Limerick footballers stun Tipperary to win first Munster championship game since 2012

Seven years since their last Munster victory, three years since their last championship win of any kind and two years propping up Division Four of the National League, Limerick’s senior footballers finally found their stride again as they defied the odds, the pundits and form with a clinically passionate dismissal of Tipperary in the provincial quarter-final in Thurles on Saturday night. - LIMERICK 3-11 TIPPERARY 1-10

Edging ahead early on and holding their own in a tight first-half, they opened up after the break when two goals inside nine mid-second-half minutes gave them a lead they were never going to surrender and lit up the forgotten corners of the Munster championship in a highly entertaining encounter.

Key to the visitors’ success was an unexpected dominance of midfield where Tommy Childs had a stormer in his first championship match and a half-back line that never allowed Tipp’s highly-rated inside forwards see enough of the ball. But the big difference between the sides lay in the soul where Limerick, unlike as in recent seasons, retained a positive belief in their destiny from throw-in to whistle and never let their opponents’ response knock them off track.

Limerick got stuck in from the throw-in, hassling Tipp possession and forcing the openings as Jamie Lee’s free for an off-the-ball foul got off the mark and Adrian Enright followed up off a Tommy Childs pass. Michael Quinlivan’s fisted point settled the hosts and they would have grabbed the lead had Shane O’Connell not blasted wide from five metres but they followed up with Conor Sweeney’s equalizing free and a Steven O’Brien punt that needed Hawkeye’s confirmation.

However, Limerick picked it up again after a storming Iain Corbett point was met by Sweeney and they equalised again after a goal-bound Séamus O’Carroll shot was blocked and Adrian Enright sent over the rebound. After a floating Enright pass just missed Paul Enright’s fist on the edge of the square, frees from Lee and Seán McSweeney put the visitors ahead but, after an exchange between Liam Casey and Lee, they conceded free to Sweeney and Liam McGrath to tie up the game again. 

 In added time, Cillian Fahy’s fisted point restored the visitors’ lead but, right on the whistle, Quinlivan pounced from a tight angle to tie up the score at half-time at 0-8 apiece. Sixteen seconds from the restart, Corbett put Limerick back in front before Tipp missed two frees, dropped two chances short and shot another three wides in ten minutes of sustained attack that couldn’t shake off the limpet-like grip of the Limerick defence.

Then, when the visitors finally emerged from theoir own half, Darragh Treacy fought, got dispossessed and then recovered to feed the overlapping Corbett who wowed the attendance of 2,165 with a rising rasper to the far corner of Evan Comerford’s net. As the Tipp grip on possession loosened, they missed chances to move further ahead until a Lee Hail Mary from the left touchline was kept in play by Fahy who turned to blast to the roof of the net from the edge of the small square.

SCORERS,LIMERICK: Iain Corbett, Cillian Fahy 1-2 each, Jamie Lee 0-4 (1 free), Peter Nash 1-0, Adrian Enright 0-2, Seán McSweeney 0-1 (free); TIPPERARY: Michael Quinlivan 1-2, Conor Sweeney 0-4 (3 frees), Liam McGrath 0-2 (2 frees), Steven O’Brien, Liam Casey 0-1 each.

LIMERICK: Donal O’Sullivan; Brian Fanning, Seán O’Dea, Paul Maher (Limerick); Colm McSweeney, Iain Corbett, Gordon Browne; Darragh Treacy, Tommy Childs; Adrian Enright, Cillian Fahy, Mike Fitzgibbon; Seán McSweeney, Séamus O’Carroll, Jamie Lee. SUBS: Peter Nash for Jamie Lee (62 minutes), Stephen Keeley for Adrian Enright (70 minutes), Pádraig de Brún for Mike Fitzgibbon (70 minutes).

TIPPERARY: Evan Comerford; Alan Campbell, John Meagher, Shane O’Connell; Kevin Fahey, Robbie Kiely, Emmet Moloney; Steven O’Brien, Liam Casey; Josh Keane, Paul Maher (Tipp), Brian Fox; Conor Sweeney, Michael Quinlivan, Liam McGrath. SUBS: Bill Maher for Robbie Kiely (half-time), Liam Boland for Paul Maher (half-time), Daire Brennan for Kevin Fahey (57 minutes), Dan O’Meara for Kevin Fahey (66 minutes), Jimmy Feehan for John Meagher (71 minutes).

REFEREE: James Molloy (Galway).