mikey Breen, Bryan O’Mara, Conor Bowe; Willie Connors, Eoghan Connolly; Sean Hayes, Gearoid O’Connor, Alan Tynan; Jake Morris, Mark Kehoe, Jason Forde.

Subs used: Noel McGrath for Hayes (HT); Patrick Maher for Kehoe (42); Andrew Ormond for Connors (50); Darragh Stakelum for Tynan (58); Seanie Kenneally for Forde (69).

Limerick: Nicky Quaid; Sean Finn, Dan Morrissey, Barry Nash; Diarmaid Byrnes, Declan Hannon, Kyle Hayes; Will O’Donoghue, Cathal O’Neill; Gearoid Hegarty, David Reidy, Tom Morrissey; Aaron Gillane, Peter Casey, Cian Lynch.

Subs used: Donnacha Ó Dalaigh for Hegarty (52); Graeme Mulcahy for Casey (58, inj); Adam English for Lynch (61); Colin Coughlan for Hayes (65).

Referee: Liam Gordon (Galway)