Limerick 3-23

Tipperary 2-17

Limerick produced a dominant performance to see off All-Ireland champions Tipperary in a rain-soaked Munster SHC semi-final at Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

The Treaty comfortably accounted for their neighbours for the second year in-a-row to set up a first Munster final meeting with Waterford since 2007. John Kiely's men led by 1-17 to 1-8 at the break and repelled Tipp's strong start to the second half with a goal from a 48th minute Aaron Gillane penalty. Tipp hit back with a highly controversial John McGrath goal six minutes later, but it made no difference as the reigning Munster champions stepped on the gas once again to inflict a nine-point defeat on Liam Sheedy's charges, who must now rely on the backdoor route in their quest to retain the Liam MacCarthy Cup.

This was another brilliant Limerick performance who posted a record 0-36 in their quarter-final win over Clare last weekend. With the elements behind them in the opening half, they raced into a 0-6 to 0-1 lead inside eight minutes thanks to points from the outstanding Gearoid Hegarty, Tom Morrissey and William O'Donoghue.

Tipp grabbed the next three scores to reduce the deficit to two points before the winners responded to lead by 0-7 to 0-4 at the first water break.

Hegarty, Morrissey and O'Donoghue were on target again before Tipp got themselves back into contention with a Jake Morris goal after Seamus Callanan had set him up. But the 2018 All-Ireland champions conjured an instant reply through Gillane - who kicked the ball to the net - to lead by 1-9 to 1-5 after 20 minutes.

The swiftness of Limerick's response seemed to have a demoralising effect on the Premier boys who were outscored by 0-2 to 0-7 in the remainder of the half. After Cian Lynch and Graeme Mulcahy had traded points with Jason Forde (free) and Brendan Maher, the winners reeled off five without reply per Lynch, Diarmuid Byrnes, Peter Casey and Mulcahy (two) to lead by nine at the interval.

Limerick’s Pat Ryan has his shot saved by Brian Hogan of Tipperary. ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne.

Tipp resumed with three unanswered points, only for Limerick to hit back with a second goal from Gillane after Hegarty was fouled for a penalty. Gillane tagged on a point as the Treaty men took a 2-19 to 1-13 lead into the second water break.

One of the game's major talking points came just after the restart when John McGrath's goal was allowed to stand, despite his brother Noel having picked the ball off the ground in the build-up. An Alan Flynn point narrowed the gap to five before Limerick brought on David Reidy, Seamus Flanagan and Pat Ryan, and all three scored points before Flanagan applied the coup de grace with his late goal.

The victory leaves Limerick just 70 minutes away from winning back-to-back Munster SHC titles for the first time since 1980-81.

Limerick - N Quaid; S Finn, D Morrissey, B Nash; D Byrnes (0-3, 2f), D Hannon, D O’Donovan; C Lynch (0-2), W O’Donoghue (0-2); G Hegarty (0-2), K Hayes, T Morrissey (0-2); G Mulcahy (0-2), A Gillane (2-6, 1-0pen, 0-5f), P Casey (0-1). Subs: D Reidy (0-1) for T Morrissey, S Flanagan (1-1) for G Mulcahy, P Ryan (0-1) for D O’Donovan.

Tipperary - B Hogan; C Barrett, R Maher, S O’Brien; B Maher (0-1), Padraic Maher, B Heffernan; N McGrath (0-2), A Flynn (0-1); M Kehoe, J Forde (0-10f), N O’Meara (0-1); J McGrath (1-0), S Callanan, J Morris (1-1). Subs: M Breen (0-1) for M Kehoe, J Meagher for Padraic Maher, D McCormack for N O’Meara, J O’Dwyer for J Morris.

Referee - L Gordon.

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