Tipperary 4-18; Clare 2-21
We’re only half way through the month of May and barring a miracle that champions Clare won’t be in, never mind contend further for the Liam MacCarthy Cup.
Tipperary meanwhile who few fancied going into this year are looking good for a Munster final place and manager Liam Cahill seems to have got the swagger back into his side - a mixture of the old and the new which has blended very well this Spring.
Any win in Ennis is hard-earned. Tipp may have gone 12 points up at one stage, but typical Clare, they rallied to level going into the last 10 minutes.
What were Tipp made of? We found out as they scored four of the last five points to win this pulsating Munster SHC game while all but opening the trapdoor on the Banner’s hold on Mr MacCarthy.
The outcome of this game was shaped from the old adage that goals win matches. Maybe that should be amended to goals making it easier to win matches or in Clare case, conceding four first half goals gave them a mountain to climb that ultimately proved too high for them.
The mix of old and young in John McGrath and Andrew Ormond saw the pair grab a brace each to put the Premier County a dozen points to the good by the 27th minute of the first half at 4-6 to 0-6.
Missing three regular defenders in John Conlon, Conor Cleary and Diarmuid Ryan, Cahill’s plan to run straight for goal was paying dividends with virtually every chance they got. The two miracles that followed were that Tipp didn’t add any further scores and that Clare came thundering back into the game when they looked like a corpse on a slab ready for a post mortem before the short whistle was blown.
In truth it helped that Mark Rodgers gave them a lifeline before the break when he got through for a goal to lessen the collateral damage. They then came out and rifled over points to reduce the deficit so that when Tony Kelly shot home a penalty on the 63rd minute, the sides were level.
Unbelievable.
We wondered if Tipp would collapse just as we felt Clare would drive on. Neither happened. Instead it was the visitors who stood up to be counted with points from John McGrath, Jason Forde, Eoghan Connolly and substitute Sean Kenneally gave them breathing space that a Rodgers free could not seriously penetrate.
They were winners alright - a first in the Munster series for two years.
Another win next time out against hot and cold Waterford will guarantee them a final place.
Meanwhile the Banner are mathematically out of the Munster final have a very outside chance of third place if all the results go their way this weekend.
Tipperary: R Shelly; M Breen, E Connolly (0-2f), R Doyle; R Maher, C Morgan (0-1), B O’Mara; S O’Farrell, A Tynan; C Stakelum, A Ormond (2-1), N McGrath; J McGrath (2-3), J Morris (0-2), J Forde (0-8, 0-6f, 1’65) Subs: O O’Donoghue for Stakelum (46), S Kennedy for Maher (56-58, BS), W Connors for N. McGrath (58), Kennedy for O’Farrell (62), D Stakelum for Tynan (62, inj), S Kenneally (0-1) for Forde (66)
Clare: E Quilligan; D Lohan, A Hogan, C Leen; D Lohan, D McInerney, C Galvin; C Malone (0-1), R Taylor (0-2); S Rynne (0-3), D Reidy, P Duggan (0-1); T Kelly (1-1, 1-0 Pen, 0-1f), M Rodgers (1-13, 0-13f), S Meehan Subs: R Hayes for Leen (19, inj), S O’Donnell for Meehan (44), D Fitzgerald for Rynne (58), I Galvin for Reidy (62), J Conlon for D Lohan (67)
Ref: J Owens (Wexford).
