Limerick 2-26 Tipperary 2-14: Treaty click to hammer Tipp
Monday 1 July 2019 07:45, UK
Limerick now hold all three of hurling's major trophies, after hammering a fancied Tipperary team in the Munster final, 2-26 to 2-14.
The Treaty lost twice during the provincial campaign, but have timed their run to perfection and are now into the All-Ireland semi-final thanks to their most impressive performance of the summer to date.
The Premier badly missed the injured duo of Patrick 'Bonner' Maher and Cathal Barrett, as they now face a tough few weeks to pick themselves back up for the All-Ireland quarter-final against Laois or Dublin.
Tipperary started the brighter, enjoying a significant wind advantage in the first half. While the meeting of the sides two weeks ago was criticised as 'shadow-boxing', this was undoubtedly no holes barred.
The sides exchanged jabs in the opening exchanges, before Tipp landed the first significant blow of the bout in the 18th minute.
Goal machine Seamus Callanan turned Diarmaid Byrnes and ran at the Treaty defence. He was surprisingly not met by onrushing defenders, and he placed a fierce shot past Nickie Quaid in the Treaty goal.
With Tipp leading by four, many felt they would kick on, like they so often have done in recent weeks.
However, Limerick didn't take a backwards step, responding positively with successive points, and minutes later they were level.
Aaron Gillane broke in from the left-hand side, flicking it into the middle where Peter Casey was charging in, and the Na Piarsaigh star batted it home.
From there, the Treaty kicked on to lead by two at the break, thanks to a pair of long-range frees from Diarmaid Byrnes.
After the break, Tipp stepped it up a notch. John McGrath's goal brought it level in the 44th minute, and it looked like they were right in contention.
However, the All-Ireland champions found another gear, and the visitors weren't able to live with them.
Peter Casey, Kyle Hayes and Aaron Gillane piled on the scores, and a Hayes goal in the 56th minute proved the turning point, putting Limerick six up.
From there, they finished with a flourish to win by 12 points.
As thousands of Limerick fans flooded the field at full-time, there was a sense around the LIT Gaelic Grounds that John Kiely's side will be difficult to stop once again this summer.
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