Concession of first half goals ends Dubs double dream

TIPPERARY 2-18 DUBLIN 1-11

Two first half goals paved the way for a Tipperary victory in Sunday’s All-Ireland MHC final replay at Croke Park as Dublin’s wait for a first title since 1965 goes on.

The opening ten minutes had been evenly matched before the Premier County hit the Dubs with two heavy body blows over the next four minutes and by the interval the Munster men had moved 2-10 to 0-5 clear and the Irish Press Cup was effectively on it’s way south.

Ten minutes Tipp led 0-3 to 0-2 with John McGrath (three frees) continuing his form from the drawn encounter while Paul Winters, an 85-metre free, and a superb Eoghan O’Donnell effort following a sharp lift and pass from Cormac Costello had the Dubs just a point in arrears.

Then disaster struck. Initally Dublin were poor around the breaking ball out the field and were then guilty of some indecisive defending for Mark McCarthy to drive though on goal and despite losing possession he still held his nerve to angle a drive to the net.

However, two points from James Roche kept Dublin in contact before Tipp capitalised on the space in front of the Dublin full-back line with Tadhg Gallagher hitting the turbos to move clear of trouble and find the net – all of a sudden Shay Boland’s men were six points in arrears, 2-4 to 0-4, at the quarter-time mark.

Tipp continued to set the terms of the match as their touch and reactions were far sharper as the Dubs looked a pale shadow of the side which had outsmarted and outhurled their opponents for large periods of the drawn affair.
Whatever chance Dublin had of getting back into the contest slipped before the interval as Tipp hit the concluding five points of the opening half to lead comfortably 2-10 to 0-5 at the interval.

Dublin did their best to rally in the second period but Tipp continued to hold the upperhand on the restart and with ten minutes remaining lead 2-16 to 0-8 and the outcome was beyond doubt.

But credit to Dublin as the battled to the end and were rewarded with an Oisín O’Rorke goal in the 52nd minute but it would have taken the floodgates to open if the young Dubs were to gain anything as Tipp strode on to victory.

SCORERS – Tipperary: J McGrath 0-10 (0-6f, 0-1 ‘65’), M McCarthy, T Gallagher 1-2, S Maher 0-2, S Cahill, B Maher 0-1 each. Dublin: P Winters 0-6 (0-6f), O O’Rorke 1-1, J Roche 0-2, E O’Donnell, C Costello 0-1 each. 
TIPPERARY: P Maher; R Maher, M Breen, J Peters; T Fox, T Hamill, B Heffernan; B Maher, S Cahill; J McGrath, D fitzell, S Maher; M McCarthy, J Shelly, T Gallagher. Subs: S O’Brien for S Maher (52), S Ryan for Cahill (57), C Lanigan for Gallagher (59), J Loughnane for McCarthy (61).
DUBLIN: C Mac Gabhann; S Barrett, C O’Callaghan, E Lowndes; E O’Donnell, R Murphy, S McClelland; D Gormley, C Cronin; C Costello, C McHugh, C Boland; P Winters, O O’Rorke, J Roche.  Subs: K O’Flynn for Murphy (ht), C Conway for McHugh (39), S Treacy for Roche (45), R Tierney for O’Callaghan (59). 
REF: A Kelly (Galway).