National Hurling League Division One B/ Limerick 2-15 Tipperary 2-15: For two teams fast gaining a reputation as being hard to separate, yesterday's sharing of the points was a suitable opener to their Allianz National Hurling League. They'd been level seven times over the 70 minutes before Limerick moved into position for the win, only for Tipperary to hit 1-1 in injury-time and leave everyone sharing the satisfaction.
The result certainly seemed to please Tipperary manager Michael Babs Keating. While admitting he didn't expect to win or even draw, Keating admitted too that things would be a lot different when the sides meet again in the Munster championship in May - presumably meaning Tipperary would win.
Like a metaphor for the season perhaps, the game moved slowly from the blocks but finished in a sprint. Limerick had hit four sweet points in succession in the final 10 minutes of normal time to establish what looked like a winning margin, but first Benny Dunne clawed back a point and then Ger "Redser" O'Grady provided a superb finish to a close-range goal, set up by John Carroll. Clearly the captaincy has given O'Grady a further injection of enthusiasm, as if he needed it.
Few of the 6,800 crowd could have any complaints about the result, although Limerick may possibly feel a hint of regret. They put their hearts into the chase for victory, with Ollie Moran and Damien Reale leading from the back, and Andrew O'Shaughnessy and Mark Keane from the front. Brian Begley, recently returned from long-term injury, also hit one of the closing points as a second-half substitute.
But Tipperary showed some fight of their own in the end. Séamus Butler staked a claim on a starting place by hitting 1-7 and while O'Grady drifted out of the game at times, his equalising goal oozed confidence. Conor O'Mahony - who hit three cool 65s - looks like the centre back Tipperary have been searching for.
"To come to Limerick and get that result is definitely something to learn from," said Keating. "To be honest, we didn't come down expected to win today, or even draw. Not with the team we had, and all the hurling Limerick had done.
"But I can tell you the 14th of May is going to be a totally different proposition. There'll be no similarity between what you saw out there and three months time."
When they went to a replay in last summer's championship, Limerick's defeat was partly self-inflicted because they hit so many wides, and yesterday's count of 13 to Tipperary's six suggests the problem remains. Andrew O'Shaughnessy was guilty of a few, yet easily made up for it by hitting 1-2 and setting up several more scores.
But when Limerick got going they looked excellent. With the sides level for the fifth time on 25 minutes at 0-5 each, Limerick suddenly moved up a gear. O'Shaughnessy collected their first goal when the ball was fumbled by the Tipperary defence, showing great pace to beat Brendan Cummins, and they closed out the half with Niall Moran showing even greater pace to run 25 yards through the middle before burying the ball in the net.
In between those goals Tipperary got one of their own, with O'Grady smartly spotting Butler unmarked, and he calmly provided the finish.
Limerick's lead was only 2-7 to 1-9 at the break, reflecting the evenness of play.
Limerick had been out six times already this year in pre-season matches and that practice showed early in the second half, with Mike O'Brien, Denis Moloney and Keane extending their lead.
Tipperary appeared in a little trouble before O'Mahony helped settle them with his placed balls, and afterwards Keating singled out the Newport player for praise.
"I'm glad some of the new lads played reasonably well. Like, our centre back covered the middle quite well, while maybe some of our other backs were a bit unlucky.
"I thought we left ourselves very open for their two goals. But some of the newcomers did show a little bit of inexperience as well, something I hope they won't have in a few months' time.
"I suppose both teams can be accused of missing a bit, but for the 19th of February I think we learnt a good bit."
Limerick were forced to move TJ Ryan from full forward to full back as Stephen Lucey couldn't start through injury, but once they settled into their game they looked a smooth and capable outfit. But it's Tipperary who will probably gain strength as the weeks pass.
"Yeah," added Keating, "and we still have Eoin Kelly, and Micheál Webster to come back. So it's not all bad news for the rest of the year, particularly with everyone tipping Galway to win the All-Ireland."
LIMERICK: B Murray; D Reale, TJ Ryan, M O'Riordan; O Moran (0-2, one free), B Geary, D Moloney (0-1); D O'Grady (0-1), P O'Grady; M O'Brien (0-2), N Collins (0-1), N Moran (1-0); A O'Shaughnessy (1-2), S O'Connor, M Keane (0-5, frees). Subs: M Fitzgerald for Collins (half-time), B Begley (0-1) for O Connor (39 mins), W Walsh for P O'Grady (68 mins).
TIPPERARY: B Cummins; D Fanning, P Maher, P Curran; E Corcoran, C O'Mahony (0-3, 65s), L England; E Brislane, N Curran; S McGrath, C Morrissey, G O'Grady (1-1); S Butler (1-7, five frees), J O'Brien (0-2), B Dunne (0-2). Subs: D McGrath for Corcoran (half-time, inj), J Carroll for Curran (50 mins), J Woodlock for Brislane (51 mins), P Kelly for England (60 mins), J Enright for McGrath (70 mins).
Referee: D Murphy (Wexford).
