Galway are All-Ireland minor hurling champions for the tenth time after a 4-13 to 1-16 victory over Tipperary at Croke Park this afternoon.

Goals from Brian Concannon, Liam Forde, Cianan Fahy and Michael Lynch as well as nine points from the hurl of mercurial Man of the Match Evan Niland propelled Jeff Lynskey's charges - who led for most of the game - to the Irish Press Cup for the first time since 2011. Goalkeeper Darragh Gilligan was also instrumental for the victors, executing three superb stops.

The sides were level after the opening half hour - 1-7 to 0-10 - with Galway's No.10 Concannon netting the only goal of the opening period in the 18th minute.

Full forward Niland won and converted an early free to open the scoring and the Clarinbridge clubman doubled his tally from a long-range free on four minutes. Corner forwards Lyndon Fairbrother and Tommy Nolan drew the Premier County level before midfielder Jack Coyne restored the Tribe's advantage with a sumptuous strike between the Hill 16 posts from beneath the Cusack Stand.

Fairbrother clipped over a free and centre back Brian McGrath had Tipp ahead for the first time when he converted a 13th-minute '65' after goalkeeper Gilligan had denied Garry Ryan. When Coyne replied, Fairbrother's third point edged the Munster champions back ahead for the second time.

The winners roared back in front when Brian Concannon whipped a low shot to the bottom right corner of the Tipp net in the 18th minute but Liam Cahill's men drew level within two minutes thanks to Alan Tynan and Nolan: 0-7 to 1-4 with ten minutes left in the first half.

Niland and Fairbrother (free) traded scores, as did McGrath (free) and Niland (free). And there was yet another exchange of scores between Thomas Monaghan and Fairbrother before the short whistle sounded.

After swapping points with Tipperary captain Stephen Quirke, Niland whacked over a terrific free into the Davin End from under the Hogan Stand to establish a lead that would never be relinquished and Galway moved four points clear when substitute Forde hammered his shot to the roof of the net in the 38th minute. Niland drilled over another brilliant free and the Tribe pounced for their third major on 40 minutes, with corner forward Fahy lashing to the net to leave eight points between them - 3-10 to 0-11.

Quirke's sideline cut was cancelled out by another Niland free as Jeff Lynskey's lads led by eight points at the three-quarters stage. Cian Darcy (free) and captain Sean Loftus - who covered every blade of grass - exchanged points and Darcy's second converted free ensured that the gap was seven points with as many minutes left.

After Niland (free) collected his ninth score, Nolan hit a lovely Tipp goal with a speculative groundstroke but Galway replied with a Lynch finish to the net in the first of four added minutes. Tipp got the last two scores of the game via substitute Michael Connors and Darragh Peters ('65') but there was to be no stopping this Galway team today.

Galway - D Gilligan; K O'Connor, J Fitzpatrick, S Bannon; C Mulry, I O'Brien, A Greaney; J Coyne (0-2), J Grealish; B Concannon (1-0), T Monaghan (0-1), F Burke; C Fahy (1-0), E Niland (0-9, 8f), S Loftus (0-1). Subs: L Forde (1-0) for F Burke, C Salmon for C Fahy, C McDaid for I O'Brien, M Lynch (1-0) for B Concannon, R Malone for A Greaney.

Tipperary - P Hayes; E Heffernan, E Moloney, J Quigley; K Hassett, B McGrath (0-2, 1sl), D Peters (0-1'65); S Quirke (0-2, 1sl), L McCutcheon; C Darcy (0-2f), G Ryan, A Tynan (0-1); T Nolan (1-2), D Gleeson, L Fairbrother (0-5, 4f). Subs: R Mulrooney for L McCutcheon, J Skehan for G Ryan, M Connors (0-1) for L Fairbrother, S Neville for D Gleeson.

Referee - P O'Dwyer.

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