Tipp leave it late to beat Limerick in Munster Minor Hurling Championship
GAA: Electric Ireland Munster Minor Hurling Championship Quarter Final
Tipperary 4-15
Limerick 2-18
The number 23 proved to be lucky number for Tipperary last night as Niall Hoctor's injury time goal saw the Premier County scrape past Limerick in the opening round of the Munster Minor Hurling Championship.
Nenagh Eire Og's Conor McCarthy had incorrectly worn the number 23 in the first half but it yielded 1-3 for his side before changing to his correct jersey for the second half with the correct number 23 Niall Hoctor coming off the bench and proved to be the match winner.
Tipperary looked to be in a strong position at half time, leading 2-10 to 1-8, with Andrew Ormond goaling just on half time to give the home side a generous advantage and within seconds of the restart, substitute Willie Barry made an impact with a goal within sixteen seconds of his introduction.
However, within two minutes, Tipperary had conceded a second goal to Dylan O'Shea, as Limerick slowly began to turn the screw with centre forward Paul O'Brien at the heart of the Shannonsiders revival with eleven points but his overall impact caused Tipperary captain and centre back Paddy Cadell no end of problems.
O'Brien converted a 65 and a long range free deep in normal time to put Limerick in front for the first time but with the tide going against them, Anthony McKelvey (free) and Jake Morris brought Tipperary level before Willie Barry and Conor Bowe linked up to play in Niall Hoctor for the match winning goal three minutes into injury time.
“I can't but feel it was a sense of luck tonight being honest,” admitted manager Liam Cahill.
“I thought after five or ten minutes of the second half, Limerick totally took over in the middle third of the field and we found it very difficult to get a handle on it with the chap of the O'Brien's playing deep and creating overlaps.”
Limerick centre forward Paul O'Brien scored 0-11, 3 from play, but had a hand in so much of what the Shannonsiders did well and they can feel mightily unlucky to be going through the backdoor but the extra game(s) might serve them well, unlike Tipperary who will now be idle until the semi-final in late June.
“You'd like to go the straight route, if possible,” added Cahill.
“The reality of it is our players are a little bit disappointed because they know they didn't play to their potential. Championship hurling teaches them great lessons, for both us on the line as management and players, we learnt an awful lot from tonight.
He added: “It gives great confidence to players when you win a game like that. I have to compliment my players as they never gave up. With two minutes to go of normal time, Limerick looked to be on the front foot and it was their game but Jake Morris, who by his standards had a quite game, he stood up and hit the equaliser and a couple of subs that were used, Willie Barry for an under 17, showed great composure for the pass to Conor Bowe to create the goal chance for Niall Hoctor.
“There's a lot of positives from it but I would be concerned about our energy levels, I won't say fitness as it shouldn't be an issue with fella's of 17 and 18, but it is a trend that is there that we'll have to work on, to become more consistent, to see out matches a bit better because we seemed to drive on in spasms tonight.
“There's a good few aspects we can look at but if they are rectified, we will be a decent enough side come the end of June.
“The big worry for us is we have ten or eleven weeks to prepare and that is ample time but there is nothing like competitive matches, we'll have to have a lot of things right to be ready without any competitive game in twelve weeks time but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
The only upside from being straight into the semi-finals is that Tipperary are due home advantage for that game as they can only meet either Cork or Waterford, whom they played away from home last year.
MATCH DIGEST
Man of the Match: Paul O'Brien (Limerick)
Scorers – Tipperary: Conor McCarthy 1-3; Anthony McKelvey 0-5 (4 frees); Andrew Ormond 1-1; Willie Barry, Niall Hoctor 1-0 each; Conor Bowe, Jake Morris 0-2 each;Cathal Bourke, Kieran Breen 0-1 each.
Limerick: Paul O'Brien 0-11 (7 frees, 1 65); Dylan O'Shea 2-2; David Woulfe 0-3; Ronan Connolly, Dan Minehan 0-1 each.
Tipperary: Eoin Collins (Drom & Inch 6); Michael Purcell (Thurles Sarsfields 5); Michael Feehan (Sean Treacys 7), Jerome Cahill (Kilruane MacDonaghs 8); Craig Morgan (Kilruane MacDonaghs 6), Paddy Cadell (JK Brackens, Capt 6), Joe Gunne (St Mary's Clonmel 6); Bryan O'Mara (Holycross/Ballycahill 8), Kieran Breen (Knockavilla Kickhams 6); Conor Bowe (Moyne-Templetuohy 7), Jake Morris (Nenagh Eire Og 7), Conor McCarthy (Nenagh Eire Og 8); Andrew Ormond (JK Brackens 7), Anthony McKelvey (Moycarkey/Borris 7), Darragh Woods (Holycross/Ballycahill 5).
Subs: Willie Barry (Cappawhite 7) for Woods (HT); Cathal Bourke (Clonoulty/Rossmore 7) for McCarthy (40 inj); Brendan Murphy (Cappawhite 6) for Gunne (46); Niall Hoctor (St Mary's Clonmel 8) for Ormond (57)
Limerick: Bryan Curtin (6); Conor Flahive (8), Conor Nicholas (Capt 8), Ciaran Barry (6); Mikey O'Brien (6), Jerome Boyland (7), Dan Minehan (7); Michael O'Grady (7), Rory Duff (7); Paul O'Riordan (6), Paul O'Brien (9), David Woulfe (8); Ryan Tobin (7), Ronan Connolly (6), Dylan O'Shea (8).
Subs: Ken Byrnes (6) for Tobin (46); Paudie Maher (NR) for Minehan (56).
Referee: Nathan Wall (Cork)