Limerick come up short against Tipperary in Munster U20 Football Championship:

Limerick come up short against Tipperary in Munster U20 Football Championship:

By Paul Shaughnessy Limerick Leader Sport

THE LIMERICK U20 footballers suffered a 3-8 to 0-6 defeat to Tipperary in phase one of the Munster championship in Mick Neville Park on Saturday afternoon.

Tipperary were full value for their victory and their full forward line of Daithi Hogan and Paddy O’Keefe were a constant threat scoring 3-4 between them.

John O’Grady’s side fielded seven players from last year’s U20 squad. The Oola man replaced Shane Kelly as Limerick U20 football manager this year.

Limerick dominated the opening ten minutes but the home side struggled to make their dominance count. The Shannonsiders struggled to make use of the strong breeze in Mick Neville Park.

On four minutes, Limerick wing forward Evan Curry landed the first two pointer of the afternoon. Tipperary then reduced the gap to the minmium when Charlie King drove forward to tap over a neat point. Padraic Phelan and Tom Lloyd combined to push Limerick 0-3 to 0-1 in front.

The visitors took control of the contest outscoring their opponents 1-5 to 0-0 in the next 14 minutes. Paddy O’Keefe, Jamie O’Keefe and Joe Higgins put the premier county into the lead for the first time.

Tipperary full forward Paddy O’Keefe fisted the ball across to Daithi Hogan who set his teammate up for the opening goal of the day on 21 minutes. Daithi Hogan added a free before the break to have Tipperary leading 1-5 to 0-3 at half-time.

Limerick captain Diarmaid Hynes nailed a free straight after the break to keep John O’Grady’s side within touching distance. On 40 minutes Ben Carey got Tipperary’s first score of the second half.

Mungret St Paul’s clubman Diarmuid Hynes raced past the Tipp defence and his effort was saved by Tipperary goalkeeper Robbie McGrath. In the final quarter the victors put the game to bed with goals from Paddy O’Keefe and Daithi Hogan.

Frees from Tom Ryan and Diarmuid Hynes is all Limerick could manage in the final fourteen minutes as they suffered an eleven point defeat to Tipperary. Limerick will now turn their attention to an away fixture against Waterford next weekend.

SCORERS:
LIMERICK: Evan Curry (0-1 2 pointer), Diarmuid Hynes (0-2, 0-2 frees), Tom Lloyd 0-1 Tom Ryan (0-1, 0-1 frees)

Tipperary: Daithi Hogan (2-2, 0-1 free) and Paddy O’Keefe 1-2, Charlie King, Joe Higgins and Jamie O’Keefe 0-1 each , Ben Carey (0-1, 0-1 free)

LIMERICK: Cian McGrath (Oola); Cian O’Sullivan (Kildimo-Pallaskenry), Cathal Mangan (Croom), Paddy Downey (Oola); Tom Lloyd (Mungret St Paul’s), Tommy Ryan (Dromcollogher Broadford), Jack Butler (Ahane); Tadgh Hourigan (Pallasgreen), Brian O’Callaghan (Dromcollogher Broadford); Bobby Smith (Ballybrown), Tom Ryan (Oola), Evan Curry (Athea); Diarmuid Hynes (Captain, Mungret St Paul’s); Micheal Fahy (Dromcollogher Broadford), Padraic Phelan (Pallasgreen)

SUBS: Barry Griffin (Monaleen) for Smith (Half-Time), Luke Walsh (Mungret St Paul’s) for Fahy (Half-Time), Michael Kilbridge (Fr Casey’s) for Downey (injury, 40 minutes), Aidan O’Shea (Cappagh) for O’Callaghan (47 minutes), Calum Boyle (Fr Casey’s) for Phelan (57 minutes).

TIPPERARY: Robbie McGrath; Emmet Bonner; Eoin O’Connell, Billy Tierney; Killian Butler, Charlie King, Jamie O’Keefe; Joe Higgins, Darragh O’Connor; Thomas Charles, Ben Carey, Dylan Cotter; Daithi Hogan, Paddy O’Keefe, Tommy O’Connor.

SUBS: Shane Ryan for O’Connor (52 minutes), Jp Mbokha Tansia for Higgins (56 minutes), Cillian Ryan for King (59 minutes), Dale Hogan for Charles (59 minutes), James Power for O’Keefe (59 minutes).

REFEREE: Chris Maguire (Clare)