Despite a rather unexplained sluggish start, the Premier County have gone on to reserve a place in this year’s Allianz NHL semi-finals, following an 11point victory over Dublin at Croke Park today.
Dublin came into the game from the start, with a definite mission and had chalked up eight points to their credit within the first ten minutes, same coming courtesy of Keaney, Burke, Winters, Sutcliffe and McGibb.
However, Tipperary kept their cool, while stepping up the gears, to meet Dublin’s advance and had restored full uniformity by the 23rd minute. Tipperary now showed their true skill and their ability to control the final result, as confirmed by John McGrath’s 27th minute goal, granting them a well-deserved 4 point lead at half time.
However, the Premier would be reduced to 14 men in the second half, with their No.9, Ronan Maher, side-lined following a second yellow card offence. Despite this numerical disadvantage, Tipperary continued to extend their lead, with points coming courtesy of Alan Flynn, John McGrath and Jason Forde and despite hitting 10 points in their opening 12 minutes, Dublin managed only another 10 points for the remainder of their game.
Overall, Tipperary provided the greater skill in the second half, no doubt encouraged by a 49th minute Michael Breen goal and eventually finished up the victors by 11 points despite their numerical inconvenience.
Final Score: Dublin 0-20 (20pts) — Tipperary 2-25 (31pts).
Man Of The Match: Padraic Maher, (Centre-back).
Tipperary Scorer on Target:– J. Forde 9pts; J. McGrath 7pts ; M. Breen 3pts; R. Maher 2pts; S. Curran, C. Darcy & J. O’Dwyer 2pts each; and finally A. Flynn, S. Kennedy, B. Heffernan and P. Maher 1pt a piece.
Tipperary Team: Brian Hogan; Alan Flynn; James Barry; Michael Cahill; Barry Heffernan; Padraic Maher; Paudie Feehan; Seamus Kennedy; Ronan Maher; John McGrath; Billy McCarthy; Seán Curran; Michael Breen; Jason Forde & Cian Darcy.
Substitutions: John O’Dwyer for C. Darcy; Paul Maher for S. Kennedy; Paul Shanahan for M. Breen; Tomas Hamill for P. Feehan; Willie Connors for B. McCarthy.
Referee: Sean Cleere (Co. Kilkenny).
WELL DONE TIPP