Munster senior hurling championship: Tipp toppled by Limerick after poor showing

Limerick 1-23

Tipperary 2-14

Tipperary have been beaten by Limerick in the first round of the Munster championship at Pairc na nGael, Limerick this afternoon.

A poor performance from The Premier County which lacked real intensity, resulted in Michael Ryans men having a real mountain to climb to make the Munster Final, or even the All-Ireland quarter finals.

Limerick scored 1-5 in the last ten minutes to seal the victory - a win which now sees with a must win game against Cork on Sunday next in Semple Stadium.

Tipperary's interval lead of 1-10 to 0-13 was welcome but hardly deserved after a lacklustre first half saw the side play second fiddle to Limerick for most of the way. The big boost was a Dan McCormack goal in the 20th minute  which set Tipp up nicely in a half which saw parity between the sides on seven occasions.

Gilt edge chances had gone abegging on both sides, but Limerick missed better ones than Tipp and probably counted themselves unlucky not to have been in front at the break - Graeme Mulcahy hitting 0-4 for Limerick from play in the half. 

A Tipp goal from Jason Forde in the 16th minute of the second half brought Tipp back to level again after Limerick has worked themselves back into the lead,  but Tipp were to manage only one more score from play for the remainder of the game while Limerick blasted 1-6 to seal the game - the goal coming from Barry Murphy in the 33rd minute.

It was a disappointingly flat performance from Tipperary - another one like this and it will be a short season.