Limerick surrendered their Munster and All-Ireland titles when Tipperary beat them by 2-12 to 1-13 at Thurles tonight.

It was a poor night for hurling but Tipp prevailed thanks to goals two minutes from the end of each half courtesy of Andrew Coffey and substitute Ronan Teehan.

Darragh O'Donovan's last-gasp major for the defending champions came too late as the Premier County sealed a date with Waterford at Walsh Park in the Munster decider on Wednesday week, wherein they will bid to complete a clean sweep of provincial titles having already captured the senior and minor crowns last weekend.

The sides were level for the seventh time at the three-quarters stage but William Maher's men finished strongest to deservedly advance. With eleven of last year's All-Ireland winning side on duty, John Kiely's charges never quite sparked as they failed to justify their pre-match billing.

Five Ronan Lynch frees ensured that the Treaty led by the minimum at the end of a disappointing first half, 0-8 to 1-4. With both sets of players struggling to cope with the conditions, we were treated to more mistakes and wides than quality play but exchanges were nevertheless intriguing as the sides were level four times in the first half and the match swung first one way and then the other.

Midfielder Coffey plundered the first Premier goal to give his side the lead with half time looming but the visitors claimed the last two points of the opening period.

Josh Keane opened the scoring from a Tipp free on four minutes but the holders were ahead by the seventh minute thanks to points from Pat Ryan and Ronan Lynch (free) before Seamus Flanagan showed more determination than his marker to gain possession and clip over his team's third score a minute later.

Coffey hammered over a lovely Premier County strike from midfield and Conor Lanigan levelled the scores for the second time before Keane arrowed over the hosts' third successive point in the 17^th minute. Limerick were back on terms when Lynch converted his second free from the centre of the field.

After seven minutes without a score at either end, Lynch popped over a brace of frees to leave two between the teams with three minutes left before the break. Tipp had gone eleven minutes without a score but received a great boost before the short whistle when Coffey planted a close-range shot to the bottom corner of the net on 28 minutes.

Full forward Tom Morrissey exploited a Tipperary handling error to clip over the levelling score and Lynch's fifth of the half arrived deep into added time.

Lanigan was almost in for a second Tipp major at the start of the second half but Eoghan McNamara came off his line and narrowed the angles before executing a vital block with his right arm. But Lanigan showed his persistence as he popped with his second point on 35 minutes to tie the scores up again.

Keane's third successful free saw the lead change hands once more and the No.12 then fired his first from play after a routine Lynch free had levelled the scores for the sixth time 20 minutes from time. Unsurprisingly, they were soon level again thanks to Barry Nash and everything was still to be played for entering the decisive fourth quarter.

Sub Jason Ryan and Coffey ensured that the home side led by two with nine minutes remaining and Mark Russell quickly cancelled out Lynch's seventh as the gap remained at two with six minutes left. When Lynch hammered over a terrific missile from his own '65', the response was again instant, this time from Ryan.

Two minutes from the end, the contest was finally settled when sub Teehan registered the second Tipp major to leave five points between the sides.

The defending provincial and national champions refused to lie down without a fight and they were thrown a possible lifeline when O'Donovan netted in the 60^th minute but the last two points were shared by Teehan and Lynch (his ninth score coming from a late free which flew inches over the bar) as the hosts advanced to the decider in 13 days' time.

The winners of that game will face the Ulster champions for a place in this year's All-Ireland U21 HC against either Dublin or Galway.

Tipperary - B Hogan; P Maher, T Fox, D Sweeney; J Shelly, R Maher, S Ryan; B McCarthy, W Connors; S Quirke, B Heffernan, A Coffey (1-2); J Keane (0-4, 1f), C Lanigan (0-2), M Russell (0-1). Subs: J Ryan (0-2) for W Connors, P Ryan for C Lanigan, R Teehan (1-1) for J Keane, T Nolan for B McCarthy.

Limerick - E McNamara; M Casey, R English, Sean Flanagan; C Ryan, C Lynch, A La Touche Cosgrave; D O'Donovan (1-0), P Ryan (0-1); R Lynch (0-9f), B Nash (0-1), D Dempsey; P Casey, T Morrissey (0-1), Seamus Flanagan (0-1). Subs: O O'Reilly for P Casey, L Lyons for T Morrissey, D Coleman for Seamus Flanagan, J Quaid for A La Touche Cosgrave.

Referee - C McAllister.

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