Tipperary 2-15
Clare 0-12

Two late goals ensured Tipperary a place in the semi-finals of the Munster minor hurling championship at Clare's expense this evening.

Before 1,191 spectators at Cusack Park in Ennis, Tipp secured a late victory here thanks to goals from Cian Darcy and Dylan Walsh after having let an eight-point lead slip down to three with five minutes remaining.

Liam Cahill's charges had bossed their opponents for large portions of first-half, with Ger Browne, Mark Kehoe and Shane Neville all in excellent scoring form, to take in a comfortable lead at the break before allowing the hosts back in in the second-half.

That required Darcy and Walsh to seal the deal for the holders towards  the added minutes, which now sees them facing Cork in the semi-finals on June 30th.

Jerry Kelly, Lydon Fairbrother and Neville were all accurate early on to establish a three-point lead for visitors after six minutes.

The home side drew some inspiration from a splendid Sean O'Loughlin point to bring themselves level on 10 minutes, but the scales tipped in the Premier men's favour after Paddy Cadell and Clonlara's Davy Fitzgerald trade points just shy of the quarter hour mark.

Seven unanswered points followed for the would-be winners, as long-range specialist Browne (3), Kehoe (2), Neville and Darcy punished their opponents' sloppiness at the back, sending their side towards a deserved 0-12 to 0-5 half-time lead.

The early stages of the second-half saw Browne pick up where he left off by sending over his fourth but Clare fought back well with the next four scores to keep in contention.

Kehoe sent over a brace of points at the other end  to push Cahill's side's advantage back to six with a quarter of an hour to go, but the hosts simply were not willing to going away.

A gem from Conor Lynch was Clare's third score on the trot and it looked to set-up a nervy finish before Clare took maximum profit from their last two meaningful attacks.

Tipperary - C Barrett; C O'Dwyer, M Whelan, G Dunne; B McGrath, J Cahill, C Flanagan; P Cadell (0-1), J Kelly (0-1); G Browne (0-4), R Doody, M Kehoe (0-4); S Neville (0-2), C Darcy (1-1), L Fairbrother (0-2, 1f). Subs: B O'Meara for P Cadell, J Morris for J Kelly, D Quirke for S Neville, K Breen for L Fairbrother, D Walsh (1-0) for R Doody.

Clare - K Nugent; C McInerney, D O'Loughlin, K White; T O'Meara, C Noonan, R Hayes; K Galvin (0-1), D Fitzgerald (0-1); G Cooney, C Tierney (0-1), S Kennedy (0-1); S O'Loughlin (0-2), I Murray (0-5, 4f), A Kennedy. Subs, S Costello for R Hayes, T Connellan for C Tierney, C Lynch (0-1) for D Fitzgerald, B Conway for K Galvin.

Referee - J Larkin.

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