Tipperary 5-22 Galway 0-12:Things just get better down Tipperary way as the under-21 hurlers totally overpowered a hapless Galway side at Semple Stadium to land the All-Ireland title to go along with the Liam McCarthy Cup their senior counterparts won less than a week ago at Croke Park.
An attacking force throughout, Tipperary ran out a massive 5-22 to 0-12 winners against the Tribesmen. On reflection the 25-point winning margin may have flattered somewhat but they were deserving winners nonetheless.
Goals from Brian O'Meara, John O'Dwyer, Sean Carey, Patrick Maher and Noel McGrath were telling as the Premier County surely have a bright future with such stars in the ranks.
The game started with a goal rush as O'Meara found the goal inside two minutes before John O'Dwyer added a second minutes later.
Barry Daly was first onto the scoresheet for the Tribesmen on six minutes. However further points from Carey, Michael Heffernan and O'Dwyer gave the scoreline an already ominous feel at 2-04 to 0-02 after 13 minutes.
Maher slipped the ball inside for Carey to drill a low shot to the bottom corner of the net for Tipperary’s third goal with only a quarter of an hour gone.
Galway rallied for a time and points came from Johnny Coen, James Regan and Gerard Kelly. Galway sub Anthony Cunningham almost fired home but James Logue was up the task in the Tipp goal.
David Burke hit a couple of long range frees as Galway reduced the gap to seven (3-07 to 0-09) at the break
Further outstanding scores came from Noel McGrath and O'Meara while Logue was called into action again to deny Gerard Kelly, who was also denied by the crossbar.
Tipperary upped the ante once more as Maher cut through the Galway defence to fire home the game’s fourth goal.
With Galway going for broke they were exposed at the back and McGrath's long range free somehow found its way to the net for Tipp’s fifth goal.
To compound matters Niall Quinn was sent off and Tipp lined up to take pot-shots in the closing stages against a 14-man Galway who knew they were a spent side.