Tipperary face Limerick in final round of Munster Minor Hurling Championship this evening

By Michael Dundon

An impromptu post-mortem on the pitch at Semple Stadium followed Tipperary’s four points defeat by Clare in round four of the Munster Minor Hurling Championship last Thursday.

Manager James Woodlock and his back-room team had much to consider as their bid to extend their winning sequence to three games floundered with a four-point defeat, but top on their agenda was surely the concession of four goals, three in an eight minute spell in the first half, and the fourth after Tipp had worked their socks off to draw level at the three quarter stage.

The statistics will show that Tipperary registered nineteen scores and Clare fifteen but the manner in which the defence was prized open for the goals is a concern that management will have to address before the final round-robin game against Limerick this Friday when a win is imperative if Tipp are to secure a place in the Munster final.

The Drom & Inch clubman could not hide his dismay at the finish.

“It is very disappointing,” he began.

“The goals were the killer, particularly since they were preventable. We will have to look back at the videos to see how they came about and then we will see what we can do about it.

However, the manager praised his team’s efforts to redress the situation.

“We have a good bunch of players here and they worked really hard to get back on terms, but the goals were the killer”, he reiterated.

On the positive side, Tipp’s continued interest in the Munster championship and the opportunity to become the first winners of the John Doyle Cup. They face a Limerick side which has lost all three games and significantly now know that scoring difference could be an issue depending on other results.

“If we can beat Limerick, we can still reach the final depending on other results but scoring difference could come into it”, Woodlock added.

Unbeaten Clare face Cork in their next game. A win for Clare and a win for Tipp will see the two re-match in the Munster final. If Cork beat Clare and Tipp beat Limerick, the three sides will finish on six points and then scoring difference comes into play to determine the finalists.

This years new All-Ireland format sees the Munster and Leinster champions go straight through to the semi-finals, with the provincial runners-up going into a quarter final where they will play the winners of the preliminary quarter finals between the third and fourth placed teams in Munster and the losing semi-finalists in Leinster.

The Tipperary team selected to face Limerick shows one change from the loss to Clare with Darragh O'Hora coming in at midfield for Killian Cantwell.