Tipperary 0-16
Limerick 2-5

Sean Carey struck for 0-7 as Tipperary made their way into a fourth successive Munster Under 21 Football Championship final at the expense of Limerick yesterday at Thurles.

Despite playing against a heavy breeze in the first-half, the hosts were well on top in the opening stages and had led by 0-8 to 0-3 when David Ward handed Limerick a major lifeline in the 29th minute by fisting in his team's first goal.

The blow didn't dishearten the young Premier men though, as Carey hit back with a fine point to nudge his side 0-9 to 1-3 in front at the interval.

As the second-half progressed, Tipp began to turn the screw on their neighbours, who sorely missed ace forward Ian Ryan though injury, and opened up a 0-12 to 1-4 lead with Carey and Bernard O'Brien raising the white flags.

Just as the visitors looked to be dead and buried, they were given a major boost on 44 minutes when John Riordan galloped forward from wing-back and finished his team's second goal to the Tipp net. Seamus O'Carroll's fisted point mean the deficit was reduced to just one with over a quarter of an hour remaining.

However, in that time it was all Tipp as they rattled off four points without reply, with Casey to the forefront, to make sure of their place in the provincial decider alongside either Kerry or Waterford.

Tipperary - K Kenrick; R Kiely, C McDonald, D Lynch; P O Dwyer, J Coghlan, D Dwyer; A Moloney, P Acheson (0-2); S Carey (0-7), B O Brien (0-3), G Ryan (0-1); C Sweeney (0-3), B O'Meara, M O Dwyer. Subs: P McEvoy for Ryan, T Hanley for O'Brien, S Egan for O Meara, A Matassa for O Dwyer.

Limerick - B Scanlon; E Fitzgibbon, M McCormack, D Quaid; B Treacy, E Joy, J Riordan(1-0); B O Brien, T McMahon; D Ward(1-0), J Kelly, E O Connor (0-4); P Sheahan, C Joyce-Power, S O Carroll(0-1); Subs: J Browne for Quaid, P McEnery for Sheahan, E Kennedy for McMahon, J Martin for Ward.

Ref: M Collins (Cork). Tweet

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