Munster SHC: Clare 2-21 Tipperary 4-18
Tipperary outstared the abyss to achieve a vital win in Zimmer Biomet Cusack Park on Saturday evening. It leaves All-Ireland champions Clare needing a whole sequence of results to fall their way if they are to survive and take their title defence out of Munster.
On a sunny May evening in Ennis, a near-capacity crowd of 20,685 watched as yet another epic battle played out. Just as in the opening match of the championship, Clare were set upon by hungry opponents in the first half and carved open for a feast of goal chances.
The only consolation in a nine-point half-time deficit was that it could have been a lot worse. By the 23rd minute, they had been taken for four goals, two apiece for John McGrath and Andrew Ormond but McGrath could have had a hat-trick by then.
Almost immediately after his first goal − pouncing on a ball from Alan Tynan and cutting inside for a fine finish − the Tipp full forward appeared to have done the hard work by side stepping Adam Hogan but with another goal apparently inevitable, he hit the ball over the bar.
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Not that Tipperary found it that easy to take points either and they racked up eight wides by half-time, most of them scoreable.
There had been rumours beforehand of who was in and out of Clare’s list of the injured but the throw-in crystallises all such ambiguities and Brian Lohan announced just one change to the advertised line-up. Daithi Lohan came in for centre back John Conlon, meaning the champions were down to half of their All-Ireland defence, a thinning that became all too disastrously evident.
The outcome was critical, as whoever lost would end up stranded on a single point in the Munster table and all but out of contention.
Tipperary combined the deadly with the wasteful. At times they looked like they would score a goal with every attack. In the 12th minute, Andrew Ormond scored off an assist by Michael Breen, followed in the 17th by McGrath’s second, and in the 23rd by Ormond again after Eibhear Quilligan saved from Jake Morris, having stopped the same player earlier at the cost of a converted 65.
“Everybody’s singing off the same hymn sheet,” said a relieved Liam Cahill afterwards. “Today was a defining game obviously for our season. For me as well, it was important at the end of it that the green shoots continued to prosper today.
“That’s really what it was. It’s just a little bit of a reassurance that while it’s not perfect, we’re still doing our best to go in the right direction. You had six goal chances in the first 23 minutes.”
By then, Clare’s defence was in turmoil. Conor Leen, who looked to be carrying an injury, was replaced by Rory Hayes in the 20th minute and almost immediately received a yellow card together with his direct opponent Jason Forde. Tipperary’s movement was so energetic and menacing that they were probably disappointed to be just nine ahead at the break.
As is their nature, the home side was stubbornly sticking to the task even with the margin expanding. Mark Rodgers was accurate from frees, conceded freely by some undisciplined Tipperary defence, but it was water pistol in a furnace defiance.
At worst, Clare trailed by 12 just as they had done against Cork in the opening match of the campaign. Rodgers was alert to a ball played across the Tipp goal by David Reidy and touched it to the net. Tipperary though got it back with the next three points and led 4-9 to 1-9 at half-time.
In truth the comeback looked a stretch for Clare even with the wind but these things always start incrementally and Rodgers fired over the first three scores of the second half from frees. Key to Tipp’s ultimate survival was the ability to take scores while the opposition comeback was in full flow.
A magnificent point by John McGrath after a prolonged ruck had squeezed the ball in his direction got his team moving in the second half. In the 45th minute, the roof was raised when Hurler of the Year Shane O’Donnell – whose entire season had been threatened by injury and who was making his first appearance of 2025 – warmed up and entered the fray.
Within minutes he had risen to claim a puck-out and draw a free, which Rogers converted. The team’s other rainmaker Tony Kelly had looked out of sorts in early exchanges after his recent illness but he came more strongly into the match and it was his probing solo run that led to a penalty, which he converted to cut the margin to a point, 2-18 to 4-13.
Within minutes it was level courtesy of two more Rodgers frees – a remarkable reprise of the Cork match – but Tipp responded impressively. John McGrath turned over Daithi Lohan for a point to edge in front.
They followed with frees from Forde and Eoghan Connolly and moved four ahead when replacement Seán Kenneally exploited hesitancy in the Clare defence to complete Tipp’s scoring. Clare managed one response, predictably from a Rodgers free.
“We left ourselves an awful lot to do after the first half performance,” said Clare manager Brian Lohan. “Defensively, not as good as we would like to be in the first half. Then [we] came out in the second half and did well and got back level.
“Tipp pushed on and got a couple of scores at the end and ran out on us. That bit of a slow start to the game, how do you put that down? I suppose it’s soon enough to assess it. With that kind of forward line, that kind of movement and the space they were able to create, we were under pressure for that first 15 or 20 minutes.
“It’s obviously an area we had expected we would do better, but we obviously didn’t. Four goals conceded is way too much in this game.”
Tipperary: R Shelly; M Breen, B O’Mara, E Connolly (0-3, 2f);, R Maher, C Morgan, R Doyle; S O’Farrell, A Tynan; N McGrath, A Ormond (2-1), C Stakelum; J Morris (0-2), J McGrath (2-3), J Forde (0-8, 0-6f, 0-1 65). Subs: O O’Donoghue for Stakelum (46 min), W Connors for N McGrath (58 mins), D Stakelum for Tynan (62 mins); S Kennedy for O’Mara (62 mins); S Kenneally (0-1) for Forde (66 mins).
Clare: E Quilligan; Darragh Lohan, A Hogan, C Leen; Daithi Lohan, D McInerney, C Galvin; C Malone (0-1), R Taylor (0-2); S Rynne (0-3), D Reidy, P Duggan (0-1); T Kelly (1-1, 1-0 penalty, 0-1 free), M Rodgers (1-13, 0-13f), S Meehan. Subs: Rory Hayes for Leen (20 mins), S O’Donnell for Meehan (45 mins), D Fitzgerald for Rynne (58 mins), I Galvin for Reidy (62 mins), J Conlon for Daithi Lohan (68 mins).
Referee: J Owens (Wexford).
