Limerick 0-20 Tipperary 0-20
Limerick and Tipperary played out a Gaelic Grounds stalemate as the All-Ireland champions maintained their lengthy unbeaten run in the Allianz League opener.
Not since their controversial All-Ireland semi-final loss to Kilkenny in 2019 have Limerick been beaten and David Reidy’s injury time free, his eighth point of the day, ensured that that record remained intact.
Their run of 13 consecutive victories in all competitions has ended, however, though manager John Kiely won’t be too bothered about that having seen his side recover a five-point deficit in the final quarter in a game in which they wore green and white hooped jerseys in a nod to the centenary of their 1921 All-Ireland win.
The teams shared parity seven times in the first half and three times in the opening seven minutes before Limerick stretched their legs and moved 0-6 to 0-3 clear, with Kyle Hayes’s physicality at centre-back particularly apparent.
Jason Forde, who was rotating between centre-forward and full-forward, sniped two fine points in quick succession but Limerick were still on top come the water break, leading by 0-7 to 0-5 after Reidy, one of a number of fringe players given an opportunity to stake a claim, slotted his third point of the afternoon.
But Tipperary hit five of the next six points after the water break to move in front for the first time, with Forde and Ronan Maher each contributing a pair of points to put them two in front before Limerick finished out the half stronger, with Diarmaid Byrnes’s injury time free ensuring they retired level at 0-12 each.
Although understandable in the circumstances, it was a somewhat patchy display from Limerick in the first half as they shot six wides and dropped a further four shots wide while their rustiness was arguably best summed up by Tom Morrissey, probably their second best performer after Gearoid Hegarty last year, who was blocked down on multiple occasions.
Tipperary were marginally more economical, spilling eight wides and dropping just one effort short.
Limerick indiscipline was central to Tipperary opening up a relatively comfortable lead in the third quarter, with Forde slotting all of their six points up to the second water break, five frees and a 65, as they led 0-18 to 0-14.
He added yet another free to stretch the lead to five on the restart but Limerick, boosted by the impetus provided by Peter Casey and Cian Lynch off the bench, reeled off five points without reply, two of them from Casey, to draw level with four minutes remaining.
Forde replied with another free, his 14th point of the day, to restore Tipp’s advantage but Reidy had the last word to ensure a share of the spoils on a day when there was no clear goal-scoring chance across the entire game and there was no call for referee Colm Lyons to invoke the new sin bin/penalty rule.
LIMERICK: N Quaid; A Costello, S Finn, R English; D Byrnes (0-1f), K Hayes, B Nash; W O’Donoghue (0-1), D O’Donovan (0-1); T Morrissey, D Reidy (0-8, 0-6f), C Boylan; A Breen (0-3), S Flanagan (0-4), D Dempsey.
Subs: P Casey (0-2) for Dempsey (46), C Lynch for O’Donovan (46), G Hegarty for Boylan (56), D O’Connell for Breen (59), B O’Grady for O’Donoghue (67).
TIPPERARY: Barry Hogan; C Barrett, B McGrath, B Heffernan; B O’Meara, S Kennedy, R Maher (0-2, 0-1f); A Flynn, M Breen (0-1); D McCormack (0-1), J Forde (0-14, 0-11f, 0-1 ‘65’), N O’Meara (0-1); W Connors (0-1), J Morris, Patrick Maher.
Subs: N McGrath for N O’Meara (53), D Quirke for Patrick Maher (53), C Darcy for Connors (59), M Kehoe for Flynn (62), Padraic Maher for B O’Meara (68).
REFEREE: C Lyons (Cork).
