Tipperary 6-19 Limerick 2-07: If ever an example was needed for the term "one way traffic" then it was found in abundance at Croke Park this afternoon where Tipperary ran riot against a hapless Limerick side to book their place in the All-Ireland SHC final where they will take on Kilkenny.
Liam Sheedy’s men may have been gifted three early goals before any pattern of play emerged, but after that there was only ever going to be one winner. Limerick were simply outclassed, it was men against boys stuff.
A 24-point winning margin, including six goals, was enough to send Tipp into next month’s Liam McCarthy decider against the reigning champions with a certain spring in their step, which they will surely need to deny Kilkenny four-in-a-row.
The fact is Tipp were clinical in front of goal and they opened-up the Limerick defence as early at three minutes with Eoin Kelly getting in on the act first.
The second came when Lar Corbett crossed from the right for Noel McGrath to finish from close range after 15 minutes. The third came minutes later when Pat Kerwick seized on some poor defending.
Further points came from centre back Conor O’Mahony, Kelly, McGrath and Seamus Callinan.
The limited Limerick response came through Gavin O’Mahony, Niall Moran and David Breen but they trailed 3-8 to 0-4 at the break.
After the restart Tipp increased the advantage to 18 points with four quick frees through Kelly, McGrath, Callinan and Kerwick.
Then Limerick finally offered some resistance when keeper Brian Murray netted from a 47th minute penalty after Andrew O’Shaughnessy had been fouled, and seven minutes later substitute Brian O’Sullivan drilled home a second goal from Donal O’Grady’s pass.
It was always going to be a false dawn and so it proved when Corbett was sent through by McGrath to blast home the best goal of the day.
Corbett followed up with his second three-pointer to open up a 19 points gap with 10 minutes to play, and completed his hat-trick in the 67th minute.
“We got off to a dream start,” said Sheedy in reference to the three gifted goals in the opening minutes of the game.
“All afternoon we got onto a lot of breaking ball and those three early goals were massive.
“Limerick will be disappointed, particularly in the second half when they were coming back at us. The first 10 minutes of the second period they had us going.
“But credit to the lads they stuck to it and we’re delighted to be in the final,” added Sheedy.
Limerick manger Justin McCarthy could do little other than hold his hands up and applaud the opposition who he believes are at least two ahead of his side in terms of development.
“Congratulations to Tipperary, that was an outstanding performance,” said McCarthy.
“Sure the three early goals made life difficult for us but Tipperary were superb all round.
“We missed too many chances then got something going in the second half but again they just moved up another gear.
“I believe they (Tipperary) are at least two years ahead of us in terms of development, we still have a lot of young player and we’ll try again next year,” said the beaten manager.
Tipperary: B Cummins, P Stapleton, P Maher, P Curran, D Fanning, C O'Mahony (0-03, 2f), B Maher, J Woodlock, S McGrath, P Kerwick (1-02), S Callanan (0-03), J O'Brien (0-01), N McGrath (1-03), E Kelly (1-06 (6f), L Corbett (3-01).
Substitutes: B Dunne for S McGrath (54), G Ryan for Woodlock (61), M Webster for Kerwick (62), P Kelly for E Kelly (64), W Ryan for Corbett (67).
Limerick: B Murray (1-00, pen), D Reale, S Lucey, M O'Riordan, S Hickey (0-01), B Geary, M Foley, D O'Grady, G O'Mahony (0-02, 1f), J Ryan, N Moran (0-01), P Browne, D Breen (0-01), P McNamara, A O'Shaughnessy (0-01,f).
Substitutes: J O'Brien for Moran (31), Ollie Moran for (h-t) for Browne, B O'Sullivan (1-01) for Ryan (48), M O'Brien for McNamara (56), S Walsh for Lucey (61).
Referee: B Gavin (Offaly).