Thank you for joining us today for what was another glorious chapter in this incredible Limerick story. Keep an eye on www.irishtimes.com this evening and check out tomorrow’s Irish Times newspaper for more coverage and analysis of the Munster final from our team of writers.
John Kiely is a happy man this evening.
History made by Limerick, who have become the first county ever to win six consecutive Munster senior hurling titles. They remain on course to become the first hurling team ever to win five successive All-Ireland senior titles - which is now just two triumphs away. What an incredible team.
FULL-TIME: Limerick 1-26 Clare 1-20
74mins: Limerick 1-26 Clare 1-20
Byrnes sends over a free from between the two 65s to put Limerick six ahead.
72mins: Limerick 1-25 Clare 1-20
Shane O’Brien does brilliantly to win a free for Limerick, which Tom Morrissey converts.
71mins: Limerick 1-24 Clare 1-20
Rodgers pops over a free.
69mins: Limerick 1-24 Clare 1-19
Hegarty pushes the lead out to six but Rodgers replies to take it back to five as the game enters the last minute of normal time.
68mins: Limerick 1-23 Clare 1-18
Kyle Hayes finishes what was a superb passage of play from Limerick with lovely ball-handling skills and passing. Wonderful team score.
65mins: Limerick 1-22 Clare 1-18
The sides trade scores before Clare sub Ian Galvin closes the gap to four.
64mins: Limerick 1-21 Clare 1-16
Clare drive the ball downfield to a sea of green bodies. Byrnes punishes the mistake by arrowing over from long range.
60mins: Limerick 1-20 Clare 1-16
McCarthy from play this time, reducing the gap to four.
Oooohhh, Mark Rodgers smacks the butt of the post with a shot after a mistake in the Limerick defence. That’s a real let off for Limerick.
56mins: Limerick 1-20 Clare 1-15
McCarthy with a free from close range for Clare.
55mins: Limerick 1-20 Clare 1-14
Hegarty with an outstanding point from out on the sideline. Cian Lynch has been taken off by Limerick.
Hegarty’s goal.
51mins: Limerick 1-18 Clare 1-13
McCarthy points a free.
A Diarmaid Byrnes effort from long range is deemed wide by Hawk-Eye. But Limerick have the momentum right now. Clare need to respond.
46mins: Limerick 1-18 Clare 1-12
GOAL for Limerick. Gearoid Hegarty hits the ball first time along the ground and beyond the outrushing Clare goalkeeper. Lovely finish.
44mins: Limerick 0-18 Clare 1-12
Gillane with a tap over free after winning the free himself.
43mins: Limerick 0-17 Clare 1-12
McCarthy from play this time after some good work by Tony Kelly.
42mins: Limerick 0-17 Clare 1-11
Aidan McCarthy opens Clare’s second-half account with a converted placed ball.
40mins: Limerick 0-16 Clare 1-10
Tom Morrissey points from long range. Limerick have the breeze at their backs.
37mins: Limerick 0-15 Clare 1-10
Limerick begin the second half like a train, scoring the opening two points - the first from a Gillane free, the second from play by O’Brien.
The Munster Council has released a statement on the game delay:
‘Due to a power outage at Semple Stadium shortly before throw in for today’s Munster Senior Hurling Final, and the consequent facilities failure, a decision was taken to postpone the game by 30 minutes while a crew worked to resolve the faults.
‘The decision to postpone was taken by event management and the Gardai on the grounds of public safety and public health.
‘Public transport services will be delayed accordingly to accommodate supporters after the game.
‘We apologise to patrons and to both teams for this delay.’
Here’s Duggan’s goal.
HALF-TIME: Limerick 0-13 Clare 1-10
37mins: Limerick 0-13 Clare 1-10
GOAL for Clare with the last play of the first half. A long free by Tony Kelly drops in front of the Limerick goal, where Quaid does well to save initially but in scooping the ball away from danger he pops it up to the awaiting Peter Duggan and the Clare forward makes no mistake from close range to send the sides in level at the break.
35mins: Limerick 0-13 Clare 0-10
Fitzgerald makes it a one score game again with a point.
McCarthy strikes the post with a free. Couple of uncharacteristic misses now from both sides.
33mins: Limerick 0-13 Clare 0-9
Shane O’Brien opens his account with a neatly taken score.
Gillane with a poor wide from a free.
30mins: Limerick 0-12 Clare 0-9
David Reidy extends Limerick’s lead.
29mins: Limerick 0-11 Clare 0-9
Byrnes sends over another placed ball for Limerick. McCarthy missed a tricky free moments earlier for Clare.
27mins: Limerick 0-10 Clare 0-9
Tony Kelly floats over his third of the day to reduce the gap to the minimum.
25mins: Limerick 0-10 Clare 0-8
Gillane with a superb score, but Clare respond immediately - this time a Fitzgerald point.
23mins: Limerick 0-9 Clare 0-7
Declan Hannon shows great leadership with an instant response to Clare’s score.
23mins: Limerick 0-8 Clare 0-7
McCarthy free.
21mins: Limerick 0-8 Clare 0-6
Gillane converts a free and Kyle Hayes adds a boomer from downtown to push out a two-point advantage.
Wonderful save by Nickie Quaid to deny Aidan McCarthy a goal.
17mins: Limerick 0-6 Clare 0-6
Aidan McCarthy points a free but Declan Hannon and Diarmaid Byrnes reply with a point apiece to bring Limerick back level.
13mins: Limerick 0-4 Clare 0-5
Tony Kelly puts Clare back in front.
12mins Limerick 0-4 Clare 0-4
Tom Morrissey draws the sides level again.
10mins: Limerick 0-3 Clare 0-4
Aaron Gillane and Tony Kelly trade points.
8mins: Limerick 0-2 Clare 0-3
Diarmaid Byrnes pulls a point back for Limerick before Shane O’Donnell puts Clare back in front.
7mins: Limerick 0-1 Clare 0-2
Scores from Aidan McCarthy and David Fitzgerald put Clare ahead.
5mins: Limerick 0-1 Clare 0-0
David Reidy opens the scoring.
4mins: Still awaiting our first score. A couple of wides on both sides so far.
Early wide by Limerick
Both sets of players standing behind the band for the national anthem. We’re just seconds away from the action starting.
The teams are back out on the pitch. All set for a 4.30 throw-in.
Here is the reason for the delay explained.
There has yet to be a sliotar struck in anger or a minute of play in the Munster hurling final and it’s already produced more drama than the Leinster decider at Croke Park last night.
******Game DELAYED 30 minutes due to that power outage mentioned earlier. The Munster hurling final is now expected to start at 4.30******
Here’s Denis Walsh on Limerick’s Munster senior hurling final history - it hasn’t always been this good for the Shannonsiders.
[ Limerick’s bleak long years of struggle now a distant memoryOpens in new window ]
Here is Seán Moran’s preview of today’s Munster final and verdict on who he feels will finish the day as provincial champions.
[ Limerick v Clare preview: John Kiely’s team stand on the brink of historyOpens in new window ]
Tony Kelly to start for Clare.
There was a power outage at Semple Stadium but it seems all is back in working order again. Then again, these teams know each other so well at this stage they could play each other in the dark and still serve up a classic.
Good afternoon. Thanks for dropping in on our live blog of the Munster senior hurling final. We are less than one hour away from the most eagerly anticipated game of the summer so far. It’s Gordon Manning here with you for the afternoon as Limerick chase a history-making sixth successive Munster SHC while Clare search for a first senior provincial title since 1998. We’ll be keeping you updated on the action as it unfolds in Thurles.
Here are the teams named earlier in the week:
Limerick: Nickie Quaid; Mike Casey, Dan Morrissey, Barry Nash; Diarmaid Byrnes, Declan Hannon, Kyle Hayes; Will O’Donoghue, Cathal O’Neill; Gearóid Hegarty, David Reidy, Tom Morrissey; Aaron Gillane, Shane O’Brien, Cian Lynch. Subs: Jason Gillane, Conor Boylan, Colin Coughlan, Adam English, Richie English, Graeme Mulcahy, Barry Murphy, Aidan O’Connor, Fergal O’Connor, Donnacha Ó Dálaigh, Darragh O’Donovan
Clare: Eibhear Quilligan; Adam Hogan, Conor Cleary, Rory Hayes; Diarmuid Ryan, John Conlon, David McInerney; David Fitzgerald, Darragh Lohan; Cathal Malone, Mark Rodgers, Peter Duggan; Aidan McCarthy, Shane O’Donnell, David Reidy. Subs: Cian Broderick, Conor Leen, Paul Flanagan, Seadna Morey, Ian Galvin, Paddy Donnellan, Tony Kelly, Aron Shanagher, Shane Meehan, Robin Mounsey, Cian Galvin.
