Tipperary 4-14 Limerick 3-11: Storm clouds gathered in Limerick yesterday after another disastrous outing for the hurlers in the Allianz National Hurling League. A couple of late goals from Andrew O'Shaughnessy and Donie Ryan took the bare look off the scoreboard but there was no disguising a threadbare and directionless performance.
Manager Pad Joe Whelahan was frank about the state of things in the camp when talking afterwards.
"What can you say? I said before that league games don't worry me too much but I am worried at the way we're going. Things aren't going that well and we're worried about our performances. We're very low at the moment. It can't get much lower than we're going now. I'm getting older every week driving down to Limerick."
Once again Mark Foley didn't line out despite being selected at left wing back. Taken with the absence of the selected Mark Keane and another senior player TJ Ryan, sidelined last week to undergo an intensive personal training programme, this raised questions not entirely answered by Whelahan.
"They're all sick and injured with something - choose your own. All out. There's no problem there but. Mark Foley had the flu - a lot of the flu going around.
"Things aren't going well. We thought we were going well in challenge matches. I don't know. Are we good enough? Are we up to it? I don't know."
He was also at a loss to explain the indiscipline that resulted in three of his players getting the line for yellow cards.
"Up to this we'd nothing like that. But I think things are beginning to get frustrated. Next thing you'll see the Limerick County Board getting frustrated. And then what's going to happen?"
County chairperson Denis Holmes said afterwards that they were disappointed by the way things were going and asked whether there would be questions about the management replied: "We'll see about that."
Reflecting the despondency a meagre crowd of about 1,500 dribbled into the Gaelic Grounds and even these enthusiasts must have been slowly losing the will to live as a feeble, opening quarter showcased all sorts of errors.
Eventually it was Tipperary who shrugged off the lethargy and applied themselves to killing off the match before half-time.
Limerick were in trouble from the 10th minute when a shot from Donal Shelly hopped off the crossbar and Michael Webster stuck it in the net for a 1-2 to 0-1 lead.
But in their most sustained phase of competitiveness they got the match back within range by the 20th minute at 0-4 to 1-3.
James O'Brien's point might have been a goal when he got goalside of Philip Maher but he shot over.
The introduction of Darragh Egan for Seámus Butler, who had been struggling on Damien Reale, triggered a scoring run of 2-2 without reply in the space of three minutes. Within 60 seconds of taking the field, Egan was on hand to convert some excellent work by Francis Devenney by tipping home a goal from close range.
Devenney scored the second himself, persevering after his initial shot had been blocked. By half-time Tipperary were eight points clear, 3-6 to 0-7.
Evan Sweeney added a goal minutes after the break and the match was meaningless thereafter apart from a twisted ankle sustained by Tipperary goalkeeper Brendan Cummins trying to prevent Paul O'Grady's 40-metre bullet of a shot hitting the net.
Cummins received lengthy treatment on the line and was hobbling badly when leaving the ground, although manager Ken Hogan didn't appear too worried: "Yeah it was an ankle injury. We hope he didn't damage it too badly."
Hogan could have been pleased with the performances of some of his new recruits in the forwards, especially in the absence of Eoin Kelly who's preparing for next weekend's Fitzgibbon Cup, but he knows it wasn't a test. One cloud on the horizon was the concession of goals late in the match.
"They'll be more disappointed than me," he said of his defence. "They pride themselves on good back work but conceded a couple of soft goals at the end. Having said that, there were no consequences for the result at that stage. We'll work on those things in training and iron them out."
TIPPERARY: B Cummins; H Moloney, P Maher, P Curran; D Fanning, D Kennedy (0-1), E Corcoran; C Morrissey, T Slevin (0-1, free); D Shelly, F Devenney (1-2), M O'Leary; E Sweeney (1-6, five frees), M Webster (1-0), S Butler. Subs: D Egan (1-1) for Butler (24 mins), D Young for Cummins (52 mins), B Dunne (0-2) for Egan (50 mins), P Kelly for Slevin (61 mins).
LIMERICK: J Cahill; D Reale, B Geary, M Cahill; M Clifford, O Moran, P Sheehan; D O'Grady (0-1), P O'Grady (1-1, point a 65); D Ryan (1-0), P Cahill, N Moran; A O'Shaughnessy (1-0, a free), J O'Brien (0-2), A O'Connor (0-6, five frees). Subs: P O'Dwyer for Clifford (35 mins), C Smith for M Cahill (half-time), E Foley (0-1, a 65) for Smith (yellow card, 41 mins), P Tobin for P Cahill (46 mins), K O'Dwyer for Foley (yellow card, 58 mins), D Sheehan for Tobin (yellow card, 59 mins).
YELLOW CARDS: Tiipperary: none; Limerick: C Smith (41) replaced by E Foley, E Foley (58) replaced by K O'Dwyer, S Tobin (59) replaced by D Sheehan.
Referee: B Gavin (Offaly).
