Munster Minor Championship 2024

Round 2

Limerick v Tipperary.

Staker Wallace GAA, Martinstown, Limerick.

Saturday 17/02/2024  2pm.

Referee : Justin Murphy

FIRST HALF

Tipperary faced this encounter with great grit and determination buoyed by their 1^st round win over Waterford.

Having taken ownership of the throw in Tipperary instantly brought their sublime passing game into action and were on the scoreboard in under a minute with a goal from Ciara O’Hora’s boot before the Limerick backs could react. A somewhat shocked Limerick were unable to steer the attack away before a further passage of play by the dominant Tipperary full and half forward lines saw a brace of points sail over the crossbar courtesy of Aedin McCormack in the second and fifth minutes.

The Limerick side were finding it difficult to deal with Tipperary’s pace and organisation when the ball was worked into Lucy O’Brien’s path, on a run from the mid field, she left very few in doubt when she popped Tipperary’s third point from play with still less than 6 minutes on the clock.

The speed of attack and the hard and consistent team work from the Tipp side paid great dividends with Tipp pointing further on 8 mins via Issy Carr, Ciara O’Hora in the 9^th minute and Lucy O’Brien at the 15 minute mark to put 1-6 between the sides.

Limerick started to get a little purchase from their efforts and Aoife Kennedy pulled off a super save from an incoming Lily Maher shot that ended up being cleverly utilised by the Treaty side and they registered their first score of the game in the 21^st minute from a placed ball off Molly Creedon’s boot.

While they found territory, Limerick battled hard against the well organised Tipperary back lines and from play found Creedon again to slot their second score a minute later.

From the resultant Anna Phelan kick out Tipperary held possession and seamlessly worked the ball through the lines to finish the attack with a further Aedin McCormack point in the 23^rd minute.

With the game finding somewhat of a balance of possession Limerick added to their tally in the 24^th minute with a point from Emma O’Rourke’s boot.

Tipperary threatened the Limerick goal on a number of occasions calling on Aoife Kennedy to pull of some great saves including a magnificent long range effort from Emily Spillane and although the Premiers back and half back lines had to work tirelessly throughout Tipperary tagged on Issy Carr, Molly Crowe and Emily Spillane points before the referee blew the half time whistle.

HALF TIME                               LIMERICK 0 – 3                           TIPPERARY 1 – 10

SECOND HALF

The second half saw the introduction of 4 sets of fresh legs for Tipperary and a somewhat re invigorated Limerick side. Undoubtably, Limerick were not going to go down without a battle on their home turf and the game had a more balanced feel to the second half with long spells of it entertaining the crowd with great displays of skill and both hand and kick passing.

Tipperary were first to get off the mark having lost the throw in but nonetheless regaining possession and pointing within the minute mark thanks to a great delivery to Ciara O’Hora. The resultant kick out was contested well by Tipperary and Molly Gilmartins recycled ball fell sweetly in to Ciara O’Hora’s hands for a further point before the second minute was out.

With Limerick failing to retain possession from that resultant kickout Ciara O’Hora had her 3^rd of the second half in as many minutes. Without doubt, all of Tipperary’s subs were extremely impactful and brought a fresh and renewed energy to the dominant squad.

Limerick, very efficiently managed the kickout from the previous passage of play and in a blistering attack down the centre of the pitch they found the net from a sweet strike from Meabh Kelly in the 11^th minute.

With the contest for possession ramping up both sides lost a player each to injury in the 12^th minute following a very unfortunate clash between Eva Cremins and Rachel Sommers, thankfully both players appeared well after the game.

Both sides settled back into the game following the brief injury pause and on the 19^th minute, Tipperary, thanks to some exceptional movement outfield, delivered a net rattler off Lucy O’Brien’s boot to put 12 between the sides. To add to Limericks dismay, on the 21 minutemark, they were reduced to 14 having been issued a yellow card.

Tipp kept the pressure piled on and delivered quality ball to the ever watchful forward lines who were unlucky at times with their shot selection.

To give Limerick due credit, they never gave up the elusive hunt for scores and finished their day with a well taken point from play from Aoife Moriarty in the 28^th minute while Tipperary tagged a further 2 scores from Aedin McCormack and Amy Reddan in the dying minutes of this contest.

Tipperary were the dominant side here and although they scored well Limerick put up strong battles throughout. An energy sapping contest that leaves a short window of recovery to Round 3 in 7 days time with an away trip to Kerry on the cards.

FULL TIME               LIMERICK 1- 5                         TIPPERARY 2 - 16

TIPPERARY

Anna Phelan, Kate Cremins, Sarah Luttrell, Niamh O’Farrell, Emaleigh Cuddihy, Eva Cremins, Ciara Walsh, Sinead O’Carroll, Lucy O’Brien (1-4), Issy Carr (0-2), Molly Crowe (0-1), Emily Spillane(0-1), Lily Maher, Aedin McCormack (0-4), Ciara O’Hora (1-5)

SUBS USED

Molly Gilmartin for Molly Crowe (H/T), Caitlin Shelly for Niamh O’Farrell (H/T), Sophie Coughlan for Ciara Walsh (H/T), Roisin Carew for Lily Maher (H/T), Amy Reddan for Eva Cremins (42 mins), Meave O’Callaghan for Emily Spillane (48 mins), Aoife Shelly for Issy Carr (49 mins).